Los Gemeles Adventures!

The Missing Skills

2008-11-19T15:05:00.003-08:00

As I continue/start the job search process there are a few things in my skills grab-bag that I have discovered missing:
- Familiar with GUI programming (at least I know what this is even if I haven't done it)
- Experience with video game build process (again, at least I know what this is)
- Skilled with scripting languages (nope, no skill there)
- Experience with detailed model building or architecture (I sometimes play with the ketchup and salt shakers at restaurants)
- Experience in traditional motion control, optical compositing, camera operation (I CAN operate a camera! No to the rest)
- STRONG proficiency in C (perhaps I am more in the mediocre range)
- Visual effects experience in feature films (no)
- Experience working on a video game (no)
- 1 to 3 years in game development or film (no)
- Passion for sports video games (hah no, shh don't tell them that though)

I believe I will still apply to these jobs and cross my fingers since most people say i will rarely find a job whose requirements fit my skills perfectly. I think that job would have the title: Gemma Professional. Obviously, I have yet to find that job title anywhere.

[New Title Goes Here]

2008-11-18T17:37:00.001-08:00

Oh, well, I should probably tell people that I am blogging again. . . .
I should also come up with a new name since I am no longer in LA. Suggestions are welcome.

A Return to Blogging

2008-11-17T14:17:00.003-08:00

I have decided that blogging is a cathartic experience for me even if I don't think anyone is reading. This is why I am going to re-enter the blogging lime light and lifestyle.
Right now I am experiencing the joys of sitting too close to a smokey stranger. I don't mean smokey in the romantic way, I mean it in the odorous way that makes me wish I had chosen the seat to my left in between two women dressed entirely in black (depressing). I had thought my seat choice rather wise considering I don't like, no, correction, hate being in close proximity to strangers. So now, instead of being sandwiched between two women who I can only guess smell nice if not at all, I am next to a bearded smoker. I could still move to the other seat but then it would be obvious that I moved just to get away from my current seat neighbor and even if he smells I don't want to draw attention to myself with a seemingly inexplicable relocation.
I walked over to the library because I cannot concentrate at home and I had a minor freak out after I looked at some job listings this morning. I have serious doubts about my proficiency in anything they ask for. I thought I would wander over here to the computer section and pick up a book on programming in C, the language of choice for most employers. I learned C at Dartmouth but I don't feel comfortable going to a job interview and then having to prove that I know it. Naturally, there are no books on C in the library but several on C#. For people who don't know much about programming languages, C is a popular language that most everyone in CS learns and needs to know, C# on the other hand is useless to me. Thankfully, I brought materials to draw with so I can direct my frustration into art after I have partially vented in this post. Another thing that I feel insecure about are my drawing skills. I can draw. . . . but I am slooooowww and inconsistent. So I have formed a plan to go to the library quite frequently to hone my C and pencil skills. This plan should also prevent me from having so many minor freak outs. I realize this may not be interesting to you, but by writing it I am infinitely more likely to keep to this plan.
The smoker has wandered away but left his things. This is unfortunate for when he returns my nose shall again be assaulted by the stench that it had nearly grown accustomed to before he left.
He is back.
I was right.
And so ends my first post after so long of a break.

Fall Term Update

2007-11-23T17:28:00.000-08:00

I feel like I should begin every post with an apology. Sorry I have not been writing and now it makes me sad that I don't think anyone is reading this anymore. I think I will start with a quick update on my my term. It has been busy. It has been tiring. But it has had its good moments, that's for sure. Firstly I am proud to say that I did manage to play rugby for the whole season. While I had previously planned on being nothing but on the B-side (if you don't know what that is, it is like second string) I found myself playing A-side for every game. This is not to brag since I am not a terribly good player, but the team is small and I know the game pretty well. I am trying to get pictures to show to you. All in all I am very happy I went back to the sport before I graduated. I took all last year off from rugby and I think it was a very good thing that I left so that I could remember why I love the sport. I must enjoy it since I even wrote an article for the newsletter. Impressive, to say the least. Ah well here is a picture of me and some rugby girls at the homecoming bonfire.

This photo was taken by my friend Krystal and is of me, Noelle, Emily, and Liz (from left to right).

Now I shall move on from rugby and onto the rest of my term. I am doing a thesis this term and next term on real-time energy feedback in the dorms. This is an extremely boring description of a much more interesting project. However, the project is NOT going well and so I don't really feel like explaining it or my motivation for taking the project on. Sorry to be so curt.
I am also taking CS68: The Principles of Programming Languages. Oh the thrilling life I lead! I am the envy of at least 2 people who read this now. I am sure of it. To keep this story just as short as the thesis story, the course started out with 20 students and then there were 13 and now there are 5. I am hoping that the professor will give me a good grade just for remaining in the class. Although I am fairly certain that is not the way this process works. Bummer. My last class is Introduction to Biological Anthropology. It is a large lecture based class, which keeps me feeling safely anonymous, something I haven't had the chance to be in class since Sophomore year. In addition to these academic endeavors, I am also working as an Introduction to Computer Science grader. This means I teach a subsection of the class for an hour every Thursday. They are mostly freshmen and sophomores and naturally, mostly male. I think I am a pretty fun teacher and even though I am the one giving out their grades I have to admit that they tend to get pretty good grades so I am quite proud of them.
That covers work and academics. Extracurriculars: I am busy being VP of my sorority (Epsilon Kappa Theta). That's fun. We had formal a few weekends ago actually. Here are some photos of me at the formal.

This was taken by Abbie (possibly by her boyfriend), of me and Abbie. She fooled around with the colors because apparently we were all washed out from the flash. We aren't actually colored that way naturally.

This was taken by Diane of me and Angie. I love my dress but I think I was the least formally dressed woman there. I think that I look like I am fully prepared to visit toyland.

This was taken by Erin (uhh or perhaps her boyfriend, Eric) of me and Dave.

Many other things have been going on this term but I really can't say I feel like launching into a lot of it. I recommend you read this from The D (school newspaper) and this as well so that you can maybe get a small idea of some of things going on about campus that have meant a lot to me.
Hm, what else? I don't know. Let me know if you have any questions. As soon as I get pictures from Thanksgiving onto my computer I will put those up. This break has been pretty good so far. I stayed at school since going all the way back to California is just too far and expensive for such a short break. Not to mention the term ends so soon. I head home on the tenth of December. Ah yes, I also cleaned my room over the break and took pictures of it to send to my mum. Now I will post them here so that you too can enjoy how cozy my room looks. Ignore the bras and note the snow outside.

Okay! If anyone is reading this then I hope you enjoyed it!

No wait! Don't go yet, here are more pictures me and friends. . . we may or may not have been drinking and eating cupcakes baked by Emma. I can't say that the two really mix though.

Kay Nielsen Illustrations

2007-09-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

Here is the last installation of illustrations that the ASIFA-Hollywood archive has so kindly let me borrow and post about (quick note that these images were given to the archive by nocloo). These last illustrations are all by Kay Nielsen, who was certainly considered one of the greatest artists during the golden age of illustration. Through a bit of research I learned that Nielsen's work is thought of as a bit more modern than that of Dulac. I wasn't so sure, so I checked for myself and instantly understood why that was said. Extremely intricate designs are in almost every illustration and the Japanese influence that pervaded the early 20th century is clearly evident. Let me show you.
These are all from In Powder and Crinoline (1913).

