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.

Three in a row

Bad things usually happen in threes.

My summer drawing class was cancelled leaving me with no model for the summer until I can find a substitute class. I'm really tempted to yell at my Dean about this since they cut nine classes.

I injured myself doing lifting at work. I feel like Hank Hill in the "diminished glutes" episode. Yes, sitting can be difficult lol.

Thankfully the last one wasn't too bad. My car got egged. It may have been a large swooping bird, but I doubt it lol. If anybody has any remedy to getting this stuff off, my guinea pig will do a dance.

Now the dreadful three has passed. Hopefully something good will come up next. Maybe I should buy some lotto lol.

Crunch time

I finally put up the FCBD 2006 pages I did. I feel really bad how much I neglected my webcomic. I'll try my best to update during the summer, but the looming portfolio will keep me busy.
http://manganese.comicgenesis.com

Everybody have a safe summer. I'll update this blog as soon as I get started on the portfolio. I have a major task of cleaning my work area first lol.


Note: I am so getting a Nintendo Wii. It would take me five paychecks to buy a PS3. I'm just glad God of War II is on the PS2.

FCBD 2006

Although this year's Free Comic Book Day is the weekend before finals (the agony!), I will make it out there. Comicgenesis sent me five free copies already. My comic looks a little stretched, but I feel happy it came out alright. The only problem in the table of contents they spelled my user name Magnese o.0 I will post my un-altered comic after finals are over lol. So hopefully I'll get more people reading my comic. If not, it's just a neat idea someone on Saturday will read my comic.

I might enter this juried show at Space Gallery. My chances of getting in is practically zero, but it's nice to try anyway. The best in show gets their own exhibition in 2007.
http://spacegallery.org/JuriedShow.html

hehe My sister is currently part of this livejournal group called "rate your piggy." Well Xiao Bao is currently winning the theme Gross looking piggy lol. You can see the pic here: http://community.livejournal.com/rateyourpiggy/267050.html

It's amazing. He's still adorable even when he's eating poop lol.

Final note:
Well the last post I made a huge mistake. I mistakened Goro for Nayochin lol. I was wondering why Mr. Miyazaki looked so young lol.

Bizarre fun!

*Update correction: I knew I didn't understand Japanese lol. The guy who I mistakened as Goro is Nayochin, he does ads for Ghibli. You can read about him in Goro's blog (Nayo also updates for Goro now.) His nickname is pretty hilarious.
http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/earthsea/blog/blog61.html


I'm beginning to think until summer my blog is becoming "the bizarre and fun facts" blog lol. I just keep coming across interesting stuff that other news sources haven't emphasized yet(cough Cartoon Brew).

This one blew me away. Bill Plympton is teaming up with Kanye West....again! In Time Magazine:

"ANIMATED KANYE
Scoop up a few Grammys? Check. Rant about the President on live TV? Check. Launch a line of preppy duds? Check. The next item on rap star KANYE WEST'S to-do list is to create a book in the style of Japanese manga comics with animator Bill Plympton. Plympton, best known for short films that appeared on MTV in the '80s, met West when drawing the raw, smudgy animation for the hip-hop star's video Heard 'Em Say. After the two hit it off, they decided to collaborate on a book based on West's lyrics for Simon & Schuster. Can a Kanye West line of baked goods be far behind?"

I'm a little scared and intrigued at the same time. Bill doing a manga? I mean if it was just a comic sure, but a manga....with Kanye West? I mean something like his regular comics such as the one in the new Flight 3 book. http://www.flightcomics.com (Sorry little ad there. I just love this anthology too much!)

And last but not least,
The website http://www.ghibliworld.com is just too awesome. They have insider information on Gedo Senki and just some really great videos and pictures.
Yikes my mistake this guy is actually Nayo-chin. He's a really funny guy. I swear if I ever met him I'll give him Pringles to ease his pain. I'll find a picture of Goro Miyazaki later. (Yeesh, even the video knew. I'm such a nutcase.)

