Avatar Shipping

Zutara fans are crazy....

Man, Avatar as of late is just getting so crazy....but so addictive :p

I wasn't too sure why at the beginning fans were already pairing Zuko and Katara. They barely meet except in fight scenes.

Aww poor Aang....he better not kill Zuko for this.

I'll blog above the very hilarious Avatar shipping panel at Comic-Con. I'm still rooting for Foamtara lol.

Seat is waiting

Right now, I'm currently waiting for my chance to see "Brief Encounters of the Animated Kind" at the Starz Film Festival. It sold out...so I'm waiting if somebody doesn't show up. This year their main focus is Canadian films. What's better than the wonderful NFB!

I struggled through my flu this weekend to participate in the Norman Mclaren: Animation Workshop. He's really quirky and a wonderful animator. All of these techniques are no walk in the park. He really had talent. I got to take clear film and draw animation on them with colored markers. Then, at another table I got to scratch and color on regular film, which was really difficult. Finally, I got to do pixelation or stop-motion with a camera. They used a device called a "lunchbox" connected to a digital camera to take single frames.
I was thinking to myself..."my god! This is the solution to my animation problems. I've been trying to find a single frame camera."

I found out the box cost roughly $7000.....><

I made approximately 3 seconds of film lol. They screened it the next day, but I was too sick :( It was of my Xiao Bao too....can you imagine him on the big screen XD I have pics of the film strip that I will later post. Sadly, I didn't get to keep the film.

Oh yes and I'm also seeing a short later tonight by Chel White. Gosh I hope I get a seat. On one hand...a sold out show for animation is awesome! On the other....I want to see it.

Here's some Mclaren:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dNzefjYxeEI

The oscar winning and favorite film "Neighbors":
http://youtube.com/watch?v=X6x-Hf9GSfc

Finally NDK 2006 Report

I'm trying a new thing here. I use to just upload pics on Imagecave, but this time I created a Flickr photo album of my photos from NDK. I couldn't upload all the pics because of a limit ><. If you get confused with all the name blurting, here's the guest list and also the slideshow gives more info.
I had a wonderful time this year! I didn't get to go on Friday to see Opening Ceremonies because of printmaking craziness. I think they showed a trailer of Satoshi Kon's Paprika.

Saturday

I started off with the Madhouse Fan Panel (little did I know they would be there lol). For some reason, I had the courage to yammer my head off as to why Madhouse animation represents such quality work. Not to many people came so Umehara-san asked us to bundle together. I got to sit right next to him 0.o. We mainly talked about whether Japan will slowly go to 3-D like the U.S. Mizushima-san said they're so use to flat images like manga that it won't likely happen. We also discussed the difficulty of the transition to cel then digital to make the work. I like how they described missing the air between the cel and the camera so the color was much different. Also we asked if their studios had any rivals. In reality for Japan, animators work at multiple studios and often collaborate with each other. I guess no Pixar and Dreamworks rivalries lol.

I quickly went to see Fullmetal Alchemist: Conquerer of Shambala movie. I had to leave 10 minutes before the end for my panel :( thankfully my sister stayed for the Mizushima-san questions. She said the best part was when Umehara-san slowly came up and said in broken English "Please would you have an anime in Denver?" Mizushima-san cracked up and said no more questions lol.

I was part of the 24 hour comic panel where we retold the comic kinda like a storyboard meeting. A lot more showed up this year and I think people enjoyed it.

Then I went to the Piano Squall concert. Great musician with a great cause.

Sunday

This day was mainly for getting autographs and waiting for the closing ceremony auction. We were lucky enough to win the auction for Mizushima-san's signature with Al. Meeting Madhouse this year was one of the most rewarding experience I've had. Although I bet meeting the Animation Show crew will soon top that lol.

The auction was awesome. They raised around $4000 for Piano Squall's MS charity and $7000 for breast cancer. Umehara-san's sketch went up to $2000. It was a really cute sketch. I was right behind him and he was shaking and sweating lol. He came up to each person who bought his sketch and bowed.

This was a group shot with the two people who auctioned to $2000 each.


This is the banner the guy bid on. As a thank you gift for both they got the entire library of Manga Entertainment and lifetime pass to NDK. They both looked pale lol.


This is Sato-san, Mizushima-san, and Umehara-san


All of the guests...Spike Spencer (va for Shinji from Eva) is the one with the sunglasses lol.


My goodies!

