cloudfarm

Delusion (2 July 2024)
 Some recent changes: new homepage with media collage explanation, reorganized Music, Writings, and Images pages, new C9RG bandcamp, and more if anyone cares to explore. The reason for these changes are explained indirectly by the text bellow I wrote on June 7th. I'd like to use my own images for the homepage one day; I don't know if I have any suitable ones yet.
 About the Heart Chambers Show, I called it that because I wanted to get closer to my heart, and in a way, it worked; just maybe not how I'd hoped. The show itself, I self-sabotaged because of anxiety and unfavourable conditions, but that ego-destruction ultimately drove me to reassess my course and become closer to my heart. I realized how I needed to be more receptive of love, so that I could give more of it too.
 I developed a series of real life art technologies: technologies of making art out of real life without the need for many resources. This was inspired by a philosophical belief that real beauty is actually found in real life (plotless movies such as Slacker or Gummo, Joyce's Ulysses, etc.)*. However, in these times where reality and the virtual are becoming ever more confused to the point where I couldn't honestly differentiate them (seeing as I always held that dreams are a part of reality anyway, and both inform each other), I don't exactly champion this view anymore, although I don't discourage the type of work it inspired for me either. It was kinda like chaotic cross-contamination, and it let me explore this distinction directly. The Video Project series (up to 4 so far) and Cloud Nine Revolutionary Group (as a group) are the works which most pursued this ideal. It was rewarding at the time to energize my friends to be creative and make art, but it's not like it totally panned out or made for the best possible art according to my vision. Devil Gang was a murky descent to uncover illusions. I'm still recovering from it. cloudfarm, in its ideal form, is a studio, like W**t D****y studios, but stepping on the spectacular court with an anarchist edge. Since I have enough ideas to cover a whole studio's worth, but a tiny fraction of the resources, I have to seriously consider what productions I should focus on. Since I was a child, I felt a calling in the distance, and I want to pursue that. When I think of what made Kingdom Hearts so special to me as a kid, I don't think of the story; I think of the concepts, designs, music, and overall magic of it. All that to say, I'm gonna try to prioritize my own calling from now on. I have a better idea of it now.
 *To clarify, I still like these works, and don't even see them as conforming to this view, try as they might (not that I'd know what they were trying to do). Their plotless dream-flow structures are also still fundamental for me. I mean that I want to create not limited by the aforementioned belief.

-Jacob

Heart Chambers Show (9 May 2024)
 Still working on being less closed-off. I bought a bike for cheap from an old repairman's backyard. It creaks and its breaks don't work so well. He came out of his house about five times with different sets of wrenches to try to tighten the handlebars.
 Maturing, I don't want to make art just for fun, out of frustration with life, or compromise for the sake of collaboration. No regrets, since it was a learning experience, but it's time to move on and work more deeply. There's so many aspects to explore; all the memories interconnecting, like neverending... What matters most to me?
 Well here's the poster for our new concert anyways. The screencaps are from Klonoa: Moonlight Museum. Also, Silas joined Two Cats on bass.

-Jacob

Upcoming Fire Show (21 March 2024)
 Can you believe it, a second concert almost a year later? The painting is Feuer Clown I by Paul Klee. And more soon hopefully. cloudfarm Inc. exists in the real world.

 I've been writing, drawing, recording, and editing in small increments gradually with occasional focused bursts, for several big projects so close yet so far. It's taking a while. If only I could maintain focus...

-Jacob

Upcoming First Show (13 April 2023)
 Spring's coming. I work at the cold airport now where there's only war. Jackson and I are braving the market seas April 18th. Below is the poster I designed for Silas to hang around the city. Star power!

-Jacob

Practice (Revised) (27 October 2022)
 I've been trying to get out there. I envisioned Night Owl's Wisdom as a parodic depiction of a magical world inside my room (isolated). It also doubles as a way to practice expressing myself more publicly. Jackson and I are regularly practicing (rehearsing) to perform live as a two-piece band (Two Cats). Like pirates (into the night), to infiltrate the city.
 Fear rules me, retarded in a line. In my way, I live like a nun, chaste, regulated, devoted. Since I was a child, I've obsessively practiced contemplation, looking out the window, wandering the schoolyard, and sitting against walls, trees, and fences. I go on daily walks now. I'm mostly working on album 2.
 Devil Gang have also been making an album, as an act of defiance. My collaborative works have been social and break many of my rules. I tour the world and communicate to it. Of revolutionary aspirations. Making pop music, I become a witch, practicing magic. I study.
 At my age, I have to decide whether to double down or back out. My father has repeatedly brought up the lyrics to "Tell Me Why" by Neil Young. I'm choosing to double down; duh. I'm bright and dark.