They have a video where it shows he's a pretty quiet guy and seems to get along with Producer Toshio Suzuki very well (almost like a father figure).

http://www.ghibliworld.com/professional_suzuki.wmv

http://www.ghibliworld.com/makingofgedosenkitrailer.wmv

Squidworks comic Jam!

Friday I had a really nice and eccentric time with the Squidworks crew. We were guinea pigs to a new idea Stan created "Improv Cartoon Jam." It was really fun and got my creative juices flowing. You can check out the rules and what I contributed. Stan put who did what panel at the bottom of the comic. Be warned some of it is pretty raunchy lol. What do you expect from three guys and a girl?

http://www.webcomicsnation.com/StanYan/jams/series.php

I also learned how to make mini published comics by using cheap paper. Ingenius idea that I might use to sell my comic later on.

May 6 is Free Comic Book Day where you can get free stuff and support local comic shops. This year is a little special. I will actually be in one of the comics they are giving out. I'm part of the silver sponsor Comic Genesis: Generation booklet. Mind you, I have no idea how my comic will turn out in print. I made this special two page DayDream comic, but I had to smoosh it to make it fit. I will post the unsmooshed version on my website after FCBD.

The Disney Vault TV Funhouse spoof...(I hope you were able to see it)
And yes, half of it is true and half isn't (I'll let your imagination think about it lol)....keep extra close attention to the images in the back. One is from:
Who Framed Roger Rabbit of Jessica's oops
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096438/alternateversions
The other is the unknown, but interesting Fantasia censorship.
http://calvincrowe.tripod.com/fantasia/
Also Jeff has a much better description and post about the subject.
http://thoughtnami.blogspot.com/2006/04/truth-hurts.html

Noteworthy

Interesting stuff to look at during the week...

I love, chef and writer, Anthony Bourdain sarcastic and jaw- dropping travels on the show "No Reservations." He eats anything except he has not tried the greatly smelly and feared durian fruit. My god, I only ate a cookie that had the taste of durian and it was awful. I swear it smells like gasoline lol.

Well, in Monday's episode he visited Peru....and well he ate guinea pig. I'm a little surprised it actually looked like a pet store guinea pig not a wild one. They were so cute...before they were eaten. Yet, I'm still okay with it. It's part of their culture and is a much better life than in some lab getting experimented on. I hope Xiao Bao isn't reading this.

I saw a really awesome "Frontline" on PBS about Tiananmen Square and the famous Man in front of the tank. They will have the program online to watch. It shows the emotion and integrity of the people and the cruel tactics the government used (probably still today).

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/

I was going to write more tidbits, but the Frontline program pretty much blew everything away. Oh well, just a slight mention then:

• CLAMP (all four I believe!) coming to Anime Expo (so close yet so far :(
• Ramen Rube Goldberg...those crazy Japanese http://youtube.com/watch?v=1kvdq8cRNBM&search=ramen%20goldberg
• Death Cab for Cutie...you wouldn't believe this guy got away with it http://youtube.com/watch?v=wl3S64qUn34&search=death%20cab%20turnstiles

And a special thank you to my readers! Jeff, I'm very honored to be linked to your blog. I'm not worthy! Enoch, you're a much better writer and you still read my blog lol. I promise the California trip will be up...soon.

Strike! You're out!

Now a public service announcement (sorry I need to blurb about this):

Baseball opened yesterday and so did our RTD bus strike. It's odd how something so unrecognized and unappreciated could create such a mess for Denver. People usually hate being behind buses because of frequent stops. Now they realize how important buses are.

Our buses mainly comprise of downtown workers, school kids, and the poor. It's the cheapest transportation ($1.25) considering downtown parking fees ($5.00-$7.00). Traffic is heavy and most of my school parking lots are full. The light rail which cost millions to build is now shutdown. Thank goodness I have a car. I started driving to school mainly this year due to my late classes.

I support the strike in a way. The standard of living is so high that people need more money. On the other hand, where I work they make $7.00 more than the average employee. I have to do more physical labor, but they have to keep 50 people's lives safe.

Strikes are problematic and any problem always kicks the poor first. I hope this thing ends soon. So if you ride the bus, thank the bus driver. Please break and be courteous to buses. They're more important than you think.