Top: Piano Squall poster
Left to right per row: Umehara-san's sketch of me, Mizushima-san's Al, Stan Yan's sketch he gave to me
2nd row: CCS dvd Sat0-san signed, FMA dvd Mizushima-san signed, CD Lisa Furukawa signed
3rd row: PSME dvd Michael Dobson signed, Samurai Champloo dvd Darrel Guilbeau signed
My sister got he Eva figure signed by Spike Spencer which is not present in photo lol.

Check out my pics with Madhouse and more in my Flicker set.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32106219@N00/sets/72157594359328314/

What a great year! I missed you Will if you're reading!
Can't wait for next year.

Tumbleweed

Yup....sorry for the abscence. This weekend I'll try to post up my pics from NDK and if willing and not lazy my 24 hour comic.

I'm not sure if I announced this officially yet, but the cool opportunity that happened is...

I'm now an internet intern for The Animation Show!!! One of my jobs is to write about animators' upcoming works. I posted the first one on Jonathan Nix ("Hello" 2006).
It's all to get ready for Year 3!
http://animationshow.com/journal1.html

I hope everyone bought the Bitter Films Vol 1 dvd. It was truly awesome to behold ^^

300 NDK

Martial art Spartans...awesome graphics...and Frank Miller...
What more could you want?
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/300/

NDK is this weekend...although I may have to compromise in order to finish my printmaking project, but I'll definitely be there for Saturday and Friday. Come see my participation in the 24 hour comic presentation.

I'm a little sad my friend Will won't be there. Everytime we try to meet it is foiled lol.

I'll give a little report on the con.

And a report on DAM....it was so beautiful. Let me just say 3 Damien Hirsts, Janine Antoni's famous "Lick and Lather", and a very sophisticated installation "Engi."

http://www.ucdadvocate.com/media/storage/paper538/news/2006/10/04/PhotoEssay/Dam-Good.Art-2331775.shtml?norewrite200610060017&sourcedomain=www.ucdadvocate.com

I will say nothing about the exploding anime chick. :p

Tales of Ba Sing Se - Iroh's story

The creator's tribute to Mako...you can tell a certain part of the episode his voice changes. I'm assuming that's the voice of the replacement. It was pretty close to his tone, but it just didn't have that hoolow growl. Rest in peace Mako!

24 hour marathon

Updated throughout marathon:

9:30 pm-Start time of course after Avatar

11:47 pm- Couldn't resist petting Xiao Bao

12:16 am- Geez I have about four pages penciled. For the first time, my story might be too short to fit 24 pages. I feel like I'm already stretching it lol. So watch out for monologues!

1:37 am- On 8th page....man I'm bad at this. I already have the urge to sleep.

2:30 am- 9th page....I'm starting to think in gibberish. I'm definitely a dinural animal. I'm beginning to think I have a disadvantage since I started at night. I'm taking a snooze til 7:30 am. I'll be behind about 3 pages, but I'm hoping my inking skills won't fail me.

9:50 am- Well, past the half mark.....I'm really behind now. I'm on the 10th page. I had to drive with my sister to an interview. Hopefully, I can get some work done before I get to the gallery. Now working on 4 hours of sleep ....><

11:01 am- On page 14,I finally picked up some speed. Geez, I'm sure making a damn depressing story, such a drama queen lol.

11:34 am- Only 11 pages to go....seems a lot but the last couple of pages are going to have wider views...yes cheating. this might be my last post for a while. Don't know how tied up the computer will be at the gallery.


.....

10:00 pm- included driving time

hehe I finished! I was very exhausted and had to bring in my sister to erase lol. Thanks to the Squids for such a great time. I'm prinitng my comic for NDK, so if your there buy!!! I might also be doing a powerpoint narration presentation on the comic on Saturday at 4pm. Don't worry...I'll post it after mid-terms :p

On a final note...best memoriam to a voice actor...look above.

24

A lot of craziness has been going on lately. This weekend the Squidworks crew is having a 24 Hour comic Marathon at Capsule Gallery. It is a week ahead of the official date due to NDK being on that same weekend. So if you're in Denver come and watch me become a zombie. The sad thing is I have to start earlier than everyone else due to DAM opening. Pedestrians will get to see the side effects in advance. I'll post my comic ASAP after the event.



The Denver Art Museum opening is a gigantic event. I heard the new contemporary wing is fantastic. Who knew Clyfford Still and De Kooning was in storage this whole time? I'm really curious to see how the slanted walls affected some of the paintings. As you can see it is rather slanted :p

In addition, you may see some design changes on this blog. An awesome opportunity has arised that requires me to post on another journal. So this one may become experimental to improve and work out anything on the other blog. I'll tell you the good news once I make my first post ^^.

