MeeRMaNia

9 September 2003: A friend of mine here in Cyprus has produced some nice charicatures of two of my siblings and myself. It seems he had more fun than is healthy while making it and wants to start making a web comic of it! I am all in favour of the idea (naturally, who wouldn't want tribute?) and I think perhaps a bi-weekly offering would be best.

If nothing else it ought to give you all a reason to check my site more regularly.

I wish to make it clear that I AM NOT involved directly in the producing of MeeRMaNia, and I don't point this out as a disclaimer, but simply so you all know I am still dedicated to Oratory Hell II ( which I think I will keep under wraps for the forseeable future - it doesn't do anyone any good to talk about something they cannot have ( the end ) ).

For you viewing pleasure, here is the great David Purkis' poster of MeeRMaNia!

View MeeRMaNia poster (opens in a new window)
Amanda | Stephan | Robert (myself) | John Buhagiar

I also updated the Anime section, tidied up the blurbs, made a proper introduction to the section, wrote a few thoughts on why I prefer it to Hollywood films and added a new link to my MyList (a "live" version).

Oratory Hell II flash movie stats are unchanged, as I have not been working on it much at all - partly because my "OH2 Machine" or "laptop" has slightly broken: the sound output is not working properly. Internal speakers don't work and I only just figured out a way to use headphones without them being too distorted yesterday. Would you believe I have not been spending much time on my laptop? It's because I am really hooked on "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Master Quest)" and "Golden Sun II: The Lost Age".. that and I have been watching lot's of Anime at night.

Updated the Links section to make it a little tidier, also change one of the links from ICQ to Trillian

Forum

20 August 2003: Spanking-new Forum has been installed and is all peachy. YOU DO NOT NEED TO REGISTER to use this forum, just enjoy!!

Anime Section

19 August 2003: 'Lo peeps! After a camping trip and a lot of house-hold chores it appears I am back in place to lounge about all day and get on with some animating! A large update to the galleries section is ready to upload, and a friend of mine with DSL here in Cyprus ought to take care of it in the next couple of days ( 154 Mb of photos and videos from the camping trip ).

Another update I have done is to the Anime section, while still in its infancy, I have made possibly the most important addition - added a list of the anime I actually have copies of! The link can be found in the Anime section of this site, or you can jump to it here.

No change to OH2 as far as I know *(unless someone has been tampering)*...

Another Update

6 August 2003: Well, Stephan's guest has left now, so I can get back to work on the animation - or so I thought - plans have been made to go camping for a week, so there won't be an update for a while! Sorry!

No change in the film stats as I have been working on the components, not the main timeline.

Prepare Yourselves!

25 July 2003: Are you prepared? Because I have resumed work on Oratory Hell II! Things are

moving along slow, but steady. Below is a glipmse of the work in progress..

Starting today, I will include the following info with each update to OH2:

I am also considering adding a feature to the loading screen which tells you which scene is being loaded, at the moment I have too much to do in way of the actual animation.. so it won't be appearing anytime soon.

Well well well

15 June - 23 July 2003: You're all in for a treat - this news posting!! I have now finished my exams, and with the exception of trying to forge as many new friends as possible in the next few weeks, I am pretty much free. As you may have guessed, this gives me plenty more time to ignore the website and your desire for updates. However, it has come to the point where I have SO much free time, that is looks like I will be updating anyways.

Also I have renewed my efforts to get the 6th Form Review / Open Day videos off of Harry Coade, JamesP recommended I ask RoryA, which gave me HarryC's number. I have tried phoning him a few time, but I never get any response.. I'll keep trying. Harry if you are reading this - email me!!

Updates:

Still todo:

All Hail Liam Murphy

9th May 2003: Joy of joy, Liam Murphy has arrived to correct my shortcomings! No longer will you be forced to read mistake-prone verse on this website!

A quick search on Google.com reveals that L. Murphy is a professor of law and philosophy at the New York University School of Law. A photo is included for your visual pleasure.

(NB: This is not *the* Liam Murphy who emailed me the correction)

The OH2 Machine

8th May 2003: It has been about SIX MONTHS since I updated this site, and erm, well, about the same time since I worked on OH2, but this is all within what I was expecting. I brought the drawing pen home over the easter break in case I felt like doing some work on it, and then I realised that my Dad's PC would never be capable of running Flash MX with the massive OH2 project loaded in it, I also realised that attempting to get any type of work done in the living room at home was a fanciful dream among fanciful dream!