California Dreamin'

Yay! I'm back from California. I got to visit many things on this trip such as:
CalArts
Frank Gehry's Disney Music Hall
Getty Art Museum
Chinatown
Monterey Park

I'm going to post a better review of the trip with pretty pictures later this week.
I had a great time (my first artsy oriented trip).

But I've decided....CalArts is the school I want to be in. So on this blog I'm going to try something out. Over the course of the summer I'm going to be drawing my butt off. I'll post my sketches here and in the end I'll have I guess a comment poll on which sketch should go into my portfolio and which sketch should be re-worked. I need all the help I can get.

I'm trying to apply for Fall 2007 as a transfer student. In the more likely case that I don't make it in the first time, I still have my drawing degree to finish.

Thanks everybody for your support.

CalArts baby!

Hooray! On Sunday I'm flying over to California for a week of pure relaxation....lol not really.

I made an appointment on Monday to go to Calarts and visit their film department :D I'm really excited. It's quite odd when you already decided your dream school without ever being there. Everything will be great until we get to the topic of.....financial aid....and crappy portfolio lol.

Yeah...my portfolio isn't great right now. I still have huge problems with proportion and anatomy. Oy, even my art critique in class pointed this out 0.o
I still am not sure whether to transfer or finish my degree. I will probably figure it out this summer when I cram and make my arms bleed. I have a plan...if I don't improve this summer greatly I will finish my degree.
I shall: take summer drawing classes, get a pass for the zoo, do "master" studies of cartoon stills, draw people until they are annoyed, and break dance :P

And now random stuff that is happening in Colorado currently.

HOV lanes and Tilly
http://9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=fa783fbc-0abe-421a-0004-f1a90731c39c&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf
Poor Tilly at auction lol
http://cgi.ebay.com/TILLIE-THE-DUMMY-HOV-LANE-PASSENGER-TILLY_W0QQitemZ7751812682

And morbid but intriguing Body World: I'm bringing a barf back to this.
http://www.bodyworlds.com/en/pages/home.asp

Oh and before I forget :D
New Avatar: The Last Airbender tomorrow
I'm still debating whether to buy the dvds because I wonder if there will be a season pack someday.

Gendo Senki

I'm enthralled with the production and family disagreements with Studio Ghibli's new film Gendo Senki or Tales from Earthsea. The film is based Ursula Le Guin's "Earthsea" series. I've looked up summaries of the books (I will read them soon :p) and the movie will focus on "The Farthest Shore." It will have bits and pieces from the other books.

The most interesting part about this movie is that it is directed and storyboarded by Miyazaki's son Goro. Hayao Miyazaki is against his son's directorial debut and they haven't talked since production. At the beginning, I thought it was because he had no previous animation experience (he's actually an architect), but after reading Goro's blog http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/earthsea/blog/ you begin to realize how much he loved the books and how he is careful at every step of the process. He has the whole Ghibli staff helping him. My goodness look at that image...simply beautiful.

Pages 39-41 of his blog reveals his relationship with his father. Goro practically didn't have a father. With animation production consuming Miyazaki, he barely spent time with his family. Goro watched his father's films to discover more about him. This is a problem that happens to a lot of people involved in the industry. I often thought of the sacrifices I will make to pursue my dream and whether it's worth it?

I have full faith that this movie will be a masterpiece. It will definitely be a better adaptation of a book than Howl's Moving Castle. The animation is reminiscent of Nausicaa. I think the movie would have less spectacular action scenes and focus on the teaching and relationships of the characters. The first trailer is available on-line. http://www.catsuka.com/news_detail.php?id=1140663861 Click on the link and keep refreshing until it downloads.