Scream with glee

Word came across all art classes around the world...The Scream is found! A lot of people thought this artwork was truly gone, due to the fact this painting was made on cardboard. Oslo police recovered close to two years from the date it was stolen.


It's quite rare for a piece of art to be recovered. What is rarer is the irony and just bizarre coincidence that follows this recovered work.

Just last week M&Ms made a promotion to give 2 million dark M&Ms to the person who recovers the stolen Munch. Many thought this promotion was just for show and a guarantee for the Mars corp. to never have to deliver their promise. Then boom...the work is returned lol.

M&Ms is keeping their promise. If it is truly the missing Munch, Oslo police gets to have lots of M&Ms.

http://www.typetive.com/candyblog/item/dark_mms_offer_reward/

See...there is a sweet reward for bringing back artwork....now give me back those Rembrandts!!!

Rejoice!!

Whoo hoo! Here's my entry for Nan Desu Kan's Anime Artistry contest. Not sure if I can beat last years, but I really had fun with this. I used watercolor pans to create the color.

I haven't named this image yet....and yes Heidi is a terrible name for it. I got inspired by Earthsea...lots of goats in that book lol.

Back at school as well. I have a little cart with me to help move my art supplies. I look dorky, but my back is very pleased. For those who care, I'm taking Printmaking I, Watermedia I, Advance drawing, Intermediate Life drawing, and Contemporary Art History.

Great things are starting to happen in Denver. We FINALLY have our own Claes Oldenburg sculpture! http://www.amnnews.com/press.jsp?id=2842

Earthsea/ Gedo Senki

When I heard the next Ghibli movie was going to be based on The Farthest Shore part of the Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin, I picked up the first book The Wizard of Earthsea after I got off work. Coincidently, this was around the same time my back gave out and I became bedridden for a couple of days. I was expecting nothing special in particular, but what I found was a beautifully crafted world built on history, languages, and culture.

There wasn't a theme of good vs evil or an overuse of "crazy magic" like in Harry Potter. The character Sparrowhawk/Ged has to literally face himself showing how human beings carry their own good and evil. Throughout the whole six books there is no one who is truly evil, just people with basic human yearning for power and control over death. Magic in fantasy is often a gift that can be used without regret. In Earthsea, magic is based on balance such as if a wizard creates rain for an area, it could cause a drought where the rain was destined to be. Magic is used when absolutely necessary. The power of word is more powerful than magic itself. Every element is governed by their originally name. Each character have different aliases to protect them.

I don't even think I accurately expressed the profound and beautiful affect this series has brought to my mind. I feel greatly ashamed I only found this series just because it was turning into a movie.

Gedo Senki came out at the end of July in Japan. Reviews have been mainly good. From what I hear people are most disappointed because it is quite different from the book, the style, and that the characters' mannerisms and skin color aren't the same. I believe I will enjoy the movie when it comes out in the US. This movie is darker than most Ghibli films and IT IS NOT a Hayao Miyazaki movie. I think Goro Miyazaki should get applause as a first time director. Adapting a book to a movie is a difficult process and I heard the movie was made quite quickly compared to other Ghibli films. I hope he makes more movies and understands that the movie is his own now and shouldn't feel terrible if the author didn't like the outcome.

I made this excrutiatingly long post because Le Guin finally saw the movie and posted her feelings on the web. I read forums and read some negative feedback toward her opinion. People need to understand this series has been always misrepresented which made her very protective of her work. Her characters have darker skin and are never represented in this way; on book covers, crappy Sci-fi mini series, and even Gedo Senki.

The makers of the American TV version, while boasting that they
were "color blind," reduced the colored population of Earthsea to one and a
half. I have blasted them for whitewashing Earthsea, and do not forgive them for
it.
The issue is different in Japan. I cannot address the issue of race in
Japan because I know too little about it. But I know that an anime film runs
smack into the almost immutable conventions of its genre. Most of the people in
anime films look — to the American/European eye — white. I am told that the
Japanese audience perceives them differently. I am told that they may perceive
this Ged as darker than my eye does. I hope so. Most of the characters look
white to me, but there is at least a nice variation of tans and beiges. And
Tenar's fair hair and blue eyes are right, since she's a minority type from the
Kargish.

I'm glad Ms. Le Guin stated this. Japanese animation often has characters that are Japanese but have attributes of Europeans. This might have been because of World War II. It may also be the yearning to be white. I've heard of surgeries on Asians to make them look more European or normal. Whatever the reason, I do believe Ged is dark in the movie, but Arren is not(he has a bronze shade to his skin in the book). It is not completely obvious which might have been a major disappointment. The only main problem I could see from the character designs is Therru wasn't more scarred or mangled, but that might scare too many people.