However, I have come up with an ingenious solution which I think you will all like. Have you guessed it? I bought an OH2 machine, yes that's right, I bought a laptop for the sole purpose of Oratory Hell II (ha ha ha, yeeeeah right). Seriously though, I now will have no problems working on OH2 over the holidays. I didn't do any last holiday (despite having the pen with me) becuase I completely forgot to bring the project files (its 150Mb for the source Flash file, and then another 100-200Mb for all the other stuff like photos and music I use... and with a SLOW 56kbps modem at home I was not about to download them).

For those which are so inclined, the laptop is a 2.53GHz Intel P4 (actual P4, not a P4 Mobility or such), it has 256Mb DDR RAM and a 40Gb HDD. It is an Acer TravelMate 432CL.

Those of you with eyesight may have noticed that the splash page has been updated and that the nav bars at the left and top of this page have also been updated. Those of you have NOT noticed and still vouch that you are not blind, are surfing straight to this page and not the lovely splash page I spent minutes producing.

Download: 1600x1200 | 1024x768 | 800x600

I have produced a stunning wallpaper to accompany this stylish nav bar and splash page. If you doubt its 'stunningness' you should download it an see for your self. But I know how useless internet punters are, so I even prepared a thumbnail above for you to sample the delights before you dive in for the full satisfaction of supporting your favourite website from the "Not updated, but sometime worthwhile" category in your favourites list (if you dont have this site in your favourites list, why not!?). Actually if you want to add this site to your favourites do NOT add this page, add either www.robmeerman.co.uk or this other one.

So let me see, for a change I will NOT promise to update OH2 anytime soon, but I assure you it is not forgotten - it's just that some of us have a little worry called exams.. Also I am helping out the OS's current U6th Form prepare some of their more minor details for open day. See? And you thought I had fogotten all about "The place we love to hate" didn't you?

What else has happened in the last 6 months?

• I have become Librarian of the Anime & Manga Society (why do you care? Becuase it means i have plenty of sources to copy ideas and styles from, meaning OH2 is more likely to finish and finish well)
• I have grown even MORE hair on my head and face, this is important becuase all talented artists draw their inspiration and enegry from immense amounts of unkempt hair.
• I have learnt much about programming, so some interactive / nifty things are possible, and may even affect the myth of an ending for OH2.
• I have started collecting some pretty funky and far-out music, and also some rather unbecoming slang. Expect the credits of OH2 to be.. erm, well just be sure you will get to see the credits.
• MOST IMPORTANT: I have finished all my lectures and now have a 6-day weekend ( muh ha ha >:-) !! ), luckily the monotony of free time is broken up by a single hour between 9-10am where I have to sit and watch my peers give random presentations on computer related things.. it's a hard life..

Oooo yeah, and I also wrote a short story (more of a satire autobiography) entitled "The Tyrannical Mullet", if you know me personally then it ought to be fairly funny for you, otherwise it will be mildly amusing, you need to bare in mind I have a mullet. When I say short story I mean it, it is 1,030 words (that's 4,663 characters or 5,679 induvidual keystrokes (including space, but exluding rewritten portions), 18 paragraphs or 94 lines).

To those of you who are in the fortunate position of not knowing how much "1,030 words, or 4,663 characters or 5,679 induvidual keystrokes (including space, but exluding rewritten portions), or 18 paragraphs or 94 lines" is let me tell you it is two sides of printed A4. If after all that you are still reading ( or if you had the foresight to skip to this line ) you can view the web version of "The Tyrannical Mullet".

I have more random things to put up on this site, but I doubt my fragile, dwindling audience can take this much change in a single update.

So you will just have to come back some other time and finish reading this update! :) (Continued below rule line)

I have it on my todo list ( a very swish looking post it note next to the screen ) to burn a load of CDs for my brother, send some po** to Chuddy, scan some of the Anime & Manga Soc's library for cataloging purposes, Create an automated backup system for my work (added that one to the list after attending Dr. Solomon's talk on viruses.. very interesting guy.. ), Send my contact the "stuff" he needs for some Open Day prank.. or something like that, Update this website ( you thought this was a spontaneous ramble? ), Arrange an internet connection at the house we will be living in next term, find the house's phone number *wheeze* AND get the U6th Review & Open Day Documentary from Harry Coade.

So, if you know this man:

(Please ignore Fraiser, Mike Smith, Josh Kerr and Tom, just take note of HARRY)

Please notify the Oratory Hell authorities immediately. His name is Harry Coade and he is a wanted for the selfish keeping of funny videos involving friends and aquatainces of his. If you see this man approach with caution, making sure you cut off his exits so that he cannot dodge your questions. Or if you know how to contact him ( short of using a Oujii board, which I refuse to do ) please TELL ME HOW - phone, email, fax, pigeon carrier, whatever.

