I want to be able to write and update here more often, but I just can’t pull myself away from this silly project. The good news is it looks like it’s actually going to get done this weekend. Can’t wait to have this all over with.
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30May
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27May
I had a pretty fun weekend. Friday I was witness to performer Takao Kawaguchi’s one man show “A Perfect Life.” It was very different than things they usually show down in the atrium of the student center.
http://aperfectlife.kawaguchitakao.com/
Everyone did a great job putting it together, and a lot of people showed up, so I would say that the night was a big success! On Saturday I had my entire Japanese class over to my apartment, save for one person, and we all made a ton of Japanese food, ate, and enjoyed each other’s company for the night. It was a lot of fun.
Well Sunday and Monday were devoted to getting back into reality and back into Track and Failed. Tonight is Tuesday and I’m standing at two shots left to be completed, a dream sequence to be rendered, and putting it all together is all that stands in my way to finishing. Tomorrow I have a final animation critique with my adviser then the following 5 days will be non stop work and finishing. I would like it to be done on Monday, since Tuesday it must be submitted for the film festival. I’m just looking forward to being able to start something new.
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25May
I have 3 shots left to complete, and then I have to pretty up the dream sequence. It’s all so close to getting done, and I just know we’re gonna run into a huge snag on the way here. I’ll be sure to let everyone know when happens.
Yup, 3 of the most difficult shots are lest. 20 second long shot, being flung back on stilts and planting face first into the ground after a pair of malfunctioning rocket boots. I really hope the animation lab in the student center is open tomorrow, I really need to just get this done.
Because I’m at the point now where it just needs to be done. Need to move forward!
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22May
Check it out! The final render of the environment for my first animated short, “Track and Failed”:
12 days left until it needs to be done. This will be a busy weekend.
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22May
I got my stupid essay done! It turned out pretty bad, but better than I was expecting, so that’s one small weight off of me. Only 3 more papers, two tests, two movies, and a translation now stand between me and graduation. I think I can do it.
Also I got some good ideas for revamping the dream sequence in “Track and Failed,” so hopefully soon I will be able to put those into motion.
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21May
I have a hard trouble understanding sometimes. As much as I love learning Japanese, and as happy as all the friends I’ve made in Japan makes me, and how much I love speaking the language, I just can’t understand why I can’t force myself to speak it anymore. Maybe it’s shame that I feel my abilities have decreased since coming back from Hokkaido. But I think they’ve actually gotten better. It’s irritating at times, since so often I just want to speak Japanese, but I just can’t bring myself to do it.
It would help to go back again. I love being in situations where I don’t have a choice and have to do my best in. I always do top performance at those times.
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20May
I’m having a weird day.
Everything started normally enough, though I slept in a little longer than I wanted which meant that I had less time to go jogging by the lake, which in turn made me both late for class and forced me to skip breakfast. So, I spent the better part of class nodding off and taking really bad notes, but this is still nothing new. I sleep in that class all the time. After it was out, I decided I wanted to take a couple block walk to go get a pita, which is really rare for me. I almost always decide just to go to my apartment and eat there for lunch.
So, I walked to the Pita Pit, walked inside and there were a bunch of people on laptops and stuff, and it seemed like they were being taught how to do something. Anyways, I was planning on eating there in the restaurant, but right after I order, about 20 people walk in, backing up the line to the front door and totally filling the place to capacity, with me thinking, wow I got here right in time. But then it also made me decide to just take it back to my apartment and eat there. So I walk to the exit door, which is now being blocked my two DePaul college girls who seemed to think they had no obligation to move a little out of the way of the door. So, I had to mega-ly awkwardly, yet as politely as possible, nudge my way through, which of course still managed to garnish some very dirty looks from them.
No sooner did I more or less burst and collapse through the front door did I run into my Japanese teacher, who was passing by, apparently from picking up her own lunch from somewhere else. She looks at me, we exchange a rather awkward “konnichiwa” and she keeps walking forward with me lagging an uncomfortable 6-8 feet behind, not knowing what to say or what language to say it in. I have a whole ‘nother discussion about this topic for a later time. Now, her office and my apartment are on the same street, so I decided I didn’t want to continue this following any longer than I had to, so I took the first separating right I could which leads back to campus, and decided to eat at the student center instead. So I take the turn, and my Sensei continues walking straight.
Again, upon completing my 90 degree turn into a new direction, do I see another familiar face. A total self-absorbed douchebag from my animation classes is walking right towards me, about 50 or so feet away. I think to myself “ughh…oh well I guess I’ll just say hi” and continue on. We walk until we’re into greeting range and I crack a small fake smile and begin to raise my hand and open my mouth when he says, rather loudly yet inaudibly, something I could only perceive to be “STILL PACKING THE SALT THERE, GREG?” To which, with the exception of my feet which kept walking, my body froze, thinking about what the hell it was he just said to me, and if it was even directed to me, since I couldn’t be sure because he was wearing sunglasses. We passed, me still in too much in a state of awkward shock after this what I can only describe as a verbal attack to my blue collar alter-alias Greg, and he slightly turned his head to me and mine to his. I mustered a weak and barely audible “…what?” before we both had walked far enough away from each other and that was that.