I recommend anyone to read Le Guin's whole opinion on the movie.

http://www.ursulakleguin.com/GedoSenkiResponse.html

And to also read Goro's journey through this film with the translated blog.

http://nausicaa.net/miyazaki/earthsea/blog/

Sadly due to Scifi holdings on the rights, the movie won't come out until 2009.

Read Earthsea, Watch Gedo Senki and thank you for reading this incredibly long post.

Knights of Cydonia

The best music video I've seen in a while. I would pay to see this at the movies.

Knights of Cydonia by Muse
Director Joseph Kahn

Xiao Bao's Birthday

His first birthday, which we celebrated on July 27th after my birthday. He was probably actually born earlier in July.


Sorry for the high pitched singing. I go into cutsy mommy role when ever I see him. And yes, he practically ate all of it (parsely, carrot, cucumber, green pepper, and a critter berry treat) and then slept in his fancy new polka dot pouch.

Glorious Xiao Bao

Now you can see Xiao Bao in action. We were trying to tape him doing his cleaning ritual, but my Dad just kept sneezing. That scared Xiao Bao a bit.

Farewell Mako

So depressing....just checking on Comic-con reports on Toonzone when I stumbled upon this news. Mako Iwamatsu died of esophageal cancer at the age of 72 on Friday.


He's known for his voice work of Aku (Samurai Jack) and Uncle Iroh (Avatar: The Last Airbender). Also he played as the wizard Akiro in Conan. Notably, he recieved an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in The Sand Pebbles. He has such a bold, deep, dragon-like voice that sounds strict yet endearing.


He will be greatly missed.

Up to date

I am turning 20 in 5 days and yet this happens....

1 month ago I quit my job due to back pain and problems bending. I thought it was an irritated sciatic nerve. Just two weeks ago my mom suggested to have an MRI....oh boy do I hate MRI's...well I found out I have a herniated disc between L5 and S1 (for all you medical buffs out there) with an extrusion through a wall that protects my nerves. Remember kids...picking up frozen bake goods can be quite deadly.

I'm quite fine. I'm going to see a neurologist to check again if I need surgery.

The good news I get to spend more time with Xiao Bao. Enoch, I really need to find a pimp outfit lol. Although this site has...a fez lol!!!!

http://cuddlycavies.homestead.com/Hats.html

Currently I'm obssessed with You Tube. They have rare cartoons and bizarre things to share on the web. Joecool85 posted Grimm's Fairy Tales that use to be part of the Special delivery block on Nickelodeon. I watched this when I was in kindergarten yet it still beats the crap out of any kids show shown today.

http://youtube.com/results?search=delivery%20fairy%20special%20tales&search_tags=Search+Videos

Sorry, I knew this post was going to be long, but I really need to say this as well.

I have an odd attachment to the country of Lebanon. I did a project about this country in middle school and ever since then I wanted to try tabouli, a famous dish of Lebanon. This country was going through reconstruction and seemed to be building itself back together. It is just heart breaking to see what is happening to this country right now. Whether both sides are guilty, the innocent always suffer. Mazen Kerbaj's blog is a real outlook of the current situation through drawings. Sadly, all we can do is read and wait.

http://mazenkerblog.blogspot.com/

Their workplace

I'm not surprised Mokona is wearing a kimono lol. In press pictures and in their art, she always wears a kimono. And well the bottles of wine.....that's CLAMP alright.

CLAMP

The goddesses of manga are coming to Anime Expo this year. I can only imagine the attendance this year will triple and fans are lining outside just to see this quartet.

I'm extremely jealous to those who get to meet them. I have almost every manga that is available in the US. Their work is an addiction. From their lavishly drawn works to their intriguing storylines, it is nop wonder CLAMP is known throughout the world. The most miraculous aspect is that for more than 15 years four women worked together (without any assistants) to create such work. To accompilsh this for most of their career they lived together and only just recently moved out seperately.

I hope CLAMP has a nice time and visit the US again soon. Maybe in Colorado?

Cars

Sadly I agree completely with this review:
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/jun/09/animated_cars_lacks_drive/?arts

Something was really missing from the film. The main meaning of the film was to step back and enjoy the journey in life. It's hard to really feel this when cars represents humans. All I could think of during the movie was "Man, they must have higher gas prices than us." and "Can you imagine how much pollution they have? An average 14 farts a day from these cars would be disasterous."

Go see the movie to support Pixar, but there is something missing, and it bugs me.