Do you see it? I have no doubt you can at least see how beautiful these are. I'll just keep sharing the pictures with you. These next ones are from East of the Sun and West of the Moon and they are breathtaking.

These woods really remind me of John Bauer's forests. No surprise that Bauer is named as one of Nielsen's influences.

This background is really lovely, and so simple.

And finally this is an illustration from a later work of Hansel and Gretel and Other Stories From the Brothers Grimm in 1925:

I hope you enjoyed these! On a similar note, I was missing the abundance of art available at the archive so much that I decided to go in search of art at Dartmouth. Naturally I went to our special collections library, Rauner. Bingo. I have spent the past few days enjoying only one of the many amazing illustrated books stashed away in there. Of course the first book I chose was Great Swedish Fairy Tales illustrated by John Bauer. I was uncertain if I was allowed to make copies or anything of the illustrations so I made extremely poor renderings of my own so that I could enjoy them at any time I want. It turns out that I can make copies or take photos, but I am glad I have attempted to draw them, it makes me appreciate them even more.

Farewell Archive

2007-09-19T14:32:00.000-07:00

“I came out to see the tears,” Steve said as he emerged from his office to find me admiring the drawing Mike had made for me on my last day at the archive. There were no tears, and for anyone who has known me long enough will know I very rarely share my emotions openly. Although there were no tears shed, there was quite the panoply of feelings welling up inside of me. I knew that this time around I was leaving behind so much more than I left behind when I parted from the archive in March. While I had made great friends in the winter, the summer solidified those relationships in ways I did not fully expect.
I found myself listening to Jojo at the Coral as he alternately lamented the students at his school and proclaimed us to be some of his greatest friends, and I silently agreed that he was right. I knew I would miss everyone so much and of course I have turned out to be right. The archive became a home to me and taught me an immeasurable amount. It is difficult to put into words what the archive has taught me. The archive is primarily a resource for artists and I have trouble even comparing myself to the students who follow Steve’s archive posts and visit the archive to take advantage of the never-ending treasures laid out there. I envy them for they can more easily show and describe what they have learned.
I did not learn the way I learn in a classroom while at ASIFA-Hollywood and I am sure that I am better for it. I was in charge of my own education at the archive and it would have been easy enough to just sort through films and art without absorbing anything. Well, no, that wouldn’t have been very easy for me to do because I absorb quite a bit at a pretty good rate. So I learned what I would consider some basics, such as which animators worked where and did what. I learned about artists first by looking at their work then usually through my own (very little) research. But beyond that more concrete sort of education, I more importantly developed a more critical eye and mind. Just by looking at so much art day after day I learned what I consider to be good art. The sheer volume of art I was exposed to through my work with the database and listening to conversations held by Steve and visitors gave me the ability to better analyze and critique animation and art.
As mentioned earlier, working at the archive gave me an education as well as friends that I am certain will last a lifetime. I almost forgot! The archive also did quite a bit for my self-confidence; I was amazed by all of the things I accomplished while working there. That felt good.
Now I say a final good bye and a tremendous thank you for everything to the archive and all of my LA friends for a few months. But don’t worry I will come back to visit.

Back to Rugby

2007-09-13T19:20:00.000-07:00

I apologize profusely for not having written in such a long time. I don’t really know where to start actually since it has been so long. I suppose I will just start with the boring basic update so that in future posts I can be more interesting.
I am now back at Dartmouth for rugby preseason. Today is our first day off since we started almost a week ago. I say almost since it really hasn't been a week at all but certainly feels like it. Four or so hours of practice and physical activity a day can do that to you. Since it has been a few days now since I started I have finally gotten rid of the tremendous soreness that kicked in a day after I resumed rugby. Stairs were killer and even sleeping was difficult. I am happy to be back playing though after a whole year without rugby. It is just too bad that I am in no way rugby fit, which is completely different from any other kind of fit. As a forward in rugby (don't stress it if you don't know what a forward is), I am supposed to be able to run, or in my case jog, for about 80 minutes with an occasional break. Occasional break, well now that is nice isn't it? My breaks consist of rucking, scrumming, and doing line outs, which, for the rugby novice, means pushing your shoulder very hard against other people to win possession of the ball or lifting another person into the air to win the ball. Rugby is no walk in the park.
There is no terribly interesting news though on the rugby front except that I am playing again. Although, we did go for a run the other day in Pine Park, which circles the golf course and runs along the Connecticut river for the second half of the trail, and I am proud to say I ran the whole thing. Except when I fell over and twisted my ankle. I walked for a bit after that. But adrenaline was running high so I was able to continue the run. Now, in rugby, or at least in my experience, one tends to sport one's injuries with a certain amount of pride. They are akin to a badge of merit really. For example, if you sprained your ankle tackling some girl right before she was about to score a try, then that injury can be justified. Sadly when people ask me why my ankle is bright purple and the size of a small grapefruit, I must honestly reply that I tripped on a rock and fell down. That isn't hardcore in the least.
Oh dear, I have to go very soon to help set up for our rugby meetings tonight (meetings pretty much consist of singing rugby songs, which are. . . well I can save that for another time). This could be interesting since one of the reasons I quit rugby last year was because I truly hated the whole social dynamic. But I promise to write again soon so that I can show you the last illustrations I have to share and so that I can write a bit about saying good bye to the archive for the summer, which was a truly sad event.
Here are some old pictures of the Dartmouth Women's Rugby Club on tour in Wales a few years ago to give you an idea of what I do. I am not in them since I was taking them.
A scrum:

A line out:

Live Free, Or Die

2007-08-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

One of the more aggressive state mottos, isn’t it? I am proud to say it belongs to the state of my second home, New Hampshire. This also became the motto for the weekend.
Not only is the motto quite aggressive, so is the summer weather, which I happily got a nice dose of this past weekend. I left cozy LA and headed east for my granddad’s 90th birthday. Alex and I left LAX at noon on Friday and arrived in muggy Boston at 11:30 pm. Summers smell and sound different in NH. First of all, crickets don’t care what time of day it is, they will chirp whenever they darn well please. I assume they do this because of the heat, the humidity, and their pig-headedness. As for smell, it sometimes reminds me of a paper bag of fresh peas on a hot day. While perhaps this is not the description most people would lend to the east coast, it is the first thing that came to mind for me.
Alexis rented her first car so that we could make the couple hour drive up to Lake Sunapee, NH. Despite the late hour air conditioning was a must. The further north we drove, the more frequent we encountered flashes of lighting. I took this as nature signaling to us that we were drawing closer to our destination. Nature was inevitably right.
Saturday was devoted to exploring the lake and finding ways to cool off. We boated around the lake for a few hours then docked for lunch. Being a completely land bound creature I found it very amusing that we boated to lunch. At about 3 we tied up the boat and headed back to the house. Dissatisfied to have left the water so soon, Lutz, Alexis and I went right back to the lake but this time with kayaks! Lutz, being a much more proficient kayaker, powered ahead in straight lines while Alexis and I followed in straight but short and very angled lines. Going in one direction was not our forte. While on the water I had the privilege to witness a boat get pulled over by the water police (not their official name). No life jackets? Live free or die! Wake in the no wake zone? Live free or die!
Picture of the lake and Alexis:

We paddled all the way out to the inhabited island on the lake and back. Why someone would want to live on an island so that they must boat everywhere beats me. We pulled out of the water just before a thunderstorm struck. These storms are truly impressive. The lightening was frighteningly frequent and we could see the actual bolt every time. Although I was in the house by the time the lightening started, I felt unsafe holding my metal soda can.
The stormy view from the house, it turned out much more blue than it seemed in person:

The next day was entirely devoted to my granddad’s birthday. We ate at Simon Pearce, naturally, which is by far my granddad’s favorite restaurant. He is well known there by all the staff and has been eating there for an uncountable number of years. Lunch was amazing and about 4 times larger than it needed to be. Lunch went long, as birthday lunches should, so that Alexis and I were scheduled to have dinner with our granddad only a few hours later. In the few hours in between we decided on a trip to Woodstock, VT. Not the best idea really. While Woodstock was undeniably cute, it was also a Sunday after 5pm. Not much of anything in either New Hampshire or Vermont is open on Sunday after 5. We drove to Hanover after that. It was nice to visit Dartmouth, even if for so short a time, I had felt odd being so near without going to campus. Dinner followed.
Monday was our last day. In the morning my dad, Alexis and I went for a walk.

