semester sum-up

History of Character Animation
Basically we watch a ton of animation from 1918 to the present tracing the history of animated characters in film and television. It's a great class and I' ve learned a lot from it. The teacher is the Director of my 3D Graduate program and he's been around, worked for a while at ILM and has met many of the animation greats. Really digging this class.

Storyboarding
This is more like a story theory class and less of a storyboarding class. Meaning that we're learning a lot about story structure and plot points than how draw and visually solve problems. Still a very important thing to learn and definitely a good tool for putting together my senior thesis which will be a 1 to 2 minute animation.

Maya 1
The teacher is good but sometimes he gets bogged down in tangential details which is easy to do because Maya is such a complicated honkin piece of software. The modelling bores me but the animation is fun.

I have to rant a little about this new product Yahoo! is promoting the heck out of on their frontpage... Yahoo! Answers. Why would I ever use this? If I want to know about something, I SEARCH for it. SEARCHing for it is pretty simple: you type in a keyword you get results. With Y! Answers there are at least two more steps to complete to get an answer! And then it's from a human being...!?? This probably sounds ironic but I trust a search engine more than a human because the human could be an idiot while I know the engine is just an engine. With the engine I have more control to decipher the results, with the human I'm taking my chances.

Before I left in 2001 there was Y! Experts and this looks like a revision of that same product. Dude, Y! Experts sucked. You know why? You had to trust that the human on the other side knew what they were talking about. Why not browse search results and decide for yourself whether the links are trustworthy or not - a much quicker proces.

I would LOVE to see the stats on this product and get a sense of how it's doing. I'm really at a loss as to why Yahoo! would be promoting it so heavily. If anybody has had a good experience with this product please let me know.

I read the Economist. I don't understand everything I read, but I can feel my cranial capacity expanding every time I finish an issue. If nothing else, it's very well written. I find the New Yorker to be hit and miss while the Economist is so dense there is bound to be something pretty interesting.

On my DVR list are shows which I ingest and delete almost immediately: PTI, House.
Then there are shows that have rotted in the queue for months now: Chappelle, Charlie Rose, Office, My Name is Earl.
Then there are shows that I just recently started to record: Robot Chicken.

I eat a few regular podcasts: Slate's Political Gabfest is consistently entertaining, Ebert and Roeper is always satisfying, CNet is hit or miss and nowadays I ignore most of NPR's Story of the Day. I used to regularly listen to This Week in Tech but now I find those guys to be fairly out of touch, catering to the grumpy geek mostly. I really appreciate the synopsis text blurb which I can browse before deciding whether an individual podcast is worth listening to.

There are two great animation podcasts: The Animation Podcast and Spline Doctors. Podcasting is a great medium for animators to share information, interviews and experiences. For some reason animation knowledge is not well-documented and this technology is beginning to correct that.

Ooo. Me likey Google Video.

I've been wanting to show the work I've been doing in (animation) school but the files are so big I can't email them or post them on my website... until Google Video. I would've posted it on YouTube because that site kicks butt (especially for catching SouthPark episodes that no longer air Tom Cruise trapped in a closet) - but they have a 100MB limit. Google has no such limitations because they plan on storing the entire multiverse's personal information so they can do evil one day. Lots of evil.

Here is a pencil test (rough animation) called Man vs. Frog.

Here is an animatic (animated storyboards) called Heart.

Enjoy.

Merritt and Milo bought ladybugs to put in the garden. Usually Merritt places the ladybugs on the plants but this time Milo wanted to. He ended up with ladybugs all over his hands and sleeves so Merritt had to brush him off.

Later that afternoon I come home and we're all sitting in the basement. Milo's on the piano bench when he says, "Mommy, I head wind in my ear."

Immediately Merritt suspects, "Uh-oh, maybe a ladybug got in your ear." I'm doubtful but I quickly check and looking into his left ear I see the bug's face looking back at me. Then turn around and crawl in.

Milo was pretty freaked out.

It wouldn't come out so we went to the hospital ER at UCSF which was less than a mile away. Fortunately we had already booked our nanny to come that night and she was looking after Ben. At the ER, the nurses took his vitals and then we had to wait for the Pediatrician to arrive. While waiting, Merritt noticed that the ladybug was trying to crawl out and held Milo's hands so that he couldn't scratch his ear (which was probably what was keeping it in there for so long in the first place) and it came crawling out on its own.

As someone who hopes to work at Pixar some day, people have been asking me what I think of Disney buying Pixar. Something like this was inevitable and it makes sense that the buyer would be Disney. Pixar needs the powerful marketing and distribution experience Disney has for children's media, only Nickelodeon can come close and still Disney is the best. Disney needed Pixar's content which was making them money when they took 50% of the profits.

