L.A. Day Two

What a great morning. I got up, spent some time reading the book of Matthew a bit and went out to enjoy the absolutely glorious weather. So, I threw on my running shoes and was out the door.

I started off going north towards some small mountains hoping I could find a way up them. I jogged a couple of miles and found a promising road with about a 15 degree incline and started up it (half way up, my jog became a rather labored hike). The road ended, but I spied a nice deer trail so started up the mountain. When I got to the top of one of it’s forks I took a seat and enjoyed the early morning sun washing downtown Hollywood in a glowing haze. To the east a few small sky scrappers climbed through the mist. To the North rolling mountains progressively turning blue on their march towards the horizon.

Glorious. Thanks for the view, God.

At that point I was wishing I brought along my camera - that is until I started back down the mountain. I had hoped to find a road up top to take back town but found jack squat except private property security fences so I headed back down the way I came - almost tumbling down more times than I’d like to admit. But, it was an adventure:)

The best part of running up hills is running back down them. I love running down hills being on that verge of going so fast you’re going to take a rather nasty spill but not quite there - you’re running faster than you could ever run on a flat stretch. Like I said yesterday, I’m a goob.

I ran back past the hotel and decided to run down hollywood strip where all the theaters stand and the star’s stars checker the sidewalk. On the way, I made note of a couple to come back to and headed back to the hotel, worked out a little in the gym and hopped in the pool. I miss swimming. I gotta find a place to go in Chicago.

Running around L.A., I’m struck by a few thoughts- 1) many women here seem to have a peculiar allergy to clothing which seems to be particularly heightened at night which presents itself as wearing as little as possible or as tight as possible. 2) men who are young dress to look older and chic and men who are old dress to look young and hip. It’s a city of facades - of wanting to be thought more than one is. However, these are just the thoughts of a midwestern boy who probably doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

After I cleaned up, it was time to get out to try out the camera a bit more. So I took lots of photos of stuff - if something looked halfway interesting, I prolly took a picture of it.

Levar Burton was kind enough to offer his star for a sec. This is the closest I think I'm gonna get:)

This little guy was kind enough to pose for me.

My buddy, David Bokser, picked me up around 1:00 to go grab a bite to eat. We were first heading to In and Out burger, but the wait there looked to be anything but “In and Out” so Dave suggested Thai. I think what I had was called “Thai Pad” or “Pan” or something to that effect - noodles, shrimp, chicken, some sort of sprouts and some chopped nuts. It was delicious.

We hung out for the afternoon (making a detour to Target to get some black socks as I thankfully checked that morning and realized I didn't have em) then he brought me back to the hotel to clean up and was gonna meet me at the shindig.

So, I got dudded up and went to find the rest of the student film makers to find the shuttle to the ceremony. The night was a lot of fun, all the film makers and folk from the academy were talkative and plenty of interesting conversations were just a “hello“ away. We had about an hour of cocktails and I met my assigned mentor and his wife and we had nice chat. Dinner, which is sometimes a bit interesting at catered formal events (not that I have a long list of ones I’ve attended), was really good - some sort of all-natural salad with figs and green leafy stuff I’ve never seen in the grocery store, some deliciously tender chicken and creamy sliced potatoes and book-ended with some personalized apple pie things closing out the courses. The awards ceremony itself was very well done and entertaining. It was great to see the clips of the winners; I can’t wait to see them in their entirety tomorrow at the festival. When my turn came, my heart was beating a mile a minute, but I managed not to trip going up the stage.



I said a few thank yous and went to get some pictures taken. After it was all done, we milled about for a bit waiting for group pics. There were lots of celebrities - some I knew, others not. All the ones I had a chance to chat with were very warm and easy to talk to. Dave was excited to meet the director of ”24“ so I snapped pic of them and I met one of the guys from the ”Gilmore Girls” which, I’m a little ashamed to admit, I do watch from time to time.

After that, we headed back to the hotel then a group of us headed back out into the night for a little ”after-party-party“ and sat in a cool little lounge bar till 2:00 in the morning chatting it up. By that time I was more than ready for bed and was happily greeted by my king sized sled to dreamland promptly upon return.

Potter Updates...

When it rains, it pours:)

• I found out this past weekend that The Potter got first place in nontraditional animation in the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation College Television Awards. They're going to be so kind as to fly me to LA for the ceremony. It's gonna be a lot of fun. I've never actually spent any time in LA so I'm hoping to see a few things while I'm there. Sadly, I gotta rent myself a tux, but it's a small price to pay for something so cool.
• I also noticed the Animex 2006 awards list on Cg Society and took a peek and saw that The Potter got the "Animation Stills Prize".
  
• I've had numerous reports that the article is in the March issue of 3d World. I'm gonna go try to find a copy today.

Savannah Film Festival and catching up...

Headed out a week ago Thursday for the Savannah Film Festival and had great time. The festival went out of it's way to make sure we were taken care of. Talking to some of the other festival hoppers, that is most definitely not always the case. I met some great film makers and saw some phenomenal pieces. I had a great time overall.

I'm heading to California for Thanksgiving to hang with my brother and nephews which should be great times- nothing makes you smile like having a couple of pint size nephews jumping off your back. Also, my brother is getting an Xbox 360 which should mean some late night frag-a-thons.

I saw Chicken Little last week in 3d which was a treat. I really enjoyed the film overall. The story wasn't as strong as I'd have liked but the animation of the main characters was outstanding overall. The fish was my favorite character- great attitude sans words. When I first started seeing stuff on the film, I was worried that Chicken Little's "pupil eyes" would have issues being as expressive as "real" eyes. However, I think they worked great. I wonder how it would work on a character without glasses as they are a good natural cheat.

Yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I some vacation days I had to use before the end of the year- nothing like being ordered to take paid time off.

Festival Updates and a bit of the (other) Potter...

Work is going well, but busy. It's hard to find time to update the sites. However, I did update The Potter site last night with the latest in festivals and the team page as well. I found out about 3 festivals in the past week which is pretty darn cool. It's a finalist in the Stash DVD GSAA comp so it'll be in one of those issues and Animation Magazine's Student Competition so there might be an image in that. I also found out that it was accepted to the Savannah Film Festival so I'll be heading back to Savannah in November. Thankfully it's then, and the hot humid days they're going through now will be long gone. Speaking of, some of the guys here are complaining that it's hot and the radio is making it sound like "Black August" or something. After living in the soup that is summer in Savannah, it feels just fine to me....reminds me of Oklahoma.

I've gotta get caught up on blogs. I read an article last week in Time that I've been wanting to harp on a bit about Harry Potter in which the author feels a need to bash C.S. Lewis the whole time. I'm a huge fan of J.K. but I'd rather not have to read her praises juxtaposed against a poorly researched caricature of Lewis...reminds me of why I don't read the paper much any more. I'll get to it.

I read the latest Potter book in a day and it was very, very good. I'm taking it piece meal now on my second time through. I'll wait a bit to write on that to give people plenty of time to read it without getting a spoiler from me. The 3rd is still my favorite...ah, well.

Congrats to my buddy, David Bokser...

David and I both were selected as finalists for region 2 for the Student Academy Awards. Dave for Le Vieil Homme et Les Poissons and me for The Potter. I found out today that David was selected to go on to nationals. I just wanted to give Dave his props. He's a talented film maker and a good friend. I can't wait to see the final results and I really can't wait to see his next piece.