A cool rock discovered on the walk:

Mt. Sunapee:

Then after dropping Christine’s mom off at the bus stop, we headed into New London, another small town that I will liken to Woodstock. Happily it was Monday before 5 so we actually got the chance to go into some shops. It was all very cute and small. Then we went to get some super fresh produce from the locals of New Hampshire. By we I mean Alexis and Christine shopped while I stood outside and took pictures of the Monarchs and flowers.

There was more boating in the afternoon and more picture taking.
Then dinner with dad, Lutz, Christine, and Alexis. In case you do not know, Lutz and Christine are very good family friends. A lot like family. Lutz is also my dad’s business partner. Now you do know, and more interesting dinner conversation you will be pressed to find. I cannot even begin to relay all the things we discussed.
After dinner Alexis and I drove to Boston to stay the night there before our very early flight home. This brought a close to our “live free or die” spree as soon as we passed by “Massachusetts welcomes you.” How friendly.

Descanso Gardens

2007-08-21T18:41:00.000-07:00

The roses are in full bloom in Pasadena.

Rebecca and I visited the Descanso Gardens in Pasadena on Monday. Rebecca informed me that Pasadena is where the old money of LA lives. Keep in mind that old in California is not the kind of old you would find in Europe. We both agreed that it made no sense for those people to have chosen Pasadena to inhabit back in the day when they could have chosen the coast. The Descanso Gardens are on the property of a one Mr. E. Manchester Boddy, publisher of the Los Angeles Daily News, who purchased the land in 1937 and built a 22 room mansion in addition to the beautiful gardens. Now anyone willing to make the drive to Pasadena may enjoy the beautiful respite from LA city life.
I suggested to my friends, Rebecca and Anna, that we go to the gardens on Monday so as to continue my very slow exploration of all things Los Angeles. Sadly, Anna could not make it, but Rebecca and I had a fine time and many a one-word conversation.

Pond!

Rabbit!

Fish!

Hottt....

Throughout our wanderings we discussed the sorts of things you would expect a couple of friends having an afternoon completely planned out for chatting and relaxing to discuss: places we would like to travel, relationship issues, the kind of house we would like to live in if we can one day afford a house, and several other good things. We came across a small maze intended for little children and decided to wind our way to the center and have a sit on the tiny benches awaiting us there.

In addition to mini benches there were also mini railroads tracks complete with mini railroad sign, either that or I am a true giant.

After we got thoroughly turned around and lost in the lilac garden, which is the smallest garden there I might add, but in the corner so easy to get disoriented in, we found the Japanese garden.

In the Japanese garden I found vandalized bamboo. What? Yes, graffiti-ed bamboo. Disappointing isn't it? Who carves stupid stuff into beautiful plants? I feel the same way about graffiti over murals. Why would you do that? There are just some people I may never understand.

Please enjoy some more pictures taken at the gardens, no grafitti please:

Saturday at the Archive

2007-08-19T10:47:00.001-07:00

I find that in the past few days I have been far too efficient at the archive. I have organized and formatted a hundred something scans, entered information on countless images in the database, and written up a guide for any future ASIFA intern. I have worn myself out. I am now sitting at the archive watching little blue lines snake across the screens on either side of me. The database and the intern guide sit open on the computer directly in front of me while Steve’s laptop, conveniently located at my right hand, is happily burning backups. With all of this going on at once you might wonder why it is I am writing a blog post. Good question. I am just a tad bored. Just a bit. I am a bit hungry too come to think of it. And sleepy.
I am happy that I have gotten so much work done but now I don’t really know what to do. That isn’t true at all. I know exactly what I can do because there is always more to do at the archive. I just don’t have the motivation to do it right now since most of what I have left for myself is pretty mindless and repetitive. Not good for Gemmas when hungry or sleepy.
Okay I just got some food so now I feel qualified to make the decision of how long I will stay at the archive tonight. Last night I stayed very late at the archive, which I did all the time in the winter but find it harder and harder to do this summer. This resulted in an invitation to Bob’s Big Boy. I had never been there so I was intrigued. While we were unlucky with the fact that the parking lot was packed with a whole bunch of people milling about looking at each other’s cars, we were quite fortunate in the booth we were seated at. We were shown to the booth that Steve referred to as the Beatle booth. It is the booth that The Beatles ate at when they were at Bob’s Big Boy. I ordered waffles because they are not served at the Coral until midnight and that is too late. After several hours went by I also got a cup of coffee to fight off tiredness. I am sorry to say that I was not very conversational before that. However, after some seat shifting I ended up sitting next to JD who seems to never be at a loss for words. I like people like that because I am not very good at starting conversations. I would say JD is a natural since he was constantly asking me questions and keeping my attention engaged. JD told me to hurry up and graduate so that I could come back and be on the crew of his million-dollar movie. Before that can happen though, JD will have to hurry up and find a million dollars. Overall it was a fun night.
I have just finished turning a bunch of tifs into jpegs for the database so I think it is time to head out and save the entering of the jpegs into the database for Tuesday. Perhaps I will think of something else I can do as well seeing as this next week is basically my last at the archive this summer.

Google Goes to the City

2007-08-14T23:52:00.000-07:00

Bright and early on Wednesday morning at 9:03 I walked down to have breakfast a whole half hour before we were supposed to leave. I was quite proud of myself until the hotel decided they stopped serving breakfast at 9:00 and I had missed it by 3 minutes. That was upsetting and left my stomach all empty. I had been planning on this day being far superior to its predecessor so this was a disappointing start to the day. Oh! I completely forgot to tell you all about the new additions that they are making to Google Earth that we learned about on Tuesday. The only problem is we were sworn to Google secrecy to not write about it or talk about it. So that's a problem. . . I felt pretty cool being shown stuff they had only just begun to develop. While I had previously thought that Google Earth was just this thing to go look at if you had extra time, I think it is going to be way cooler now. It involves pictures and it's almost like you can go on a mini vacation from your own desk.
Okay, back to breakfast in Cupertino.
Fortunately my friend Tim was kind enough to let me eat some of his scrambled eggs and half of his croissant. We are such a nice team. I love us. I think that in the end we are a pretty social team, just within ourselves and not with others. As far as I know we were the only team with a lab so that we could all work near each other. That is basically the only reason I stuck with the project. The fact that it was a pretty social working environment made the hours somewhat bearable. Someone told me that one of the other teams didn't even really know eachother before they won and came to Google. That can't be true. . . but it just might be. Well we were slightly more social on Wednesday because we had a guy from the Purdue team sitting with us. Although he was really just sitting with our team leader who was so darn sketchy the whole trip. I hope she reads this.
After not having breakfast everyone got into the bus Google had gotten us for the day. The bus also came with Eugene, our driver, and Vera, our red-jacketed tour guide. We took 280 up to San Francisco so that we could see how beautiful Northern California is instead of how populated it is. While Vera talked to us about the history of San Francisco and such, Jess and Jen did Yoon-Ki and Danny's hair. They looked lovely.