So there you have it, crowds led me to leave the restaurant which led me to run into jp teacher which led me to change directions, which led me to a very awkward greeting. Ate my pita at the student center as planned. While exiting there were some of those “Hey, can I talk to you for a second?” activist people outside as always, which I avoided but they flagged down some girls by going “Excuse me miss, you dropped something!” Then when they turn around he went “Can I ask you a question?” Lolz, jerk.
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18May
Again, I want to be a better drawer. I had a similar feeling to this when I took a pre-production art class in the winter quarter of 2007. We were assignment to create blogs for that class and one of my posts were about the importance of drawing in any kind of creative medium, but ESPECIALLY animation. My teacher actually saw that post and emailed me some awesome suggestions as to how to improve my drawing skills. From then on I went out and bought a bunch of books on the art of human anatomy, drawing for comics, perspective, etc and did a pretty decent job of following them for the most part. Then spring hit and I got super busy with animation then summer his and I got super busy with being in Hokkaido, and then fall hit and I got super busy with senior year. Taking this classes that don’t matter to me.
Yeah upon graduating and finally losing all these required classes, I want to concentrate on drawing and continuing to advance my studies of Japanese. Even when I think about what I want to go on to study for grad school, I would much rather do either Japanese or something more related to drawing or story creating. I just don’t have the passion for animation to continue to want to study it. And I hope it doesn’t sound narcissistic, but I think I can continue animation by my self. I really just wanna study Japanese and practice drawing.
This is going to be a very interesting summer. I hope I can find some cool Japanese classes or something. I have countless books on learning Japanese too, I can definitely get some use out of those.
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18May
Or Procrastination. It’s an interesting thing. Right now I’m sitting in the school library and I’m supposed to be writing a paper on a man named Jose Guadalupe Posada, who was a Mexican engraver and artist in the 19th century. I need to fill 5 to 6 pages with information on analyzing the assigned article on him, and then explaining the influence he carried into the 20th century. Here’s a small example of the kind of work he does:
I kinda like his style. It seems almost all his work is skeletons which he made to satirize the government at the time. The problem is I really have no interest in how he influenced upcoming artists into the next century. Based on all the art classes I’ve taken and even a few of the animation ones, it seems like the academic art world is obsessed with how artists influenced the up and coming artists. Like for a medium that pretty much defines creativity they seem to like to try to dissect it and reveal just how unoriginal the art world really is. Or it’s also entirely possible that I’m totally missing the point of people who are art scholars.
Also, paper writing is something that always gives me worlds of trouble. When I entered college, I considered myself a fairly capable writer when it came to essays. There’s no way I’d even try to say that now. I’ve fallen into the normal college student loop where I procrastinate until the night before it’s due, and just through any of the first things that come to mind on the page.
I’ve also been thinking a lot today about procrastination on a longer time line, withing the context of my own life. It seems like for college students, writing papers is what we’re kinda supposed to do. Research a wide range of topics and write papers about them. Papers, papers, papers. I don’t do any of this research, so all these papers don’t really get done either. I think this is part of the reason (a very small part, I hope) that I stick with animation and Japanese so hard. We are rarely if ever required to write papers, and it rocks. But I’m wondering if this is just an extended method of procrastination on my part. Like maybe the issue is, I’m telling myself that “I want to do research in Japanese, but wait! I don’t know Japanese” so now I’m procrastinating doing this research necessary for growing into the next step in life, by studying Japanese. Once I learn Japanese to a native level, will I then grow to desire to go to Japan and research there? Who knows. I hope not.
I got a new camera for my birthday. And tomorrow is a rehearsal/lunch thing for a visual artist coming to DePaul this week through the Japanese department, so I should have some good opportunities this week to take some interesting photos. I can tell that my Japanese teacher, who has been organizing this entire event, has been working very hard and this is very important to her, so I will do my best. I hope it turns out to be interesting. I’ve been needing to do something. Life has been starting to hit routine as of late.
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16May
Last night immediately after class, I went to CTI and animated until 10pm. Then I went back to my apartment and pretty much went right to bed. Woke up, ran to class which ended at noon, then came straight back to CTI, ready to animate again. All day. Tonight and tomorrow will probably be the same. I have absolutely no plans this weekend other than animating.
I do like animation, but I don’t love it this much. I enjoy drawing and making stories much more.
Keep with it Keep with it Keep with it.
Edit: Copyright 1968? Hmm, determined or not, that cat must be long dead. That’s kind of a downer…