Oscar 2006 Quickie

I was at work and only got to see the last half. Wallace and Gromit and John Canemaker winning was no surprise to me. I wish Corpse Bride could have won something. After watching it a second time, I realized I enjoyed it a lot more than W&G (gasp). I was fortunate enough to see all of the short animated nominees (thanks to Starz Film Center.) My family loved the gothic Jasper Morello while I thought it was a bit slow at the beginning. I did like the Moon and the Son a lot better than last year's winner Ryan, but too long. Alas, my favorite was the one that wasn't nominated Fan and the Flower by Bill Plympton. I swear someday they better give this man an Oscar. Badgered and One Man Band was cute and enjoyable. 9 was okay, but really this shouldn't have been nominated.

hehe everybody in Taiwan cheered when Ang Lee won the Oscar. The whole news the next day was just about him winning. Poor guy. They interviewed his school teachers and they brought in the..... grade book lol. He was an average student while they thought his brother was going to be famous.

Crash winning wasn't too surprising since the day before Ebert predicted Crash would win.

Thank goodness they got rid of presenting the awards in the crowd and bringing them on stage for the minor awards. That was such a bad idea last year. I was also glad the recipients can now see how much time they have for their speech and that they cut off anybody.

Guinea Pig Randomness

Here are some random guinea pig fun that is odd and may cause cuteness seizures:

Nick Jr. has a new show starring a guinea pig. Very annoying singing show, but the guinea pig is quite cute.
http://www.nickjr.com/home/shows/wond_parents/index.jhtml

In the UK, they have created a robot guinea pig that recharges from the remote carrot you give it. It has it's own hut and interacts with other robots. Guspi.....the robot of the future


Sooty the guinea pig who is defined as the pimp of all guinea pigs. Xiao Bao...thankfully hasn't learned his skills yet.
Read more here:
http://usera.imagecave.com/HBThingy/1137373097214.jpg
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/1048327.stm

And the icing on the cake from "Cute Overload"
http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2006/03/prepare_for_you.html

The cuteness....the cuteness

Numb

I'm a little distraught this morning, and I have been for the past couple of days. One of the people I admire the most might be very sick. He's currently taking medical examinations to see if he has Lou Gehrig's disease. This is a terrible disease that causes the body to slowly lose all function in movement and soon breathing. The hardest part is the person is completely aware that all of this is happening since intelligence isn't affected. Once diagnosed half of the people die within 2-3 years.

http://www.alsa.org/

I have been pretty numb since I found out that he might have this disease. I thought I could cheer him up by getting him a "don't give up" card, but he was out again today. I'm really worried. He seems to have given up. Before I knew, I never noticed the constant phone calls causing him to leave class or sitting by himself during break times. I thought he was just getting ready for an opening or something or he was absent because of the commute.

I hope to have a follow up post exclaiming all the tests are negative. I really do hope.

2-D animation at Disney?!?

Okay quick post. I hope this is true.

http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=22456

This is a dream come true. I might have a job after all lol.

My Valentine

Your little squeaks

And partial smile

Greets me perfectly when I wake

You jump with utter glee

Then you chew on my sleeve

While I just smile at the nibble

Long hours away

Yet you always wait for me

I love you and kiss you everyday

Cuddle and hold you close

You're my manly sassy Xiao Bao

My true valentine

Happy Valentines Day little cream puff!

Sleep Sleep

I've been so busy lately that I think my brain is about to melt.

Finished the rough sketch of Free Comic Book Day thing. It's four pages= $100 :( The sad thing is it's not my best work. The hard part is it's about 30 pages after of what is online right now. I want to get the in-between pages online before Free Comic Book Day. Otherwise people will get an unintentional spoiler. I'm very tempted to trash the whole idea and just create a little skit for the freebie. Well, I have until Monday.....

I'm very tempted to buy the debut pack from this software.
http://www.e-frontier.com/go/mangastudio_hpa

It seems to be great for creating manga, but I'm still thinking of diverging from that style. I really should just stick to traditional materials. I bought some Ph Dr. Martin's ink to try and start learning to paint in the character in oh mighty color. I'll tell you how it turns out.

Yay! During Spring Break, I'm going to California to visit my relatives and finally see CalArts. I'm really nervous because my work is nowhere near their caliber. Plus, the tuition can make babies cry.

Who Should Paint You: Gustav Klimt

Sensual and gorgeous, you would inspire an enchanting portrait..With just enough classic appeal to be hung in any museum!

What Artist Should Paint Your Portrait?

Damn Right!