On a similar train of thought, if you get a chance watch the Powerpuff Girl Movie, it certainly has its moments; and avoid watching Walt Disney's "Atlantis: Return to the Surface" as, frankly, its shit. The original is wonderful (just called "Atlantis"), it doesn't have any horrid songs in it, and has some very nice dogfighting scenes ( with planes, not dogs ).

If you liked Atlantis, why not try watching Nadia and the Secret of Blue Water? They are similar ( as can be seen clearly at this page, which was linked from this one, which ultimately is from www.TheSecretOfBlueWater.com). In fact they are so similar that I have more links about it, like this much more complete one ( it is not from a site dedicated to Nadia and the Secret of Blue Water ( AKA Fushigi No Umi No Nadia ) so it explains why there is all this fuss. If you want the academic answer, which is thouroghly researched check this page, it also says something about Disney's Lilo and Stich being similar, and about he Lion King's controversy... I still have one more link on this subject (well two if you count the 'bonus' one below), Nadia &Atlantis are both similar to an even older anime from 1986, called Laputa. Check it out here.

If you really cannot be bothered with the above, just check this page ( it is a single picture ) and you will get the gist.

Hmm, it seems I got side-tracked somewhere along the way..

Photos!

20/06/02: Finally I have gotten around to uploading the photos I have scanned in from Mike, Seb and Ed.

"The Society" Open Day Operation: Download ZIP | Download EXE | Open Web page version

Leavers' Cricket Match: Download ZIP | Download EXE | Open Web page version

Offical Leavers' Photo: Click here to open in a new window

UnOffical Leavers' Photo: Click here to open in a new window

Quicktime VR Panoramics: Click here to open interactive gallery

Oratory Hell II: A Leader is Born

26/12/02: Hope you all had a Merry Christmas! As my present to you I am going to annouce something that only the forum junkies would know about! Yes you guessed it, I have done a shi-load of work on OH2, so much that I have renamed it! The previous title ( Vengeance, which I am sure I spell wrong ) was referring to the ending of this episode, but naturally most of you don't know the ending - depsite the script being published in the Oratory Hell II section of this site! The new name is far more apt for the ending. "Born" perhaps is not the right word, but it will do for now.

Click to enlarge the still shot!

I have made the following changes/additions to OH2:

• Changed the Title text in both wording and style.
• Managed to lose the font for the "Agent SHMOKAH" screen, which I will fix when I get to my own PC at Warwick Uni.
• Redesgined the D.U.M.P sign in Harris's BWM scene.
• Completely Redone the Dytor Scene, although it still has no significance, or purpose -eventually I will get around to that bit (it is not pointless! Honest!)
• Added a scene of Ed Beckett reading from his Rugby Bible ( still unexplained, again, I will get to this using Swish hopefully ).
• Continued Chuddy's Breifing and also added in the 'pencil' marks for where his arm will go ( the more observant of you will note I have not actually drawn Chuddy's arms yet )
• Added Povey's Plans, which affetcs Namkwan's Scene ( The ninja with the Mission Impossible music ), and Chuddys Breifing.
• Did some minor updating to the Screen which is behind Chuddy, such as adding transition frames which give a sense of turning on and off.
• Added in a little extra: The Mysterious Eyebrow Man, who you may well recognise ( it is not me ).

Misc. changes/additions:

• Updated the loading script which calculated how long you have left, it is still slight inaccurate in telling you when it is safe to click play, but that is due to laziness.. it takes a long time to export these SWF files, and then changing a single number int he script and re-exporting it seems like a waste of time.
• Fixed a slight mistake on Chuddy's Left Eyebrow.
• Increased the file size by about half a Mb, my apologies.
• Updated the Chuddy's side-looking face to include speaking.
• Realised there are only 3 characters in this episode.
• Created a text file for keeping all the credits in, such as music and so on.
• Tweaked some of the lip-synching (starting/stopping lip movement at the wrong time)
• Redid the OH2 Tile in the Animations Page
• Wrote about storyboards in the OH2 Info page.
• Updated the OH2 Preview page.
• Fixed the CSS Style Sheet for this website ( basically things which should be centred, should actually appear centred now )
• Reordered the Splash page, sorry about having such a huge Splash picture!
• Changed the Splash picture. I will eventually link to all the old splash pages... eventually.

Oratory Hell 2 is alive, but not kicking

17/11/02: Seeing as the only reason you miserable lot ever come to my site, is to check whether I have done any more OH2, I thought I would make it the subject of this update's.. er.. "notice".