Here is Tim having his chin scratched by Jen. Don't ask. I had to include it though to convey the whole experience.

I was very happy to hear Vera explain to the group that San Francisco is supposed to have miserably gray weather in the summer. You see, the Arctic water in the Pacific is very cold while the inland California temperatures are very hot. So then some magic happens and fog appears and is drawn inland where it encouters the mountains and comes to a stop because it is too heavy to get over. This leaves San Francisco in a perpetual state of fog in the summer. But weather is nice and sunny come September and October just in time for me to leave California for the soon to be snowy New Hampshire.

(Treasure Island, Bay Bridge, Fog)

We were taken through Chinatown and Union Square before being dropped off at Pier 39 where we had the unique opportunity to watch half of our team imitate the sea lions and frighten other tourists.

While most of the team dawdled, Mandy and I took our tour of Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf into our own hands and headed straight for the bread factory. Yes, the bread factory, or as some say colloquially: the bakery. We looked thorugh the window and watched the bread maker (or baker) create crab shaped bread. Our mouths watering we walked inside to see how much a turtle shaped loaf costed. Too much. Luckily there were free samples which we gladly helped ourselves to.
We then boarded a ferry bound for Sausalito, that place across the bay I never had any desire to visit. The ferry ride was great. I love boats and being on the water. It also offered me a chance to take tons of pictures of my team, the city, and Alcatraz. I will share some with you.

(Tim, Steph, and Aiden a Google worker from the Boulder office, he is a fun guy)

(Jess, Mandy, and Yoon-Ki)

(Jen requests that Mandy make a normal face in a picture so Yoon-Ki obliges by tickling Mandy)

(Mandy, having missed breakfast too, slowly eats her Snickers bar one peanut at a time)

(Yoon-Ki enjoys the fresh bay air and ponders. . . but who knows what)

(Danny gives us a quizzical look even though we are the ones confused as to why he is not sitting with us)

(a big boat I once took pictures of in high school for photography class, none of those picutres turned out as desired)

(Alcatraz)

(The Golden Gate Bridge, sail boat, and fog)

Once we docked in Sausalito we were given some more free time before lunch. Everyone dispersed and naturally most of the Dartmouth team found its way into a small toy store where we played with the puppets, read the kids books, and relived the joy of being a child in a shop full of colors. Lunch was a successful ordeal, despite a few team members' annoying habit of doing seriously obnoxious and oh so poorly executed foreign accents. By this point we had gathered 2 people from outside the Dartmouth team to sit with us. And so, on the last day, we began to socialize. As mentioned by one of my teammates, this is the safe way to go because you never know how the people you socialize with will turn out, so if you do it on the last day and they turn out to be creepy, at least it is the last day. Sadly not all Dartmouth students (our lovely team leader) took this advice and attracted creepy people nonetheless, or was perhaps creepy herself.
After lunch we headed to the Golden Gate Bridge while most of the bus continued to ignore Vera who was having a difficult time giving us a tour over all the raised voices. I felt bad for Vera, and I felt bad for the whole bus because they missed a ton of very interesting stories about San Francisco. We stopped to be tourists and take pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge. These are the last photos I took that day so I hope you enjoy them.

(Tim and Jen)

(Mandy feels the need to stand above everyone else)

Next stop was Haight Ashbury by way of Golden Gate Park. I love Golden Gate Park. Anyone who has the chance to go there most certainly should, and make sure you go to the Japanese tea garden. Haight Ashbury was fun enough, but everyone was getting tired by this point. Mandy, Yoon-ki, and I made the standard circuit of Haight Ashbury by stopping in the thrift stores that were too expensive (thrift indeed), the used bookstore, Amoeba, and finally the coffee shop next to Amoeba. No purchases were made and by 5:30 we were ready to head over to AT&T park, which I still want to call Pac Bell park.
So far this summer I have watched an excessive amount of baseball than I do usually. It is always on at the Foley house and I have now been to two Dodger games and a Giants game. Now before you ask, I was not at the game where Bonds broke the home run record. Thank goodness. No wonder that guy hits so many home runs at home though, AT&T park is the smallest baseball diamond ever! The game was not all the interesting for me since I had no real interest in either of the teams (they were playing the Washington Nationals). However the Google group did succeed in catching a foul ball; it landed literally right at Aiden's feet after bouncing off some poor guy's head. We also succeeded in getting heckled by very mean Giants fans who told us to go to LA or home when some of us attempted to start the wave. Apparently the wave cannot be done in San Francisco. I'm still not certain why they thought it prudent to tell us to go to LA. While I was too lazy myself to try to do the wave, I was still offended when our group was very rudely yelled at to go home by a woman in a hideous highlighter orange sweatshirt. I think she should have reconsidered yelling at us while wearing such a horrible sweater. Aiden first kindly informed the woman that if she wanted to flip Google the bird she was more than welcome to, then he snapped a picture of her doing just that. I don't much like Giants fans.
Overall I would say our trip into the city was a lot of fun. There is a bunch I have missed out I am sure but I only have so much patience and my attention span is only so long when writing. After the long bus ride back to Cupertino, a few of us decided to continue to be social and go to the hot tub with other members of the Google group. What this really means is that Danny and I stayed by the hot tub and chatted while the rest who had gone down frolicked in the pool. I don't think we like to sit still very much.
So ends my adventure at Google. I hope Dartmouth did not make too bad of an impression seeing as I need a job somewhere after I graduate next year.

The Tempest and More

2007-08-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted any illustrations in a while! Sorry! Here are some more.
I now give you illustrations by Edmund Dulac from Shakespeare's The Tempest. For those of you who have known me for a while, you will know that I have a great love for Shakespeare and a liking for fairies and butterflies. This has lead to a natural liking of The Tempest and A Midsummer Night's Dream. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the archive had illustrations of The Tempest. These are some of my favorites from the whole group I will eventually get through showing you.
This first one is of Stefano offering a drink to Caliban as the Jester, Trinculo, looks on. I have decided to share this with you first of all because of how beautiful the sky is in this illustration, just as a real stormy sky is not just an expanse of gray, neither is this one. I also wanted to post this illustration because it is one of my favorite parts of the play seeing as it is one of the only bits of comedic relief from what can be a somewhat dark play, despite the young love. Sadly, this illustration is not very humorous, except for maybe the look on Trinculo's face.

Now for the gorgeous fairy and spirit illustrations, there is a lot of blue in this one. I think the fact that there just seems to be a blue wash over every part of the illustration really accentuates the magical feeling.

I like the sense of movement caused by an invisible wind in this one conveyed by the water, hair and clothes.

This is an illustration of Ariel. Ariel is so elegant, which contrasts nicely with the wild flowers the spirit is smelling.

These next two are by Florence Harrison from Elfin Song. This continues in the fairy vein.

I like the feeling of sadness and loneliness in this none. I really like the human figures in these next three (all by Harrison, but the last two are from Poems of Rosetti).

