Film Time

At CalArts in the Character Animation program, each student is supposed to make one film for every year of their 4 years.  The films are due at the end of second semester of each year.  It's an insane time where everyone sleeps about 3-5 hours a day for like 2 to 3 months, live in their cubes, and time seems to move in slow motion.  I, for one, literally didn't sleep in my room for basically the whole second semester 2nd and 3rd year.  It's a crazy time and I don't know anyone who doesn't love it.  It's a time when everyone sees the good and the bad of these new lifeforms they have met in their  Valencian prison.  A time of serious bonding over 2 AM burgers, Battlefield, and a glass of adult beverage.  The time I'll miss the most about CalArts now that I have graduated, but my lucky better half will get to experience a few more, so I'm supremely jealous.

- Gideon done

BEST TO BE CONSISTENT

Megan and I have super kool friends; they will also appear in comics sometimes.  Oh, here they are!

Saturday at comic con was great.  We went to a few panels as a way to keep our seats for upcoming panels, and were ready for the worst, but the panels were surprisingly good.

The Penny Arcade panel was the highlight of the trip for me.  Seeing Mike and Jerry in action was awesome.  Again I had a chance to stop and say something to Mike and I was so befuddled that I had no idea what to do but walk away, very fast, with my head down.

Megan wanted to see a panel about Canadian comic artists.  I wasn't so psyched for it but it was really interesting.  Kate Beaton was there, and what I learned was that Kate Beaton, by herself, draws a bigger crowd than Kate Beaton with other Canadians.  Also that Canada is America's hat.  Never heard that before.

Of the accidental panels we were introduced to, a fun-looking indie movie called Save the Date, a movie that apparently doesn't have any trailers anywhere.  The other was about an author named Gail Carriger.  She writes a steampunk fantasy book series that has a lot of parasols, apparently.  I've put the first book next on my reading list after I finish The Stars, like Dust.

One Semester of Spanish - Love Song (Animated)

This is definitely one of the greatest birthday gifts anyone has ever given me. I had asked Gideon to sing me THIS SONG live for my birthday, open-shirted and all, but he decided to animate himself doing it instead to avoid that fate. Arguably the more difficult option of the two.

Today was our first day at San Diego Comic Con!  We got into the city way too early but were not able to start our rounds at the convention until a bit after opening.  For me, it felt weird not having gotten off a plane prior to a convention.

Among our several booth visits was one to Penny Arcade, at which Gideon bought himself some DVDs and earned himself a free mug. And then Gideon was quietly beside himself with bashfulness as we got Mike to doodle and sign something for him. We also hit up Meredith Gran from Octopus Pie to pick up some things for me, said hi to a bunch of artist friends from all the past comic cons, became discomforted by the numerous costumed ladies, and wandered around looking at some cool artisan crafts.

Eventually we made our way to the some of the panels we had planned to attend today. The first was a spotlight on Kate Beaton, one of my favorite webcomic artists. It was really interesting to hear why she does what she does,  how her family responds to her work, and where she gets a lot of her inspiration from. The second panel we went to was on the "art of story" for the new Disney animated film, Wreck-It Ralph.  It was honestly not very interesting, and felt most like a PR presentation.  Gideon and I fell asleep.  Which was great because we were well-rested for the panel we had been waiting all day for, "The Business of Webcomics," hosted by Robert Khoo of Penny Arcade.  As it was relevant with our current interests, the Q&A section was really engaging and helpful.  Some of the information was pretty intuitive, but it was reassuring to hear some validation by people who have been in the business for nearly two decades.  There were even some questions asked that gave us interesting story ideas, so we're looking forward to working off of those pretty soon!

It has been an exhausting day; I can only imagine Saturday will be draining, as well.

~ Megan Ruiz

In which Gideon reprimands his child.

Scout, one of my computers, has been having trouble with a few of its fans lately.  One of them broke a few weeks ago and recently its heat sync fan has been acting up a bit.  This causes it to sometimes sound less like a fighter jet and more like a prop plane taking off.

Google officially announced the long rumored Nexus 7 tablet.  I'm very excited for it and my moneys are set aside to be taken by the googles.  I hear Apple is planning to make a 7-or-so inch iPad in response to the new Nexus 7 tablet and then subsequently sue Asus for producing a product that steals their original design.  So I best get one of these Nexus tablets soon before the sue-happy wars come to the shores of Sevenincherland.

- Gideon done