OH2 is not dead, I have been talking to a mysterious person by the name of Lucas, this photogenic is an artist of sorts, but he is animator-less.. which is quite conveniet for your truly, an animator who needs someone who can draw contently! A group of us ( Lucas, myself and a couple of supports ) have been tediously screening through massive amounts of Anime and Flash animations. So the next time you think to your self "Rob is never going to finish it, he's too lazy" I want you to think about the immense number of hours I have spent watching Family Guy, Rah Xephron, Lost Universe, Alien 9, Cowboy Bebop, Commisoner Kong (see it on newgrounds.com here) and others FOR YOU!!!

I am sacrificing not only time, but a promising career (via obtaining a degree) FOR YOU!! (Donations welcome).

Recently I recieved this email from an imaginary die-hard fan who I have made up for the sake of convenience:

Dear Rod.

Please excuse the typo in the first line of my email, I frequently get you confused with God.

You may have spent hours looking for a die hard fan, but I have spent my ENTIRE LIFE looking for you... the Oracle told me I would discover a man with a mullet the size of a small child, this man would be THE ONE. I won't lie to you God, YOU are the one, you will lead anime and website authoring into the new age.

I wish to help you in anyway I can. This is why I have digitalised my soul and attached it to this email, in the hopes that you may trade it in with Microsoft, who will give you an army of animators, programmers, artists, vocal actors and playboy bunnies to aid you on your honorable quest.

I hope that my feeble contribution will be of use, no matter how little.

Everlasting fandom,

Zyphod Beeblebrox

[Attachment: "Beeblebrox.soul" scanned with McAffee virusscan - "For real peace of mind!"]

Truth be told, I am only updating the site becuase I don't want to get started with work, but that is not the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Originally I was going to update the Gallery section with photos from Gabon Hong Kong, and maybe some from Uni, I can't do the Hong Kong photos becuase I dont have them on my harddisk ( they take up two CDs, when compressed ) . I have the space to put them on, just, but I choose not to - my hard disk is overworked as it is! I copied 6 DVDs of Cowboy Bebop to my hdd this weekend.. which is using up a fair bit of space..

Then I thought "Wow that picture of me is a little on the large size.. " so I shrunk it down and decided to make this front page LOOK like I have updated it!

ALSO I have updated the most important part of this website, no not OH2 - the section dedicated to ME! As I am now 19 I needed to update the page, so I rewrote the entire introduction. (Believe that!)

Dont believe me? Check it!

Mission Accomplished

[Trasmission ends...]

Bobo3 Wallpaper

19/09/02: Most of you have no idea who Bobo is, so allow me to enlighten you. Bobo is the (dwarf sized) pet dog of Ricky's family. I am quite fond of her, and have made a rather nifty wallpaper for myself. I am so pleased with it that I am going to allow you the pleasure of having it as well. It has also been added to the Art section ( that is what it was meant for after all (the art section I mean) ).

Most important of all: ME!

28/10/02: As you should ALL know, tomorrow is my birthday! I will be 19 years of age tomorrow! Brilliant eh? Just thought I would remind you all.. (money is the preferred way of exspressing congradulations).

I have updated the Alumni page a fair bit, added Bertie Kerr, and John Leigh (just becuase!) also annotated all the people who I have mobile phone numbers for.

More Excuses

22/10/02: Been busy here! I have loads of work (_!_) and it needs to be done! Especially the coursework! Just decided to update the site a little, updated Ricky's details in the Alumni page - he has a new ICQ number as his old one was hacked.

Photo Retouching Tutorial

13/10/02: I got a little bored, and wrote a rather incoherent tutorial on how to sort out colours and so on in photoshop. It is quite useful, if a little hard to read. I have a lot of photos and screen shots to make it a little more understandable!

It is under the MISC section, or you can go directly to it here.

Forum

06/10/02: At a request I have added a forum to my site. From there you will be able to discuss all manner of things, and hopefully it will serve as a rather slow, but useful source of information ( ie finding contact details from old friends, that might not be in the Alumni page ).

Click below to enter:

ORATORY HELL 2

05/10/02: You read correctly! I have resumed work on Oratory Hell 2, as promised! Now I don't think there is very much to get excited about here at the moment, becuase what I have done is not a lot, and it is probably of no importance the to the final outcome, as I never got around to recording a voice for Dytor, so he is in there for the sake of sticking to my original script... that, and I love the Eurythmics track which is in the background!

Alumni + Misc

29/09/02: Ten days since my last update. I got an email from Ben Huntington and have added his email address to the Alumni section of the site, as requested by him. Nothing else has happened to the site.

I have finally begun at Warwick Uni, and so far I am very impressed, of course I have only been here for about half a day ( first thing first - internet connection! ). Hope I see you all online in the comming months!

Alumni minor update

19/09/02: James Hilton found Simon Flynn's contact details, and they have been added to the Alumni page; along with details of Patrick Williams (AKA Penfold).