These next two are by Kay Nielson from Arabian Nights. Nielsen first made these illustrations in 1921, but from what I can tell they were not published due to money issues. But they were found and finally printed in 1975. Thank goodness because they are brilliant. I had a really tough time deciding which ones to include. Not only is the main part of the illustration enchanting but the borders are just as lovely. That is why I included this first one. I love the clouds that edge the picture.

This one is just great! Passion just oozes out of every part of this. It is reflected in their embrace, their clothes, and their ignorance of the fire raging around them. I also really like the smoke because all of the colors are separated and it works so well.

Google, Day Two

2007-08-12T12:48:00.000-07:00

Day two began with breakfast at the Cupertino Inn: a paper cup of coffee, bowl of cheerios, and half a waffle. Again, the Dartmouth team continued in the anti-social vein and sat outside instead of inside with everyone else. I personally didn’t think we were the ones being anti-social at this point though since I just can’t comprehend why anyone would want to sit inside when they can be outside for breakfast. Because team Dartmouth was sitting outside for breakfast we were the last to leave the hotel. Because we were the last to leave the hotel, we were also the last to arrive at Google. We were about a half hour late to Google. Not the best impression, I’m sure.

Tuesday was meant to be a day full of workshops on Google Earth and SketchUp. That is exactly what it was. As expected, it was one of the most boring days ever. I felt bad that I was so uninterested in everything the Google people had to say to us, especially since the people themselves were pretty interesting. What I gathered from the whole day was that the Dartmouth team had no architecture students on it (well except for one, but he wasn't really a team player) whereas a majority of the other teams were comprised of architecture students. This means that the Dartmouth students really could have cared less about learning more about modeling buildings in SketchUp.
This is not to say the day was a complete loss. I did learn about this website called walkscore.com where you can find out how walkable your neighborhood is. This would be really useful if I lived somewhere besides Hanover. We also made the only practical suggestion of how to improve SketchUp. While the other questions and suggestions were quite complex and not at all for the average user, team Dartmouth aptly suggested that the selection color not be the exact same color as the y-axis. This double use of the color was incredibly confusing during our modeling endeavours. As soon as our team leader, Jess, made this suggestion, the SketchUp guy told us he could show us how to fix that immediately. He went into some window clicked some buttons and all of a sudden we had changed the selection color. I think he missed the point of our suggestion. It is bad practice to have made those two things the same color and we should not have to know the back roads of SketchUp to make the program functional.
After hours and hours of sitting we finally got to the point on the schedule labeled "free time." Free time was supposed to have consisted of at least an hour of time to ourselves but had been shortened to 20 minutes. There were several reason we fell behind, but the most exciting of which was because we had a surprise visit from Sergey Brin, Co-Founder & President of Google. WOW! Too bad I had no clue who he was. But everyone who worked there was all excited and this one guy sitting in the front row was obviously star struck (to put it mildly). I thought it was pretty nice that Sergey took the time to say hello and take a few questions. He was actually asked one pretty interesting question about how Google can help people, how it can be a beneficial company to the world. I don't think he was fully prepared to answer that question since he kind of stumbled through an inconclusive answer, although he did direct us to google.org.
Back to free time, which wasn't free after all since we were all told to stay in the room we had been trapped in all day. This was another dull 20 minutes. Finally we got dinner and then went back to the Cupertino Inn.

Honestly the second day isn't much to write about, but the third day was spent in San Francisco, which was quite fun.
(photo credit goes to Jess for all of these)

Oh, Googleplex

2007-08-09T23:17:00.000-07:00

Here it is, the long awaited post about my visit to Google! Well, it may not be long awaited but I like to think it is. I am not really certain where to begin. There is so much I must share that I will inevitably forget to talk about while writing this.
I suppose I will start with the trip from The Cupertino Inn to Google:
Excitement hung in the air as we clambered into the white limo only to discover that we were missing the youngest member of our team, who most likely had fallen asleep. Once he joined us the limo took off for the Googleplex and the Dartmouth team began to play and take an excessive number of pictures, of which one is featured below.

The limo pulled into Google and we exited on a red carpet to a shower of glitter, applause, and overall admiration. The winning teams had arrived!
Wait.
Scratch that, now rewind:
We exited on concrete to discover the Minnesota team standing about looking forgotten. We joined the Minnesota team and were promptly forgotten as well. Where was our welcome? Where was our red carpet? Why didn't we have acrobats prancing about to entertain us? Or at the very least a sign with an arrow to tell us where to go?
In the absence of any real guidance my Dartmouth team soon discovered the many single-gear Google bikes just waiting to be ridden by us. Leaving behind the other schools we rode the baby blue bikes with bright orange flags to our hearts content. Or at least until we decided it was time to follow the migrating herd of college students. Unfortunately the moving herd had no clue where it was going and the migration soon spiraled out of control, as most college student migrations do, ending with two security guards asking us to please not take pictures near the T-Rex or around any of the buildings. Here is a picture of all of the members of the team who were able to make it to California. I am scared to post the picture of the T-Rex though. . . I don't want to be looking over my shoulder for Google for the rest of my life.

Left to Right: Yoon-Ki (aka Peter aka Spidey), Me, Danny, Tim, Mandy, Jen, Stephanie, Jess (in front)

Completely enclosed by buildings, the Dartmouth team again left the other teams to head back to the bikes where we ran into someone holding a 3D Campus winners sign. We had been found! The bikes would have to wait.
We were given brown Google tee shirts that declared to anyone standing behind us that we were Supermodel(er)s 2007. Cute. After much milling about or just standing still, the people in charge finally decided to feed my famished friends who had flown in from Hanover that day. Our first taste of the Google cuisine consisted of cheese sticks (perhaps sticks of cheese sounds more appealing), chips, and animal crackers. I could see why Google is famed for its food, my teammates ate everything in sight. Our hunger momentarily sated we divided up into groups to go on tours of the Google campus. They tried to split teams up in order to facilitate socializing. Silly Google. I joined group 3 with several other Dartmouth students despite clearly having said the number 2 aloud as we counted off.
I must say that the tour was a decided success. How could it not have been when there was a mini kitchen every 5 minutes fully stocked with fresh strawberries and mini bags of peanut M & M's? Google provides for every need of its employees then goes above and beyond the call of duty by giving them at least 3 different kinds of water to choose from. In addition to several mini kitchens and many cafes at which to eat, Google also comes fully equipped with laundry rooms, two swimming pools (the small exercise kind with a faux current to swim against) and a lifeguard, a basket ball court, IM sports teams, more than one gym, personal trainers, a doctor, a masseuse, a hair dresser, ATMs, post offices, shuttle services, and last but not least wheatgrass. Seeing how well provided for Google employees are at the Googleplex was somewhat intimidating. It felt like a college for grown ups who are supposed to be in the real world. Conclusion: Google is not the real world. It is a tiny utopian work environment hidden in the depths of Mountain View across from my high school movie theater peopled by masses of casually dressed overgrown college students.
After our tour we were fed ice cream before dinner because we were away from our parents and could do whatever we wanted. Half of the Dartmouth team eventually slouched to the couch hidden beneath the stairs so that we could avoid all strenuous social contact. Soon we heard our Google bikes calling and drifted outside to heed that call. Handles in hand and pedals underfoot we took to the sidewalks and raised Google hell on our single gear beasts of burden. We rode in circles and figure eights until our curiosity beckoned us to twice make a loop around the block of unused brown grass just next to the Googleplex.

