Fengyu's Thesis Blog

The bad news is a 6.1 magnitude earthquake killed 36 people on August 30th.
LINK http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/01/world/asia/01china.html?em

The good news is that the new semester just start. Schools create a mandatory course that is similar to psychological intervention. For elementary school, games are going to be the main content of this course. I hope they can play my project in class.

I went to the Craigslist Foundation Nonprofit boot camp last Saturday, August 16th, with the purpose to looking for inspiration and nonprofit rsources for my thesis project. I attended 3 workshops, a lunch discussion forum and a One-on-One Coaching. It was a long busy day, but very helpful.

The main purpose of this boot camp was helping coming NPO leaders, so more than half of the attendees were working in NPO. But in professor Paul Light's speech in the morning keynote, there was something really attracted my attention. He said that before start a new NPO, people should consider collaboration first. That was what I was looking for, collaboration.

There were 7 tracks of workshops, 3 workshops for each track. I took the BIG IDEAS track for the first 2, and TECHNOLOGY for the last one. Since the target audience was leaders of NPO, I felt the BIG IDEAS track were too big for me. The last section of TECHNOLOGY track was Social Networking. The speaker Farra Trompeter compared a couple of different online social networking platforms, such as facebook, myspace, flicker, youtube... and held a discussion on how these platforms were actually used in the NPOs. As an individual, I still found it very helpful. The lunch discussion on Google earth was also good. All the presentation files and the recorded lecture will be available on the Craigslist Foundation's website soon. I'm looking forward to reviewing them.

The best part of the whole day was One-on-One Coaching. I sighed up with Mr. Darrell Edmonds, who had experience working with children's mental health. I told him I was working on a project that helps kids from the huge Sichuan Earthquake recover psychologically through games or/and animations. Mr. Edmonds helped me to find a couple of nonprofit group that he was in touch with and offered me some novel thoughts of my thesis. What's best was he said he was willing to share some academic resources with me.

Best Animated Animal Movies

Chicken Little

Cute, colorful, and mostly lively. Fun for grade-schoolers and up.

on 7+
3 stars

Over the Hedge

Cute animated tale of animals invading the burbs.

on 7+
4 stars

The Lion King

A beautifully animated and told story set in the African grasslands.

on 6+
4 stars

Finding Nemo

This movie will make an ichthyologist out of anyone, because all of the characters are based on real-life ocean species, each one more marvelous than the one before.

on 6+
5 stars

101 Dalmatians

The puppies are adorable, and the movie is exciting, funny, and entertaining.

on 6+
5 stars

Home on the Range

A cute little story about some not-so-contented cows who save the day.

on 6+
4 stars

Lady and the Tramp

This is one of Disney's best animated films, with an appealing story and memorable music.

on 5+
5 stars

A Bug's Life

The insect characters are quirky and endearing enough to make you forget they are computer-animated.

on 5+
5 stars

Bambi 2

Bambi may have matured, but still a tearjerker for some kids.

on 5+
3 stars

Lilo and Stitch 2: Stitch Has A Glitch

More of the same, sweet and fun for kids.

on 5+
4 stars

Curious George (2006)

A simple, sweet, sometimes silly monkey tale for little kids.

on 4+
3 stars

from http://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-lists/Animated-Animal-Movies.html

siroyb's blog (traditional Chinese). He posted some research on panda's behavior with video and photos shot in Sichuan Wolong Panda Research Center.
http://blog.xuite.net/siroyb/blog?st=c&p=1&w=512983

This page shows the process of growth of baby panadas

http://www.lifeinthefastlane.ca/astonishing-baby-pandas-and-births/offbeat-news

http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/flowing/black.html
download from here: http://gameshadow.vo.llnwd.net/o1/ltd/patches/flow/games/flow.zip

a cute drawing animation. I like the technique as well as the concept of this piece.


a Japanese serie animation. typical japanese style, simple and cute.


panda city, a cool combination of the 3D animation and the real world


Kung Fu Panda the trailer

Sneezing Panda




baby panda

No matter what media I am going to work with (an animation, a game, a book... ), I need a character. A character that my audience will love, a character that bring happiness to them, a character that can represent Chinese culture, especially Sichuan culture.

Since the kids are now in their summer break, I was not able to talk to them even though my friend is now working in Dujiangyan in Sichuan. He asked me to wait until the fall semester. I've read some interviews online. The questions they answered were what they wanted, what TV program they liked, and what animation they enjoyed the most. Most of the school kids wanted notebooks, pens, textbooks. They watched a lot of animation on TV, and the funny American animation Tom and Jerry was very popular.

Right now I'm planning to create an animal character. A panda is my top choice. The panda is representing not only China, but also Sichuan the province. They mostly live in that area. They always look fat, and move slowly and funny. They have very strange voice, which make people laugh. I'll do more research on the animal itself and find some existing panda animation as reference.

http://www.kongregate.com/games/customlogic/sprout