Alumni phone book anyone?

17/09/02: Please could all members of the Alumni pages send me their mobile phone details - so I can keep an UNPUBLISHED list of them.

James Hilton has been asking for Simon Flynn's email address, if anyone knows how to contact Simon please let me know, or let James Hilton know.

Updated Alumni / Thoughts on OH2

12/09/02: Added Greg Nash's details to Alumni, also updating Tom Hart's to include MSN.

About Oratory Hell 2, which I have promised many times to finish ( and I will ). I have been giving it more thought, and I trying to decide exactly how to finish it off, the largest problem is the fast paced action I wrote into the script; which to put it mildly is not very descriptive - there is a line which simply says "Cue F***-off big fight between Chuddy and Povey". Now I like drawing, and I like animation, but I am not expert at either - simply drawing Povey took me ages till I got one I liked, and I have since fallen out of practice drawing him..

I have been reading up on tutorials on using a PC to draw Manga styles scene and characters, now I have no intention of changing the way Povey looks dramitcally, but I'd like to know how, the "fans", would feel if I did a series of comic-book styled stills, which were accompanied by the usual sounds? To be honest, I need a cheap way out of drawing so much action, so I want to make it a mix of proper animation, and artistic comic-book stills. Please vote below for your preference!

The style I mean is like in the picture just below. I cannot stress STYLE enough - I did not draw this, I don't think I could, but this is the kind of effect I want to aim for - it will be very different fron the rest..

Also on a completely unrelated point, I have started using www.webbrain.com which is a very nice way to browse the web! You get a visual representation of the web, and you click on categories until you end up with sites - Great if you are bored and just want something to read / do! I have added it to the links section as well.

Updated "Rob"

06/09/02: I decided to re-write the page about me, nothing very interesting.. but at least it is up-to-date.

Alumni update

30/08/02: Today Audy has given me some more names and email addresses for the Alumni page, Oli Hatt, and Uduak Inyang.

An update! God be praised!

28/08/02: It seems like forever since I last updated, in fact it has been about 2 months! TWO MONTHS! In summer!

However, I do have an almost acceptable excuse:

Due to unforseen events, my plans for the holidays were severly and dramatically changed. Ricky informed me of a job openeing at his parents company in Hong Kong, not wishing to be rude I accepted without delay. Of course this meant that I physically would be in HK for the duration of my summer vaction, all 3 months of it.
While HK is a great place to look around, it is not my home, and so I do not infact have my PC here ( usually I would bring it with my to Cyprus for summer ). Ricky's home, luxurious though it is, is lacking in the internet department. Severly lacking. Help is at hand though! The office where we work does have 2 blisteringly fast internet connections at our disposal! However, it would be unacceptable for me to waste working time making my own personal website. I spent enough time on ICQ, MSN Messenger and email as it is.

I can update the site a little today becuase I have managed to get ahead of my workload, that is to say, I am waiting for more content to arrive at my desk so that I may continue work on the website ( currently situation at http://202.71.217.212/elene.net and http://202.71.217.212/parlain.com )

I have also had some ideas for other animations, and by typing them here I hope that I will in fact get around to them someday. After all, people do not come to this site to read my thoughts, most want OH2, and some others want to show their mates pictures of Openday pranks, perhaps even some 360° VR panoramics of The Oratory School.

• HK MTR Express Octopus lane:
  The tube in the Hong Kong underground have wireless tickets, and turnstyles, but it takes a half second for the wireless ticket to be read, so making the lane longer would allow business men in a rush to literally run through at full speed. I think this one will be a spoof advert.
• Music video of some description:
  Only real idea here is that I want to use the music of "Chemical Bros. - My Elastic Eye". It's a weird track, and it will take a lot of work to pull it off.

Also I want to start a very simple contact page for all of my mates from The Oratory School, it is difficult to keep track of everyone. So I will make a list of contacts for them. Hopefully I will make a proper database once I am studying the dark arts of Computer Nerdism (AKA Computer Science).

• So far there is this page. I will send out an email to everyone who I know the email address of, asking for more email addresses. If you know someone address, please email me via the contact page.

Tom just asked me about Harry Coades most recent Revue, and I need a copy - if anyone knows how I can contact him, please let me know. If you have a copy your self please let me know. See the contact page.

Tiny changes

21/05/02: After nearly a month I have updated the front page! I am working on my art exam at the moment, and you should know - anyone who has visited the site over the last month will know that nothing has really changed, albeit the links to Exam appearing, but not having any function. So while I was updating my exam mini-site I have updated the template - all the links at the bottom of these pages (and to the left) that refer to exam should now pop up a box explaining that that section is not available until after moderation ( which is, I think, the 29th of June, but I have heard that it has been pushed forward by two weeks, making it the.. eh.. (29-14) =15th June

I also updated the links section to reflect the new title of this site, although my friend Jason in Cyprus tells me that my certificate of ownership for RobMeerman.co.uk finally arrived, although it does not matter because I have no control over it and cannot be bothered to sort it out - perhaps once I am on holiday in Hong Kong.