Deciding I should at least pretend to be social I returned to the ice cream and chatted up three Stanford students until they quickly turned the subject away from general conversation to specific people they knew. I did not know those people so was content to turn my back and stare blankly at two of my teammates while they asked what I can only conjecture may have been intelligent questions of one of the Google workers.
Dinner! I rejoined my biking friends at the largest of Google's dining places to learn that they had been scolded for taking the bikes and leaving Google supervision. Free time is only free if in the clutches/sights of a Googler. Dinner was satisfying.
Once safely stowed back in one of our rooms at the Cupertino Inn, the Dartmouth team made valiant efforts to avoid interacting with the other teams. While occasionally foiled on this front, we did finally succeed in shutting ourselves in one rather toasty hotel room so that we could watch When Harry Met Sally in Google peace. We later discovered on the last day of our trip when most of us opened up to the group at large, that they thought we were all in the 90 degree room doing coke. “After all,” Google employee said, “I know how stressful those Ivy Leagues can be.” (I may be paraphrasing). I was also asked that night if Dartmouth was like a cult because no one but the people from Dartmouth knew where New Hampshire was. Their loss. Only people who know where NH is may join our cult. All others may go to Harvard or Stanford.
And so concludes our first day at the Googleplex. Now I must go to bed to please my sleepy eyes but I will pick up on this narration tomorrow. All picture credits in this post go to Stephanie except for the first one.

We are just adorable. Mandy is hiding behind Tim.

Home for a While

2007-08-05T22:17:00.000-07:00

I made it home on Friday night just in time for sushi with my dad. By “just in time” I mean he waited until I arrived since I sat in traffic on the 5 for about an hour. That sucked.
Now I am at my mum’s and tomorrow I will drive into the city to see 3 of my friends from Dartmouth for breakfast. I will then take two of them to the airport to pick up another friend from Dartmouth. We will then begin our Google adventure, which is to last for the next 3 days. Because I am uncertain that I am going to have the ability to post until Thursday or Friday I am posting now.
While home I decided to have a quick look at the books on my shelf to see if I had any nice illustrations squirreled away. Unsurprisingly, my search came up short. However, I did come across an album sent to me by the family I stayed with while in Japan in the 8th grade. It was filled with pictures of me burning sparklers with them, visiting a temple as well as the supermarket. Here is a picture of me with Ruri and two of her school friends. Japan was a lot of fun and most people don’t know that I used to be able to speak rudimentary Japanese. Now I only remember how to ask where the bathroom is, how much something costs, and tell you my name and that I like ________ (things).

I also came across 3 books by Bill Peet. I might have written about Bill Peet while I was blogging in the winter, but I can’t remember. Well Bill Peet worked as a storyboard artist for Disney then went on to write and illustrate children’s books. I loved these books as a kid. I don’t really remember the stories but I certainly remember the drawings. Just goes to show that picture stories are good for children, or it just shows that I have a poor memory.
I have included 3 of the drawings from Big Bad Bruce. The story is about a mean bear, Bruce, who has a tendency to throw rocks at little woodland creatures and make pretty goofy faces. Like this one:

Then a witch, who looks a lot like the witch from Sword in the Stone (this isn’t really surprising since Bill Peet worked on Sword in the Stone), decides to teach Bruce a lesson by feeding him a pie with some sort of shrinking potion in it.

Finding that Bruce has shrunken to miniscule proportions, the woodland creatures turn the tables and torture him. The witch and her cat find small Bruce and take him into their home after he had learned his lesson.

That’s a pretty cute drawing. On the last page of the story small Bruce begins throwing rocks at insects. Lesson not learned after all. A wonderful story for children.
Since I have been back I also watched some cartoons with my mum. Some Oswald the Rabbit and Tex Avery. Cartoons are obviously not just for kids since my mum was laughing and told me they are pretty funny. They are pretty funny and I appreciate that it is not the cheap kind of humor found so often in modern animation. Rather, the Oswalds are full of physical humor: ears turning into question marks, bodies and limbs stretching all over the place. They are just wonderful.

My Counter

2007-08-03T00:01:00.000-07:00

I would now like to direct your attention a little bit down the page and to the left. There you shall find a counter that, as of Thursday night, was around 300. It was suggested to me on Tuesday that I put a counter up so that I could see how many people visit my blog. I did not have a counter prior to this because the number would have only made me sad knowing that only 2 people read my blog on any given day. However, in two days time my counter has reached an amazing 300 hits. Good job blog. I owe this large number to my 2 posts about classic illustration (and to the archive's blog directing people here).
While it is too much to hope that many, if any, of those 300 visitors will become frequent readers, I am proud nonetheless. I have to admit that I hope many of those people do not become regulars. Although I realize by posting online I am giving anyone access to what I have written, it always used to be friends and family who read this, and now I am not as sure. The pressure to write interesting posts has just increased!
I am making the drive home to the Bay Area tomorrow and leaving behind a few things I have come to realize I will truly hate to part with at the end of the summer. Not to be too sentimental but I will really miss seeing Alex so often; that has been amazing. I will also miss the archive and everything that comes with it (Steve, access to an incredible amount of animation and art, and being near many people who work with animation on a daily basis). Perhaps this short trip home will prepare me for the longer parting at the end of the summer.
I will now leave you so that I can rest up for my drive tomorrow and I promise to report back on how the Bay Area is doing, how my visit to Google goes, and I shall also continue to post about the illustrations (next is The Tempest).

More Pretty Things

2007-07-31T23:58:00.000-07:00

This is a continuation of my previous post about the book illustrations I encountered at the archive last week. I feel like many of my readers are art minded so I think these posts are good for everyone, whether you make art or just enjoy it a lot, not to mention Steve so kindly linked to my afore mentioned post from the archive blog and I was very flattered. It increased the number of people visiting my page at least ten-fold.
I will start this one off the way I ended the last one, with a Peter Pan illustration by Mabel Lucie Attwell. Again, this is just sweet and Peter has fun hat.

Cute, yeah? I almost feel like posting just pictures for the next week. . . which would average about a post and a half in the end. These follwoing three illustrations are from Stories of the Arabian Nights by Edmund Dulac, who, as far as I can tell, was quite the prolific illustrator; I have many by him. I find the Arabian Nights ones pretty interesting and a bit funny because all of the women depicted are quite beautiful while the men. . . just aren't. This isn't the first time I have encountered this trend so I want to talk about it for just a second. For some reason, it is always a beautiful girl paired with a goofy looking guy. Betty Boop and Bimbo? How did that happen? But that isn't really even a good example since Betty Boop, although undeniably sexy, posesses an unhuman sort of pretty with her enormous head and strange walk. I could fully opine on why drawn women tend to be more beautiful than the men, but I realize I would rather get to the illustrations. This one just below is another good example of how the artist spent his time on the important details. The woman's clothes and the bird are very detailed but there is no real background, which is no detriment to the illustration.

I love the sense of movement Dulac captured in this following one. I do not need to actually see her move to know perfectly well how she will dance if ever released from the page.

Another quick note about the difference in backgrounds nowadays and the one in this next Arabian Nights illustration. I think that although these painted backgrounds may be sparse, they are also intensely interesting. See how the sky changes shades and how subtle the shawdows of the trees across the lake are? Just gorgeous. Today Jojo, another assistant and student at the archive, showed me a picture from an upcoming CGI movie that I don't really want to mention by name. Yes, it was that scary. I think it important for people to realize that bright colors do not equate to beauty, especially if the main characters get lost in the palette. I like this picture because the tree and bank so nicely frame the couple sitting by the water.