 Jackson released a one-off single, Ballerina, a result of his recent experimentation with autotune. He's working on at least three albums; we can't even keep count. He's also working on a mixed media project, which he's considering formatting as a webpage.
 Matt is planning to start a Twitter page to further propagate Devil Gang. I just linked a new image he made by Jackson's proposal on the webpage. He manages to come in for occasional recording sessions.
 Antoine: "I'm goinffring out over here!"
 Thomas: "Though love's wings enfold Thomas, the sword hidden among its pinions have wounded him, and he suffers tremendous heartbreak. He continues to trudge forward, carrying his stone, and will prevail undoubtedly and destroy the sun."
 Emmanuel: "I've been put through the ringer lately. Work's been long and hard, like the icicles that hang in winter. I've mostly been dunking my head in my research and, lo and behold, I got my first publication last month! I still have a few other projects in the works and my med school applications have yet to come to fruition, but I'm still filled with hope that they'll turn out well.
 Aside from all that, I've been pretty itinerant in the past few months. Just my usual hopping between cities. It really surprises me because I always said as a younger man that I wanted to travel more but I'm finding that the more I travel, the more I'm fond of my hometown! Weird how things work out that way!
 I've also restarted watching what I eat. I ballooned up quite a bit over the past year, so I want to take back control of that aspect of my life. I've been on the diet for a week now and I think my past experience is really helping! I definitely have more discipline than my first rodeo, so I expect this new round to pass swimmingly.
 With everything laid out, I'd like to thank the members of Devil Gang and everyone else for their continued support.
 Much love! <3"

-Jacob

Move to Neocities (4 January 2022)
 Because Google disabled editing for classic Sites, I decided to learn basic HTML and move my website to Neocities. I felt like a true coder legitimizing it. Maybe one day, I'll customize it beyond simple archiving.
 We're working on a variety of albums and videos. My electronic excursions continue with Cloud Nine Revolutionary Group. Jackson and I are also practicing playing as a band. Jackson's Video Garden Adventures was on brief hiatus while he was finishing university. We're both graduated now. Many more secrets await...

-Jacob

Swaggy New Year (12 January 2021)
 cloudfarm proudly presents the exclusive (for now) rerelease of season 1 of Matt's show, SwaggyHajj. All his videos, unlisted on YouTube, are now linked on the "Videos" page with some commentary in their descriptions; Matt made some changes to mine and wrote some of his own too. I enjoyed rewatching them all in order and reminiscing on our high school world during our senior year.
 SwaggyHajj and I have also collaborated recently to record the song "Bon McDonald Freestyle": the audio-visual single, a result of this year's final exam period procrastination, a sneak-peek for an upcoming EP under the name of our new nine-member music group. The group's short debut LP is also nearing completion.
 Over in the extended groupchat, we've been managing a dream log where we share and discuss our dreams (by text). What they didn't know until now was that this was part of cloudfarm's experience cultivation program to further our research on reality from as many perspectives as possible. We compiled everyone's dreams categorized by person; they're available on the "Writings" page. Mine aren't included in this initial dream collection publication because I'm planning on using them for a separate project which will take a lot longer to complete.
 None of us managed to accomplish much in terms of artistic output since the pandemic started. I mostly just explored and studied. 2021 doesn't seem much different as of yet, but hopefully everyone's situations will become easier later on. We're still working on many projects, slowly but surely.