Just to reiterate - I have every intention of finishing Oratory Hell 2 - I had someone ask me about it a few days ago - "Why would you bother finishing it once you've left the school?", in short, becuase I said I would. (And also I am so proud of it and it's popularity).

Exam: Transformation

25/04/02: There is going to be a change to the running of the website for the next few weeks. Instead of the usual small updates and a few final pieces, I am now going to fill it with all the information pertating to my art examination. I think I will probably put it on a seperate page to make life easier.

Effectivly the only thing to be updated will be the exam section. Until it is done, obviously.

I would just like to reassure everyone with I will finish Oratory Hell 2, I have even had a parent and a friend in a uni request I finish it!

T-Shirts, Leavers Photos, Apology and Advertising

19/04/02: Hi all. I know I have no updated in a long time and I apologise - while holidaying in Malaysia I could not use my drawing tablet and I did not have an internet connection - so there were no updates and I did not do any more of the cartoon as I had planned to. Also I have been offered a job in Hong Kong during the summer break - so how much of the animation I get done I am not sure. Maybe I can do more of it in between exams and revision on study leave.

Today was the leaver's photograph and as most of you know or have heard I was wearing a "No Harris" T-Shirt (with the illustration on the right on it).

A lot of people (including some teachers!) asked if they could get a copy of the shirt; so many people asked that I am now talking to a novelty printing company about printing off 25 or so - and I am also considering some other designs. Some of the other designs I have already made are below. Naturally I take requests, Dytor and Mushy have been mentioned. Shirts are expected to be black and around the £10 ( they are professionally screen-printed, which means they are washing machine safe and the designs will not crack like iron-on transfers ).

You can right click on the drawing below ( and right ) and zoom in etc, in the usual way.

Also I have been working with a new program called ZBrush, it really is a very unique program. I have designed a "Oratory Hell" logo that I am very happy with and which I plan to put on all the 'merchandise'. For instance I have made a desktop wall paper that uses it (see below); it is 1024x768 JPEG and weighs in at 123kb.

For those who are interested you can download the other logo ideas by clicking here (133kb ZIP).

In other news today I have some artwork from my experiments in ZBrush - my first successful 3D modelling session - only there is one catch - I cannot figure out how to rotate my new model in ZBrush.. which is a real shame because on the back there is a demon face, you see it is a two sided head. Pity pity.. check them out here in the art section.

Art Dissertation

19/04/02: I have been working on my art dissertation for a while and I have decided to make it public.. although I am in the process of redoing it so that it will eventually be a large interactive Flash animation/cartoon. I am having some difficulties in recording a 3d modelling session so that it may be played back at will on a computer...

You may see it here.

Oratory Hell 2 - Probable delay

28/02/02: Over my half term break I realised that I probably will not finish Oratory Hell 2 in the near future, because the A2 specification only gives 8 marks (out of 64) for the final piece - the rest of the marks are obtained in the planning and so on ( of which I have plenty on the site, and I even have a mini-disc somewhere of a discussion about the script).

I WILL FINISH IT

Only I think I will most likely finish it over summer ( and do some work on it over Easter ).

All - in - all I need to work on my dissertation and start thinking about my exam in a little more depth. Sorry to dissapoint.

(You should have also recieved this info in an email if your are a member of the mailing list - but it does not seem to work for everyone).

Oratory Hell 2 - Direct Download and Standalone player (EXE version)

08/02/02: After hearing complaints of the Oratory Hell 2 preview page not working I realised that my main audience, the school, are unable to see the animations becuase the network computers only have v4 of the Flash plugin. So I have not places a direct download link for saving the animation, and a little standalone player to view it without a web browser.

This little program is also available in the programs section.

Sorry about a lack of updates, but I have to concentrate on getting some marks for my Art Dissertation as well. I have made three alterations to the animation:

• I have tweaked Chuddy's arms, it was not obvious enough that his hands were clasped behind his back.
• I have changed the typing cursor at the beginning of Povey Study scene.
• I changed the calander in Namkwan Mission Impossible scene, so in reads "Tomorrow Midnight" instead of "Tomorrow 12:00am".

Added a mailing list

02/02/02: As suggested, I have added a mailing list - you can use the form below, or find an identical form on one of the pages in the "Animations > Oratory Hell 2" section.