This next one is also by Edmund Dulac from The Bells and Other Poems by Edgar Allan Poe. I have chosen to share it with you because I love how well the fabric and the girl's hair is depicted. While I can't be certain, I am under the impression that she is dead, which causes the focus on the beautifully static fabric to make the illustration all that more dark and depressing. I love to draw the curve and folds of fabric and the way light falls upon it, so naturally I would take a liking to this picture. I can only hope that one day computer animation will find a way to make cloth as gorgeous as this. For those of you who do not frequent the archive, do not think I am being too hard on computer animation, I realize that there is probably little fabric as lovely as this in drawn animation either, but I have seen clothes used to enhance a character, a movement or a mood in drawn animation whereas I am having a very difficult time thinking of an example in CGI films. I think clothes should add to a character, not just cover it. I feel the same way about curtains and windows.

I really like this next one from the same book of Poe's poems because the man is simply a silohuette while the sky has so many shades and colors in it. Again, this composition pleases me.

I don't know why I wanted to show the following Dulac illustration from Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam to you. Something about it must have struck me.

I certainly do know why I wanted to share the following two Dulac illustrations from Sinbad the Sailor with you. I love this first one for the waves. The way the waves have been depicted give them an almost glassy texture, which one does not usually associate with a stormy sea, but I think it works quite well. I also like this picture because of the little man completely suspended above the sea and the tiny pair of legs disappearing over the back wave. Sometime it is the little things that really make a drawing.

It is hard for me to call this next picture all that interesting really, I just really like how nicely the human figures are positioned. They are so elegant and completely natural at the same time. The right placement of head, neck, and hands made this otherwise less than striking illustration really jump out at me.

Now I sadly must go to bed, but I promise to pick up where I have left off with the illustrations and let you know if I happen to do anything else interesting in the meanwhile.

Book Illustrations

2007-07-29T12:41:00.000-07:00

Lately, the archive has at times felt very slow to me. I built the database in the winter and now I am filling and cleaning it and Thursday I masochistically decided that the 25th of February should no longer come before the 3rd of February in my chronological sort. This decision inevitably made the database better but meant that I had to manually go through over 2,000 records. Let’s forget about headache Thursday and go back to Tuesday and also forward to Saturday (I have heard that time might not be as linear as we think). These days I finally did some work with the media database. The task was nothing special, I was entering images and their information into the database, it was what I was working with that made it so interesting. I spent a total of 6 or so hours on Tuesday clicking the same buttons and hitting the same keys and yet my interest was held the whole time.
This is only one testament to how lovely the illustrations were. I was working with book illustrations from the early 1900’s that were some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. Steve and ASIFA-Hollywood have kindly let me post some of them on my blog so that I could better describe to you how I felt about them. It was incredibly difficult to choose but I limited myself to only a few. . . which really means I will have to post more up at a later date.
I will start with these. These are 1912 illustrations from Bland tomtar och troll 6 (Among Elves and Trolls) by John Bauer. Bauer was a Swedish artist known for his fairytale illustrations. This following one struck me first because of its composition. Bauer allows the sky to fill a majority of this picture with just two small elements, a bush and a man on a horse, at the bottom to balance it. This allows the sky to have full the grandeur that the gorgeous colors give it. The colors. While I don’t want to make a blanket statement about any of the illustrations I am going to show you, I have to admit that it always comes back to the colors for me in these. I am horrible at coloring, even with crayons on a placemat my sister always exceeded me and went places I could not easily follow. I think this is why I am so fascinated by these artists' use of colors that, at times, can be so subtle and yet so striking at the same time. Lastly in this illustration I notice the regal horse with his distressed rider. The juxtaposition of the nature of the horse and the human accentuates the rider’s pain just as the beauty of night sky also serves to enhance it. Sorry if I talked too much about it, but look for yourself:

This next one is also a Bauer illustration and I really wanted to show it to you to point out how brown the whole background is while still being so interesting. I think Steve gets a lot a crap from certain people about the fact that the archive spends its time on book illustrations, comics, static art instead of just focusing on animation. I think animators could learn a lot from this art. I have found in certain recent animation that people love their backgrounds to be colorful and eye-catching. I don’t think that should be a focus, the animation should be the focus. But this doesn’t mean that the backgrounds should be lackluster. Animators only need to look at this illustration to know that. I also want to show you this illustration to point out that while it is obvious that the troll is far from “pretty” there is an undeniable appeal to it. Sadly, I don’t think the people at Dreamworks saw this illustration before they made Shrek. Well, that movie’s loss.

Okay I could show you more Bauer illustrations but I will restrain myself and show you now two illustrations by Charles Robinson from Our Sentimental Garden and then The Secret Garden. These are kind of Art Deco and are obviously from around the time when advertising art hit its stride. Notice the vibrant colors as well as the contrasting shadow.

There are less colors in this one, obviously, but just as gorgeous.

Okay, I love that those of you who have reached this part have actually read this whole post, because this is getting long. I think I will stop now and continue with more illustrations another day because I want to be able to talk about them without losing my audience.
Wait! No, I will show you one more that I don’t think I needs too much of an explanation of how great it is. It is a Peter Pan illustration by Mabel Lucie Attwell and maybe I just love it because it is so sweet. I don’t think I need to justify why I like this one.

Thank you!

My Excuses

2007-07-24T18:12:00.000-07:00

Ugh, see? I knew I would be really, really bad at this blog thing this summer! I suppose I will have to tell you why I have not written in a while. First of all, I have no clue really who "you" are this time around, whereas last time I had a pretty concrete idea who was reading my blog. For some reason I use this as an excuse not to write. Second of all, I have been doing all of the following:
Thursday night I played UNO, yep the card game, with Alex's work crew in a pub. Well to be specific, not just any UNO, but waterproof UNO so that you can safely spill on, spit on, and finally lick the cards. Although I don't recommend spitting on them. . . or licking them for that matter. Come to think of it I don't know why water UNO was invented. I will get to the point now, shall I? Yes, there is a point to UNO. I found the whole interaction entirely interesting due to the striking similarities between Alex's gang and the group I hang out with at the Coral. The first and final one being that I would never have chosen these people off the street to be a part of our respective crews, and yet, now finding them to be my friends and my sister's I cannot really imagine having found any group more intriguing or of a better fit.
Friday night I made the amazing discovery that my friend Anna from Dartmouth is in LA! I suppose it was more her discovery though since she is the one who called me. Anna invited me to the Hollywood Bowl that night to see the LA Philharmonic and Jamie Cullum. The program was called Cool Britannia so we listened to cool British music all night. Ian Fleming (James Bond), Noel Gay and Austin Powers were the features of the first half. Then Jamie Cullum joined the orchestra. He is a young and talented pianist who, as far as I am concerned, has yet to really mature into his talent. For those of you who do not know what the Hollywood Bowl is, it is an outdoor amphitheater set in the Hollywood hills. It was close to magical listing to the LA Philharmonic and looking up at the stars and hills, until I saw the spotlights making an X over our heads. While everything was still gorgeous, it was also so LA. It was quite the experience.
Saturday night Alexis invited me to join her and her friend Jordan and Jordan's husband at The Comedy Store on the Sunset strip. This was two firsts for me. I had never been to the strip before and I had never been to a comedy club. That was one expensive night! Parking was a complete nightmare and the club of course had a cover charge then a two drink limit as well. What the two drink limit really means is that they serve you small, poorly made drinks at outstanding prices.
Sunday was a day spent in the sun with my sister reading. That night we cooked MahiMahi in a lime marinade (that I managed to leave a majority of the ingredients out of at first) and a tomato and avocado sauce. Then last night we cooked saffron and asparagus risotto with scallops. I am proud of us. Both were very tasty and looked good too. I have included a picture.