I hated Disney. But that was then and this is now and the difference is Michael Eisner ain't the big cheese no more, it's Robert Iger. Iger is not Eisner. He made the bold move of distributing ABC television shows on iTunes. Then he bought Pixar giving Jobs, Catmull and Lasseter big positions in the stake of the company. Now he's offering the TV shows for free in iTunes in May.

The man has balls of brass.

Now the question whether he and Jobs will continue to get along. And the whole animation world is waiting to see what becomes of Catmull and Lasseter's new positions and how it affects (or doesn't) the new content to be released by both studios.

Personally, I'm optimistic.

There's a story about soap operas and talk shows being bad for the brain, or that bad brains like soaps and talk shows. The last line is the best, "If an elderly woman says she enjoys watching talk shows or soap operas, Fogel said, that might be a sign that she's having cognitive problems and should undergo special screening."



Spirals are our friend.



Bad UI is the source of all our problems.



I'm the Green Lantern, who are you?



Marvel Comics is trying to trademark the word, "super-hero."

Because of this.


I give you this.



(All the internet is good for anyway.)

When the FIFA World Cup was being played in Korea in 2002 I was living in an apartment that had cable. We had just bought a house and moved all our belongings to our new home. But the house did not have cable.

Korea had made it to the semifinals to play against the Germans. I had asked a friend to tape it for me and was going to avoid any media mention of the game result until I could pick up the tape and see the game for myself. That night I couldn't fall asleep, thinking of the game.

It was something like 2am and the game started around 3am. Our apartment was bare but we still had the lease until the end of the month. So I went downstairs to our basement, unplugged the TV, put it in my car, drove to the apartment, plugged it in, watched the game, saw Korea play great but lose, put the TV back in my car, and drove back to the house and finally fall asleep.

Hines Ward, MVP of the SuperBowl, is half-Korean and Korea just beat the USA in the World Baseball Classic tonight.

Earlier i wrote about the decision to circumsize  my first newborn son.



Today there is an article  regarding a legal battle surrounding the issue of circumcision for a couple's son.



This past Monday, my second son, Benjamin, was born.  And yes, he was circumsized as well.  But I have to admit, I'm not 100% sold on the whole cut-the-penis-for-your-health thing.

Learning Maya 7.0 is like learning how to sail a boat, drive a car and fly an airplane at the same time. All those activities are fun, once you figure out what all the controls are for. I find the UI very interesting. Very clean and consistent but they layered on the complexity which allows for power. Ease of use is solved by teachers teaching you how to use it. That's practically the only way to really figure out how to use it well.

Our second baby refuses to come out. We have a C-section scheduled for this Monday avoiding Valentine's Day by one day. I'm guessing it's a girl.

I've been working out at the gym regularly and am finally feeling the difference in the weights and cardio. But I still have a little pain in the throat - considering seeing the doctor once again. It feels like my tonsils but I can't be sure. It hurts when I move my tongue.

Pimp machine for sale...
My Mom sent me a package months ago. Inside it was her mink coat, complete with shawl thingy and a hat. She and my Dad recently retired to Irvine, CA; so she asked me to sell it for her online. My wife tried it on and she looked like a pimp. Our babysitter tried it on and she looked like a pimp. I refuse to put it on. But if there's anyone out there interested in looking like a pimp, let me know. I have a pimp machine for sale.

Bling.
Bling.

I have a long list of shows that I've tivo-ed (technically dvr-ed) but haven't watched. I don't have the nerve to erase them but I dont' watch them either. I will end up erasing a show here and there if I'm running low on hard drive space.

The one show I regularly record and actually watch is PTI: Pardon the Interruption with Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon. Basically it's two idiots who argue about sports for a minute and a half before moving onto another sports topic. They berate and they fight and they mock one another's intelligence and manhood when it comes to their opinion on trivial sports trivia.

It's just like hanging out with my friends.

The wife can't stand the show when it's on. Even if she's not watching the show the constant yapping gets on her nerves. "How can they even understand what each other's saying with all the yelling," she asked.

It's exactly like hanging out with my friends

Character actors. They can have the most fun because they are more able to play a variety of roles rather than be pegged as a particular type like many celebrity actors. Though the character actor can be as pigeon-holed as any, the good ones, like Kevin Spacey and Philip Seymour Hoffman have gone on to do a wide variety of roles and even made the leap from supporting actor to main protagonist.

There are some character actors who have done so many television and film roles that they always look a little bit familiar but you just can't quite remember where you saw them last. One of my favorites is Bruce McGill .

I first saw this guy in a Miami Vice episode, the one where Phil Collin's "In the Air Tonight" is playing as a soundtrack as his character takes a sledghammer to a wall, revealing a skeleton hidden inside. Great epsiode, just before the series jumped the shark. He had a memorable scene in the movie "The Insider" as the lawyer who rips the cigarette laywers a new one with the line, "Wipe that smile off your face!!!" And on and on... He's awesome.