Join the mailing list Enter your name and email address: Name: Email:   Subscribe      Unsubscribe

Please contact me with any problems.

Finshed the first visual scene of "The Setbacks"

01/02/02: By visual scene, I mean before the background changes to Mr. Dytor's first assembly. The animation is now 1.7Mb ( which is getting pretty large.. compared to my last animation which was 768kb! )

My next problem is that I don't have any voices recored for Mr. Dytor... he hasn't really been here long enough for anyone to have developed a decent impression - at least no one in my circle of friends.. so if anyone reads this and knows someone who can do it please email me!

Check out the updated animation

Finshed working on Harris's Car

31/01/02: I have finally finished working on Harris's BMW for the animation - it is below for you enjoyment, please note you can right click and zoom in on it.

Updated the Programs Section

28/01/02: Today has really been full of updates, so I have fixed the Programs secion. There were some files on the site that were not linked to..

Programs Secion

Removed MiniPoll

28/01/02: As some of you will notice, I have removed the Minipoll from the front page - this is becuase no one ever really bothered voting. I imagine it is because the questions were so mind-numbingly boring. Ah well..

Archived News

28/01/02: Been quite active on the site this morning, I also archived 75% of the stuff on this opening page becuase it was getting cluttered.

Old news can be found by clicking on the link at the very bottom of this page.

Art (Flash) section update

28/01/02: Finally, I got around to adding a little sketch I did over Christmas to it. I hope to add some more as I find them... I seem to have misplaced them..

Art (Flash) Section

Oratory Hell 2 Info Update

28/01/02: I have completely redone the Oratory Hell 2 introduction page becuase it really did not have any informaiotn on it

Now it contains a rough outline to the story, the script, the ammended script, some conceptual art and the storyboards.

OH2 Info page

Oratory Hell 2 Update

27/01/02: I fixed the font problem ( although I don't think anyone saw it ).

Now I hope to work on it a little more - although I still cannot get hold of that song - "Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams"..

Here is a screenshot:

Oratory Hell 2 Update

26/01/02: I have started work on Oratory Hell 2 once again, so far I have drawn the front of the school and finalised my choice of music for the next scene - "Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are made of this)". Unfortunately I cannot find it anywhere.. so I am talking to friends.

Also there have been delays due to a lack of source material - I have to take some photos of the bottom of the drive so I could start the next scene's background, I still need a picture of Mr Harris's BMW, and I need Ed to record more of Chuddy's voice (this was put off becuase I forgot to take the script to Carmel).

So work IS being done, albeit quite slowly.

Note the new version is missing all special fonts, this is a temporary problem.

Here it is

Oratory Hell 2 Update

02/01/02: Running at 4min 8seconds. 1.56mb.

Check it out!

Oratory Hell 2 Update

01/01/02: Added a whole new Gato at the end, fixed a load of irritating defects and the new one is now 1.4Mb, and increase in 200k

Here it is

Happy New years!

01/01/02: Nuff said.

Small Oratory Hell 2 Update

28/12/01: I did a few more seconds an managed to add on a whole 300k.. sheesh.. wonder where all the space is going!?

Bothered

OH2 Update

22/12/01: I have done a few more seconds of the animation, and changed Gato's face.

Check it out

New Animation

20/12/01: I found an old animation back - it is quite good, but incompelte due to technical difficulties ( I lost the source files ). It is at the bottom of the animations section.

Enjoy

New URL

20/12/01: As you hopefully just read, I have added a notice to this page. For those of you unable to read it, it simply informed you that you can get to this site using the following URL (NB: no "www.")

devoted.to/OratoryHell

Unlike the usual URL, this one is not case sensitive.

Website Colour Scheme

19/12/01: Changed the navigation pictures to something more Christmas-like; and one thing led to another and I re-did the site colour scheme.

Any thoughts?

OH2 Update

19/12/01: Did some FX work (made the jumpy film black and white, and added some grain) and I started work on the next scene: Povey's Study. Hope you like the music.

Goto Animations section

Moody Fish MP3s

18/12/01: Been a while, but I decided to sort out some of the music section. I added links to the "Moody Fish" MP3s...

OH2:Vengence - Pre-loader

16/12/01: After quiet a few complaints about no preloader on my newest (but imcomplete) animation I decided to spend a good few hours ( about 3 ) fixing and perfecting a pre-loader. I have since improved it further, the connection rate should show an average now, instead of showing the last 1/12 of a second.

Check it out

Picture of the moment

16/12/01: I was bored so I browsed my own site for a while ( as you do .. ) and I came across this lovely picture.

Added Panoramics photo gallery

16/12/01: I added a load of photos I took back at school. They have all been edited so that they join up to make larger panoramic photos.