-Jacob

 The tumultuous year that was 2020 has finally come to an end. It was about 13 months ago I had believed that 2020 was going to be a great year for me.
 The few months prior had felt good, my favorite basketball team (Toronto Raptors) had been crowned NBA champions and one of my favorite artists (Drake) had been dropping plenty of music I could enjoy throughout the year.
 I was a mere 4 months away from finally graduating post-secondary and I could only envision how much time and freedom I was going to have for the summer. I had so much on the cards of course, I was planning on hanging out with friends and continuing to serve my community to incredible heights (we had just finished a very successful camp) and I was envisioning finally completing my long-awaited LP, a sequel to INHANSU, (my debut EP) that I had began to put into production years ago along with the long awaited return of SwaggyHajj episodes.
 After another failure with a woman that ended in heartbreak, I finally felt ready to get back out in the world and meet new women while working out/keeping a clean bill of health, improving my relationship with my family and working on my spiritual being through meditation and prayer. Everything seemed aligned for a great year.
 But the pandemic hit, and everything was flipped on its back. The remaining 2 months of school was my most difficult time in post-secondary. I felt so uncaring for the remainder of the year and my grades dropped off. I am fortunate I finished early because I cannot imagine what my friends are beginning to go through. I did not hang out with friends as often as I would have liked to, and I've almost lost complete contact to many other friends, as we stayed shackled in our homes for safety and began to drift apart. Of course with the limited contact, camps and youth groups were cancelled. I joined along for an attempted reopening of groups but once again felt demoralized and scared of being around so many people from different areas in a confined space.
 This seemed like a perfect time to begin artistic projects like SwaggyHajj episodes and the LP, but with scarce resources and low morals, it was difficult to begin them while assuring they were up to my desired aspirations and quality. I worked out for a good run of 2 months but quit once again due to demoralization and began to eat a lot of take-out and junk food. I almost rarely pray or meditate, and I can assure you I haven't met any new women because they don't just walk around my basement trying to meet me. I've truly felt this year has demoralized me and made me a worse person. Ive felt angered and frustrated with others that I don't feel like myself anymore.
 The year was supposed to be great, but it was far from it. But so far, I can expect bigger things for 2021. Ive begun working out again and watching my weight in preparation for my soccer season (which I hope will be playable for the summer). I have recorded new music for the nine-member LP and a few songs with Jackson and Jacob. My LP (Neighborhood Narrations) ← (LP name revealed wooooooaaaah) is nearing completion and is coming together very nicely; while potential SwaggyHajj episodes and lore are circulating and might expect to see production in the near future. I told Jacob about not starting up SwaggyHajj until the pandemic ended but reading through everything made me nostalgic and has me itching to hopefully create something. It might not be sometime soon but sooner than I expected. SwaggyHajj Season 2 will be something special. I can confirm music videos though.
 Here is to hoping and praying we all have a better year in 2021,
 "May your neighbors respect you
 Trouble neglect you, angels protect you
 And heaven accept you"
 Take Care,

-Matthew

Extended Groupchat Distraction (7 June 2020)
 I'm writing this news post, firstly, to discuss recently planned future artistic activity, but, first, there is something I must address, and it is this screenshot supposedly taken from a "Discord groupchat I'm in" which supposedly "proves I'm racist":

 This disgusting screenshot taken completely out of context has been circulating. Apparently someone who goes by the username of "12tacos12" is the perpetuating perpetrator, though I've yet to come across them on any of my recent web surfs since becoming aware of this and vigilant. Let it be known; here is a message to you, "12tacos12" (or whatever your real name is), and any of your partners in hateful manipulative crime: please take this fake deceitful crap off the internet, or else; you've been warned.
 Jokes about me being racist aside, since Matt and I are too scared to actually go to the United States and riot for justice ourselves, we are developing a prototype of a "RoboCop" (like in the movie), to get past those crazy Border Patrol guards and do it for us. We're using Matt as a model to work from since he's the stronger one between the two of us and nobody else wanted to work with us (I suppose they were cop-fuckers, non-believers, etc.). Research is only beginning, but here's a picture Matt took of himself with some sample ideas of high-tech add-ons to give you an idea:

 We're going to be calling it "CyberHajj". We'll do our best to help in any way we can in the meantime. Something else we've been developing is "Zellers Shawarma". More details on this project will be revealed at a later date.
 Furthermore, we've enlisted outside talent (friends from high school), Thomas (high-tech wizkid producer) and Antoine (mathematician gamer who helps us come up with lyrics sometimes) to make an album which hopefully constructively and justly captures the strange tumultuous spring of 2020 from our joint perspectives.
 Reilly, William, and I are going to try to play Chrono Trigger. Reilly named his character "Johny" (five-character limit). Naturally, I named mine "Jacob". When I met the blonde-haired girl at the festival, I named her "Sunny", and when I got to the soda-drinking challenge booth, I tried really hard to impress her by drinking all eight sodas in time, but, using my keyboard, I could only mash the key fast enough to get seven and a half down as my record best. I'll be trying again later.

