Win Some, Lose Some
My life has been through a series of up’s and down’s recently. To begin with, about two weeks ago Jan and I went with some members of my Production team to go see Flushed Away, which was a down for two reasons. First, I fucking hate my Production team because the vast majority of them are incompetent losers. Second, the movie turned out to not be all that good. It was basically one giant second act with no act one. For a 75 minute film, they definitely could’ve spent more time developing the story. Also, for all they did to make it seem like stop motion (digitally adding fingerprints) at least half of the film didn’t look like stop motion or clay. Why stylize a movie if not all of it will be stylized equally. Finally, unlike Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, there were no jokes in this film that some kid over 5 wouldn’t get. In other words, there was nothing in there solely for adults. Most of the jokes involved butt shaking or crotch smashing almost as if this film wasn’t written by the British but by regular viewers of Blue Collar Comedy.
After that, I didn’t get the internship at Giant Killer Robots or the Orphanage. Both were due to matters entirely outside of my control. GKR is scaling back their projects, cutting some leads, and going through a major studio overhaul and the Orphanage is completely filled up so they aren’t hiring anyone for a while. Both told me that they will be hiring in March though, which is good because that’s when I graduate.
On the plus side, three short stories that I wrote are going to be published in the school’s Surrealism Club’s book. They try to publish a book of artwork and literature every other quarter, so I might be able to get my hands on a copy before I graduate, which would be nice.
Also, my status might change next quarter from tutor to TA. I talked to my former Advanced Rigging instructor and he was cool with the idea. However, he has to find out if the school has enough money to pay for me. Even though I’d do it for free, it’s school policy that all TA’s need to be paid, which would suck if I can’t get the position due to lack of funds. Lastly, I finished writing my first MEL script and am in the process of getting www.highend3d.com to put it up on their website.
On Sunday, Jan and I found an awesome place to go for tea and tea tasting. It’s hosted by this very energetic and hip Chinese guy who let’s you taste as many teas for however long you like. I think we spent close to an hour in there just tasting tea. When we went to buy some tea, it turned out they were a little more expensive than either of us realized. The woman behind the register saw our surprise, felt bad for us, and gave us a free $8 clay pot. This was great because we were also looking for a new tea pot, so getting one for free was quite nice. Later, we went out to dinner at some Brazilian chorasceria (I have no idea to spell it. Basically it’s Brazil’s take on a steak house) where the waiters wander around with meat on swords. There is a little wheel on your table and when you put it to red, they ignore you, and when you turn it to green they bring you meat as they wander around. You can eat as much or as little as you want for however long you want. There is also an unimpressive salad bar. They also serve shrimp and grilled pineapple, the pineapple being especially delicious. We barely had room for dessert, but luckily we did because they were quite amazing. Definitely worth the price.
Finally, MySpace worked out for me once again in that I reconnected with someone I knew in High School. She was someone I met at a Jewish party when I was a sophomore and I have been friends with her ever since. Turns out she did something very Jewish and moved to Orlando, Florida.
Anyway, that’s how my life has been ebbing and flowing lately. Currently, I’ve been in the mood to write, which is great, except that I need to do work for my demo reel instead. I think after working so hard on my demo reel and that not resulting in anything I kind of let myself drift into limbo. I know I need to get things done and I work hard, but I can’t seem to focus or really commit myself to a full day of work, which sucks since I have a ton of stuff to do before next quarter. I figure once I fail again at getting hired I’ll have plenty of time to write and unless I start working longer and harder, that’s almost a certainty. I think I’m going to try funneling this writing urge into web site creation since that’s another thing I need to do before I graduate. Hmm…perhaps the up is cresting and I’m about to start descending rapidly again.
After that, I didn’t get the internship at Giant Killer Robots or the Orphanage. Both were due to matters entirely outside of my control. GKR is scaling back their projects, cutting some leads, and going through a major studio overhaul and the Orphanage is completely filled up so they aren’t hiring anyone for a while. Both told me that they will be hiring in March though, which is good because that’s when I graduate.
On the plus side, three short stories that I wrote are going to be published in the school’s Surrealism Club’s book. They try to publish a book of artwork and literature every other quarter, so I might be able to get my hands on a copy before I graduate, which would be nice.
Also, my status might change next quarter from tutor to TA. I talked to my former Advanced Rigging instructor and he was cool with the idea. However, he has to find out if the school has enough money to pay for me. Even though I’d do it for free, it’s school policy that all TA’s need to be paid, which would suck if I can’t get the position due to lack of funds. Lastly, I finished writing my first MEL script and am in the process of getting www.highend3d.com to put it up on their website.
On Sunday, Jan and I found an awesome place to go for tea and tea tasting. It’s hosted by this very energetic and hip Chinese guy who let’s you taste as many teas for however long you like. I think we spent close to an hour in there just tasting tea. When we went to buy some tea, it turned out they were a little more expensive than either of us realized. The woman behind the register saw our surprise, felt bad for us, and gave us a free $8 clay pot. This was great because we were also looking for a new tea pot, so getting one for free was quite nice. Later, we went out to dinner at some Brazilian chorasceria (I have no idea to spell it. Basically it’s Brazil’s take on a steak house) where the waiters wander around with meat on swords. There is a little wheel on your table and when you put it to red, they ignore you, and when you turn it to green they bring you meat as they wander around. You can eat as much or as little as you want for however long you want. There is also an unimpressive salad bar. They also serve shrimp and grilled pineapple, the pineapple being especially delicious. We barely had room for dessert, but luckily we did because they were quite amazing. Definitely worth the price.
Finally, MySpace worked out for me once again in that I reconnected with someone I knew in High School. She was someone I met at a Jewish party when I was a sophomore and I have been friends with her ever since. Turns out she did something very Jewish and moved to Orlando, Florida.
Anyway, that’s how my life has been ebbing and flowing lately. Currently, I’ve been in the mood to write, which is great, except that I need to do work for my demo reel instead. I think after working so hard on my demo reel and that not resulting in anything I kind of let myself drift into limbo. I know I need to get things done and I work hard, but I can’t seem to focus or really commit myself to a full day of work, which sucks since I have a ton of stuff to do before next quarter. I figure once I fail again at getting hired I’ll have plenty of time to write and unless I start working longer and harder, that’s almost a certainty. I think I’m going to try funneling this writing urge into web site creation since that’s another thing I need to do before I graduate. Hmm…perhaps the up is cresting and I’m about to start descending rapidly again.