My Latest Ingenious Revelation

Well, kids, last week during a well-deserved vacation to Disney World and Islands of Adventure, I discovered that I have a physical condition that an extraordinarily small number of individuals my age exhibit. I've named this condition "Theme Park Tank Syndrome" and will be forwarding my findings to the medical community along with a nice "please don't admit me to an asylum" cover letter.

Throughout my twenty-odd years of theme park excursions, I've found that I can go from the time the park opens to the time the park closes without eating, drinking, or using the bathroom without having to worry about passing out or peeing my pants. At first my parents assumed I'd grow out of it like most normal humans, but to their dismay the condition actually developed further through my teenage years, turning me into a veritable theme park tank capable of skipping roller coaster lines in rapid succession and eating away valuable minutes of my less-thrill-ride-savvy companions' vacation time.

After five years of research into the condition, I've drawn a conclusion that my digestive system, upon entering the gates of a theme park, freezes completely. This would account for both my resistance to normal hunger and thirst and my resistance against extreme gs, hairpin turns, and corkscrew loops. Upon exiting the park my innards resume their normal functions. I've yet to find a theme park that's open long enough to test exactly how long the effects can last and see if there are any negative side effects that stem from remaining in Theme Park Tank Mode for too long. Until then, I will be hopping lines and wearing my fastpasses thin running circles around the Floridian roller coaster circuit, hoping that all those government grants I've applied for will go through and I'd be able to afford to continue my studies.

Honestly, if I find the source for this, I could be saving millions of adults money on park food and barf bags, and billions of hard-earned hours waiting at roller coaster exits for their kids to finish their rides.

Self-Critiques Don't Usually Go This Well

This occurred at about 1AM in the midst of Finals Weekend. Since those days all blur together I'm going to guess it must've been this past Saturday.


Anyway, that was me watching the shadows I animated for Matt Doering's drop-dead gorgeous film, Emma and Molly's Pet Yeti. One day I swear I will create a proper spoof of it starring old ladies, but for now I'm up to my eyebrows in 2D effects...and hooked on Irish riverdance music.

I kind of wonder how I'd react to my own work if I saw it after a good night's sleep...because I seriously didn't remember it looking that cool when I put it in my reel.

Jacquestar

...Well, here's the last two years of my life...er...not all of the last two years of my life, exactly...anyway, bet you can't tell which parts I did in 2008, which parts I did in 2009, and which parts I did last Thursday!



Incidentally, this is the first time I've ever pulled an all-nighter making fun of a professor in animated short format, but I did have a deadline to meet. Jacques is moving to NYC after this, so I had to have it ready before his sendoff party. It's really more of a Lacoste joke if anything--Andy Moxon (voiced badly by yours truly) was the photography professor while I was in Lacoste, and in the first week he told Jacques that he could walk to the next town over in less than thirty minutes if he followed a Roman road just outside of town.

Naturally, Jacques missed it entirely (it was pretty hard to miss once we did find it) and wound up taking all of us through the woods for about three or four hours. And from now on, Jon and Lauren and I have been calling airplanes Jacquestars.

So yeah, Thursday went well.

Hypnotic Washing Machines

So the dorms got new washing machines this week.

They invested in the kind that opens in the front and lets you watch all your clothes spin around while the machine runs, and it makes me wish I weren't graduating quite so soon because I feel like I'm missing out on something spectacular. Honestly, I didn't want to leave the laundry room while the machine was running simply because it was just asking for me to stare at it for hours on end.

Nothing takes the edge off midterms quite like spinning laundry does.

Business Card Designs

I have done it! I've found the most cost and time-efficient means of printing out double-sided business cards and it serves its purpose quite well. Adobe InDesign rocks.

In other news, I am now working on effects animation for two very high-end, high profile SCAD productions: Base14's latest project, in which I did a series of water splashes that I am very proud of, and Matt Doering's senior project, where I'm animating two shots of shadows. I really do love effects animation, working through this stuff has been a breeze. Especially the splashes, which I'm cleaning up and coloring. I wish I could post that stuff up here, but seeing as these are high-end, festival-quality projects, we've got to make sure to keep this stuff under wraps. As soon as they hit the online airwaves, there will be links!

Looks Like My Spring Break's Over...

Man. Last spring break ever, and man did this one fly. I kind of wish they'd make 'em longer. I still don't think I've totally caught up on my sleep from the end of last quarter.

I aced EFX and finished my senior project, though "finished" is kind of a loose term here since I didn't quite get all the sound I wanted to have. I pulled through literally just in the nick of time, like an animator Indiana Jones sliding under a metaphorical stone slab doorway barely fast enough to get through without being flattened. But I did it with the help of my ever-supportive friends. And so the day is saved once again!

Now I'm looking to finish Jacquestar before my star takes off for New York, finish my guest comic for Lexy, and make a nice, professional promotional package. Oooh, I like the alliteration on that.

I need a time machine. I need a time machine sooooo much.

Bit Teaser Shot

Here's about what Bit's going to look like when it's done. Man, I hope this one actually plays right.

Oh, and the music is sounding REALLY good, hats off to Chad Boyles for the composition!