 There is possibility for positive change to arise from chaos. Matt had a nice dream of Jackson and us. Let's hope for the best.

 (Screenshot of messages edited for conciseness)

-Jacob

Quarantine Activity Log (2 April 2020)
 Over the course of the past 2 weeks it was pretty un«epic », all the bars and shit are closed. Can`t go out to karaoke. This is the biggest depressing part of it all to be honest. To compensate for the depression I`ve just been sleeping a lot and watching movies. Watched Midsommar last night. It was epic. Such a good movie.
 This stupid flu has been runing my life. I would spend all day just getting drunk and screaming, but I can't because I actually still need to show up at work (reometly - obviously). All that entails however is just waiting for my boss to give me something to do - which is only like half the time. So basically, I just wait to be summoned - and I'm usually not.
 What I want to spend my time doing is screaming - making music. But my roommates sleep all day and are awake all night. I live the opposite sleeping pattern and don't want to wake them up. So I'm pouring my artistic brain into a new project. (one more silent) - I'm book writing! Just like all of my idols. I won't give away too much, but you won't want to miss it :)
 The one thing that does bother about this flu is my friend Jacob. He keeps hitting me over the head with his bullshit about staying inside and staying clean, but that's like basically what I'm doing. He's making some faggy complaints and hasn't been minding his own business. Don't want to start a brawl or beef with my other 'Cat', but he's making some raw assumptions. I do go out, but it's only on runs, to the stores, or to see family. I stay far away from the smelly losers causing this problem. This FAGGOT JACOB (* don't mean to blame the guy) will never get it. I'm calling the Cat Clan for support in these harsh days.
 We must stand tall in our darkest hour.
 2 Cats, 2 Powers, 2ever.

-Jackson

 So, COVID-19 happened. Let's talk about it!
 The exact moment that I realized in how much trouble we would be in due to this virus started when the World Health Organization declared the Corona virus a pandemic. Now it felt like we were facing the real deal. It's notable to mention that this is the first pandemic since the Spanish Flu (1918-1919, infected more than 500 million people) that completely halted industrial progression worldwide. No other pandemic has done that in more than a century and, needless to say, we need to take this situation seriously. To imagine that before that, I thought that people were overreacting and that this had close to no chance of affecting us. Boy, was I wrong! Here is a short retelling of the events following that announcement until my school closed down and I was sent back home in isolation for 4 months. Truth be told, I don't have anything interesting to bring up other than a small rant on the organization in the chain of command at the RMCC (Royal Military College of Canada). Honestly, I find it's a pretty funny story, so buckle up, buckaroo.
 The first thing the college decided to do was to put every single officer-cadet (RMCC student) under what is called "barrack confinement". No one was allowed to leave the campus or the peninsula, where the university is located, under any circumstances. As a result, my life... barely changed. I just stopped going to class and started taking my courses online as I saw the college crumble under its own incompetence. I have to say, it seemed pretty good for me: more sleep and study time are always welcome!
 The idea was (of course) to prevent the spread of the virus from entering college grounds, but the issue was that it was decided at first that school was to continue normally, with the college staff waltzing in and out of campus without any restrictions. That's when the media complaints started. We were given direct orders by our chain of command not to answer questions from the media, which is never a good sign. The current status of the college was contrary to every other academic institution across the country and many articles were written, talking about the threat the RMCC represented for the Kingston community. The college responded by limiting all social gatherings and enforcing hand washing, which didn't address any of the right issues. The virus wouldn't appear out of nowhere: it would come from the travels of the college staff, moving in and out of campus! For once the students were not to blame, something the higher-ups failed to see. After this escalation in media tension and restrictions in liberties of the students and the college staff, the decision to send everyone back home was taken. How climactic!
 With all of this in perspective, I'd say that neither the Canadian government, nor the general public were ready to face this situation of global emergency. But honestly, who would be? This whole situation is way past crazy if you ask me. At least my family and friends are all safe, so I'm in no position to complain. I'll worry about this later...