There are such things called Food Movies. Obvious examples are:

Eat Drink Man Woman,

Like Water for Chocolate  and

the Oscar Award-winning (Best Foreign Film) Babette's Feast .


These movies aren't necessarily about food, but tend to revolve around food and the cooking of food and all the nice metaphor and ethnic symbolism that spills forth in a cheesy "oh that's so meaningful" way.  They make good date movies.


I kind of like food movies.  The past few years as I've played househusband here in chez Chung I've found that I have a knack for cooking.  Nothing too fancy.  I keep it simple a la Naked Chef . I have a gas grill, it makes things quick and easy.  This is a long way of getting around to recommending my favorite food movie called...


Big Night

Written and directed by Stanley Tucci and starring one of my favorite character actors, Tony Shalhoub , now famous for playing Adrien Monk  on TNT, not a half bad network.

Sometimes I read "spoilers" in media websites where a movie script or tv show plotpoint is leaked out before it airs. There are plenty of warnings for spoilers for those who don't want the fresh experience ruined for themselves. While I don't seek out the spoilers I don't avoid them either. For example I pretty much know what happens in XMen 3 and I'm seriously debating whether to go watch it in the theatres because it sounds pretty crappy. But I don't know any juicy tidbits on the new Superman movie other than the general synopsis and I'll likely keep myself 'fresh' for that film which I'm looking forward to very much.

But every once in a while I like to go into a movie "blind". This is easier to do with DVD rentals, especially with older black and white movies. One such movie that I rented without any idea of what it was about (this was many years ago) was the 1962 original "The Manchurian Candidate". That experienced rocked. If you haven't seen or heard of the Denzel Washington remake then I highly recommend you rent the 1962 original with Angela Lansbury and Frank Sinatra and plopt it in. Don't read the boxcover or anything. It's a trip. And yes, Frank can act.

I reviewed James Frey's book, A Million Little Pieces, and commented on the brouhaha surrounding the falsifications in his book. I thought it wasn't a big deal since he seemed to be fibbing on areas I thought were fairly minor.

I did jibe that at least he wasn't fibbing on the root canal with no painkillers ...

Uh, well, perhaps he was, as he now is fessing up on a recent appearance on Oprah.

Dude, Oprah is seriously pissed off at you.

Saw Syriana on Tuesday night. There were tons of people at the Metreon theatre in SF and it surprised me. Then we ran into our friends, Seth and Mia, at the same movie and they told us that the New York Times was giving out $5 tix for their subscribers for this theatre only.

Syriana was very good. Stephen Gaghan the writer and director also wrote the script for Traffic which Stephen Soderbergh directed and I really liked that film, so I had high expectations.

I had heard that you really have to pay attention to what is going on because it's difficult to discern relationships and backgrounds. This was true but I liked it that way because it kept me very focused and tuned to what was happening. For what was mostly a talking heads movie it was shot quite beautifully.

Syriana - ***1/2 out of possible *****

(Giving it the stars reminds me that the Netflix stars system sucks. You cannot grade a movie by the half-star. There are SO many films I'd give a 2 1/2 or 3 1/2 stars.)

Disney buys Pixar for a buttload of money and Steve Jobs is sitting pretty.

While I’m definitely not a fan of Disney over the years, one has to remember that the Eisner era is over and the Iger one has begun and so far Iger has made some bold moves with ABC content on Itunes and now buying Pixar. Buena Vista is a powerfully dominant distributor. I have to say it makes sense for both companies here.

What will be interesting to see is how the Pixar culture remains intact. The fact that Catmull and Lasseter have top jobs at Disney creative now bodes well that things will not only stay the same in Emeryville but also progress in socal as well…?

The Story I Made Up For Milo...

Poopoo the Choochoo and the Broken Down Train

One day, Poopoo the Choochoo was chugging down the track when he saw a broken down train on the next track. He stopped and asked, "Hello, is there anything wrong?"

The broken down train said, "Yes, my wheels won't turn and I have to be mended at the works."

"No problem," Poopoo said, "I can hitch you to my train and take you to the works."

"But what about my passengers?" said the broken down train, "they have to be taken to the next station."

"I can call my friend, Boogaga the Car," replied Poopoo, "and he can take your passengers to the next station."

"That would be great, thanks," said the broken down train.

"My name is Poopoo the Choochoo," said Poopoo the Choochoo, "what's your name?"

The broken down train replied, "My name is Bop. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you."

Poopoo the Choochoo then called his friend Boogaga the Car on his radio and Boogaga came and picked up Bop's passengers and took them to the next station. Then Bop was hitched to Poopoo the Choochoo's train and Poopoo took him to the works to be mended.

And they lived happily ever after.

The End