Go see

Captioned Seacaves photo gallery

16/12/01: Stephan and I finally added some captions to the seacaves photos.

Go see

Misc. Updates

16/12/01: I have made a few changes to the site, such as colours of text and a nice new icon at the top of every page. I also fixed the links page. (Not to mention the link at the bottom of every page, TO the link page.) Let's see.. and I changed the splash picture.. (go see). Also I changed some of the info on myself in the Rob section. The changes are highlighted for anyone who is interested ( God, that's a scary thought, someone who is actually interested in my stats. )

Any comments on the changes are welcome.

Oratory Hell 2: Vengence

13/12/01: I know it has been forever since I updated, but you see it is all Mr. Haskey's fault.. he cut my internet connection ( literally ) a number of times..

Introducing - the all new, all improved, all cheesy, SEQUEL to ORATORY HELL!!!!

Click to view unfinished version!

The bastards!

Basically I have been screwed by the internet!! Firstly XOOM.COM ( now NBCI.com) screwed me over by discontinuing their hosting service ( !! ) and freeparking.co.uk STILL have not gotten my robmeerman.co.uk working - o and while I am on the topic - I don't have robmeerman.com anymore thanks to namezero ("Free domain for life"); apparently my "free trial period" was over.. so much for free for life.

So I moved to freeservers.com, they are so god damn slow, and their advert is infuriating, and the final blow was when I did not have enough space to upload my Oratory Hell animation: "Disk quota exceeded".. screw them ALL!!!

So now my good mate John Leigh is hosting my pages on his webspace ( which he pays for) - Thankx Karborn!!! I will add the advert really soon!

Added 7 Moody Fish MP3s

31/08/01: I have added 7 MP3 files of music from Stephan's band (Stephan is my brother)- "Moody Fish (Snook)". This is a band that he and a few mates decided to make - honestly they are quite impressive! I have yet to actually make his website (which will be RobMeerman.co.uk/MoodyFish or moodyfish.robmeerman.co.uk) but until then I will simply link to his music from here :)

• Moody Fish (Snook) - Anything that's bad for you
• Moody Fish (Snook) - Could Be
• Moody Fish (Snook) - Heart Breaking Bullshit
• Moody Fish (Snook) - Knowledge Unknown
• Moody Fish (Snook) - Life Near Experience
• Moody Fish (Snook) - Look Again
• Moody Fish (Snook) - Spanish Mystery

More photos of Gabon!

25/08/01: I have added even more photos of by beloved ex-home country: Gabon. It even has comments for each photo! The photos were taken (with kind permission) from Brian Teeder's website.

Also I have finally downloaded the ATI codec I need so I can play back some old videos from the 4th form - so hopefully tomorrow I will convert them to MPEG or RM and add them to the videos section.

Is Norris House Doomed?

22/08/01: Anyone else heard the rumour that Norris house is caving in? Well look no further - I investigated the issue!

Added Misc > Open Day 2001 section

21/08/01: I have just finished writing and making the Open Day 2001 section. I will be emailing some people and trying to get hold of the photos. All that is up at the moment is a narration and the newspaper clippings.

Added Oratory Hell II ALPHA section

17/08/01: At last I have added a section for my next animation on the school - this one is more complex and is hardly started - hence it is in its ALPHA stage. You can find info and pics of how it is coming along - please don't hesitate to submit ideas and so on!

Major update to "Videos" section!

17/08/01: I have finally added the 5th Form Review to the videos sections, nearly a year late - but hey there it is. It is in Realplayer format and I brought it down from 177Mb to 11.9Mb!! Enjoy.

Major update to "Rob" section!

17/08/01: Not that anyone cares, or comes to this site, but I updated a lot of stuff last night. I fixed all the photo galleries so that they use CSS (and hence I can change the site's colour scheme so easily its a joke) and I did the "Rob" section up properly!!

O - and I added another gallery.. the CokeCan gallery - that's right - hi-res pictures of a CokeCan on a mirror.. hmm maybe I could be the "SomethingAwful.com's Awful site of the day!"

O - and I added yet another gallery (can you tell I have a program that does it for me?) This one is a little more interesting - this is the Seacaves galley - from my camping trip!

And I added another one.. the Cyprus2000-2001 gallery - which is basically the contents of Amanda's Camera. I will add captions to the pics sometime.

Check the FaberPics/OldPics Gallery!

I just added my photos of Faber and the ones I had lying around from 4th form to the site, I havn't got them on the menu yet though - becuase I am missing some fonts I need to add it (I lost them when I last wiped my comp which was around 2 months ago.. )

Check the FaberPics Gallery
Check the OldPics Gallery