-William

 We are nearly 2 weeks into quarantine and this disheartening situation is beginning to take a toll on not only mine, but the psyches of others around us.
 The days become longer and the pressure intensifies as we wait in our homes until a cure or anything to diffuse the virus, can be found. Like most others, my mother is blowing the situation out of proportion, treating it like Armageddon, but what more to expect from an overprotective parent.
 I myself became so bored I purchased an Xbox One and now wonder how a sane person can enjoyably play Fifa 20 for more than 15 minutes.
 That being said, the console does make time pass quicker. Because postsecondary schooling has been moved online, I'm being shoved with numerous projects and exams that need to be done within the next 3 weeks.
 As if I wasn't stressing enough after not being able to see my friends for an extended period of time, only being able to leave my house once every 3 days, being too demoralized to engage in physical activity or to work on art and/or music, and the age-old classic 21-year-old boy crisis of longing for a mate. There is only so much Drake music can do to aid you through such a time.
 These problems all become exemplified when we must isolate. Our minds wander and create unpleasant scenarios to make the situation less favorable. But it is for the greater good after all. I yearn for things to go back to normal sometime soon so I may be free and enjoy life like I once did, one month ago.

-Matthew

 One of the things I've been doing a lot in spite of this coronavirus outbreak is spending time with my roommates. I live with 3 other dudes, Logan, Mikey and Braydon. Logan left the house to go back to his hometown because he prefers hanging with his old parents than 3 cool college bros. Logan also has the biggest room of the house so since he left we took all his shit out of his room and transformed it into our new ping pong room. My new goal during corona season is to become a really good ping pong player so I can show off my skills to all the Guelph babes once this outbreak is finished. Another thing I've been doing a lot of is going for morning walks. It's really good because it's a good start to my day. It's spring so the sun is usually out and shining, it gets me up because I'm moving and walking, I usually walk in the woods near my house which is nice because its nature and nature is healthy. It's hard to explain the feeling but it's like you feel free from all your normal habits that you usually do like looking at the computer screen checking emails/Facebook/watching YouTube, it's like you are free from the cycle of social media addiction. The only problem that I have with these morning walks is that I go out for a really long time, and halfway through them I'll need to shit, so I'll be 30min away from my house walking back with a shit ready to unload, apart from that I'd recommend morning walks to anyone reading these. The rest of my activities include playing video games, eating food, and having fart contests with my roommates. So all in all think I've been using my time fairly well during the corona season.

-Reilly

The Launch (25 February 2020)
 One Saturday of drunk karaoke and I'm repenting for a week. No fun. We'll have to do our best to make it a blast.
 Reilly showed me well going home early and eating a pizza. Jackson had his regular night. Matt didn't come. William was in Europe with his family.
 I'll be keeping hidden for a while now, but I have a lot of artistic content in the works. I think I've amassed sufficient research for my second album. See my new/old comic, "The Formation". I also better understand the significance of fathers, related or not, at least to sons. Soothe the fall.
 History of website attempts: (1) YoDudleJace free website-making website subsite created followed by few rare painstaking updates. Appeared in scattered parts on different screens due to text boxes of lines of dashes used to separate widgets. Not much is remembered of it, but one notable feature of it was its latest tweets sidebar. Transformed into basic links page before being deleted. Unfeasible. (2) DaSeriousTurtle Flash file 1 mock-up. Quickly and roughly drawn assets. Would've had to have been navigated on one address page. Never completed; scrapped due to dissatisfaction with appearance. Archive of games, animations, and let's plays and art. FAQ, contact, and news pages. (3) DaSeriousTurtle Flash file 2 final. Inspired by version 5 of JonBro.com. Animated assets, new cleaner stylization of ninth grade increase in skill. Same features as before. Summer days listening to Trompe le Monde meticulously arranging yellow and blue vectors. Loss of interest and outgrowing from difficulty of expansion. (4) Current iteration cloudfarm classic Google sites pages. Neutral, well-organized, and easy to update. Quality in content rather than style. Overly serious? Still very embarrassing. Planned to be the most complete and detailed archive available to the public, kept with continuous involvement, always in progress.
 I've wanted to make a website ever since middle school. Now that I have, I might make it my home. Ready for launch. Blast off! Up to the stars we go!

-Jacob