The State of Interior Decorating

2007-07-17T09:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have not written anything recently but finding interesting things to post about have proven to be a difficult task for me this time around. Again, I do not wish to relate what I eat at every meal or when I take showers. Oh! Although Uncle Chris made a fantastic chicken curry last night and now I have the recipe and can't wait to try it some time. You see, Alex and I cook dinner together sometimes so that I can pretend that I am ready to go live in the real world (her too).
I have been meaning to write about this particular discovery for a little bit now. Full credit must go to my friend Krystal for this fantastic find: Edgar Allan Poe's Philosophy of Furniture. Who knew there was such an essay? Perhaps some of my more well read readers (that sounds awkward) have heard of it, but this really isn't the Poe essay your English teacher decides to cover in high school. I can't imagine why not. It certainly has deepened my understanding of Poe and all manner of interior decorating.
First Poe covers many a nationality's ability to decorate. I believe my favorite description is as follows: "The Dutch have, perhaps, an indeterminate idea that a curtain is not a cabbage." Well thank goodness they have such fundamentals down. He is no more kind to the American sense of decorating. We Yankees are no less than "preposterous."
In fact Poe is quite disparaging about the art of interior decorating. We have too many straight lines in our rooms that either continue for far too long or are rudely interrupted by right angles. What curved lines we do attempt only result in confusion and mess. Americans cannot handle any kind of line at all according to Poe.
It is almost difficult to take this essay seriously having read other writings by Poe. He is overly critical of all elements of a room from curtains to lighting to carpet. While I can imagine that he may have been quite judgmental of one's sense of interior decoration, I find it hard to believe that he would deem the state of our rooms so important and so shockingly out of tune as to merit a full essay on the ideal decoration of a room.
This essay is both interesting and adds an unexpected bit of understanding about Edgar Allan Poe. I highly recommend that you take the time to read it, although I cannot say that his idea of a perfect room, which includes much red, silver and gold, is quite my own but this may just be my one gaudy American taste getting in the way.
I hope you have enjoyed this slight broadening of your Poe horizons

Why Art?

2007-07-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been giving increasing thought to what I want to do with my future. I have had mostly vague and somewhat scary thoughts. The options seem almost endless and this scares me. No, scare is the wrong word. This is the fact that makes any decision much more difficult. I don't even know what my options are.
In the end I have always wanted to do something not only that I enjoy but that also brings something to the world. This may seem like a tall order but this is why I wanted to be a teacher for quite a while. I think teachers are incredibly important and certainly help to shape the world into what it is. My aspirations of becoming a teacher have now been laid to rest and have yet to be replaced.
Despite the lamentations (or perhaps I can label them: rants) of a certain Mike about the state of animation today, I believe I still want to work with animation. I don’t know in what capacity, but that decision can come with time. The only thing now is to reconcile my want to do something of (for a lack of a better way to articulate myself) consequence and my want to work with animation. For some this may seem like an easy task, and I will get that in a minute, but you have to understand that while I greatly appreciate and enjoy everything I learn at the archive, I have not exactly been led to be hopeful about the current production of animation. It is also difficult for me to say that some of my pursuits really bring anything to the table as far as helping humanity goes. I still can’t figure out how building my campus in 3D fits in, or how sitting in front of my computer coding fits in. I suppose it depends on what I code. . . but my point or concern still stands.
Happily after an interesting conversation with my friend Tim, with whom I shared my concern that what I study is not really pointing me in the direction I had once envisioned (I may have phrased that differently), he said something I considered very interesting: “I think that by the act of creating art the artist is defining humanity, and in some sense it is a real responsibility to define it in a good direction.”
Thank you, Tim. I feel much better about my choice to go into making art. Even if what I end up creating does nothing quite so profound as to define humanity, I believe I will have done something if I can only make one person smile or think a little.
(A quick note: the Mike I mention is in no way discouraging about going into animation, I just want to make that clear, mostly for his sake)

Google Earth

2007-07-11T22:37:00.000-07:00

Last term I joined a team at Dartmouth which was entered in a competition to build our campus in 3D. The competition was put on by Google. Now, Google is a brilliant company. They needed to promote their 3D software, SketchUp, for Google Earth, so what do they do? Get people to build things for Google Earth for free by calling it a competition! Really genius!
To ruin the suspense: we won! Not too be overly confident but I really am not surprised. This could be because our team leader drove us into the ground and was always saying that we were going to win so that once it was officially announced, I knew it was just a confirmation of what she had been saying all along. I am so proud! And also soooo famous. Well, not that famous. I made it into Dartmouth news and that is good enough for me right now. Here is a picture of the work my team did (picture courtesy of Jess):

The prize for winning this competition is, for all intensive purposes, a trip home for me. We won a trip to the Googleplex (great word) which is 20 minutes south of my house. While this may seem a bit underwhelming to some, I am very excited just to see my whole team again. I may have hated the project at the time, but memory puts a lovely tint on everything and I love my team. Not to be sappy but I can't wait to see them in August.
If you want to see my work, go here and download the Dartmouth file. Then open the kmz files into Google Earth (you need to have Google Earth to see the buildings) and be impressed by me and my whole nerdy but oh so loveable team.

To Blog Or Not To Blog

2007-07-08T21:30:00.000-07:00

While this may not be the eternal question that was once asked by a Danish prince, I find it is the one that has been plaguing me for about 2 weeks. I suppose that because I am now writing this, I have decided that I shall pick up my blog again. One reason that I should not write my blog is because I feel like a hypocrite in writing one. I am awful at reading everyone else's blog so why should anyone read mine. Well hopefully I will have some people reading this.
For those of you just joining me, I am back in LA and after a less than ideal start to my LA summer I am back at ASIFA-Hollywood's animation archive. I have to admit that despite the rocky beginning, I am very happy to be back at the archive. I missed being surrounded by animation and those who love it, know it, and make it.
As far as posts go, I have to admit that this is not a truly exciting one but I promise more interesting ones in the future seeing as they can be more specific and less. . . vague (oh man I think that one just killed this whole post). It is time for this one to end.
Good night, I will talk to you all soon and I hope you will enjoy the return of my blog.

Done

2007-03-26T09:55:00.000-07:00

While sitting in my disorganized room and looking out the window at a big pile of snow, I thought I should formally conclude this blog for anyone who may or may not still be checking it. I am no longer in LA, although I tried very hard to pretend I was while sitting at Logan airport and drinking an iced coffee. A poor plan in the end for I was quite cold, yet stubborn; I drank that whole thing.
Now, throughly exhausted by my long trip back to Dartmouth and the strain of moving into a new room, I say a final farewell to all of my readers. Perhaps one day I shall revive my blog, but I can already tell you that I will not have time to do so this term. So if you feel like hearing about my life, you must email me. Thank you to everyone who read my ramblings this past winter, perhaps we will meet again!

Mystery

2007-03-18T23:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, this post is intended for only one person out there. I cannot say who though. Mostly because I have no idea who it is supposed to be. But I just got back from dinner at my dad's house and decided that before bed I would look through the small pile of mail on my dresser. Nothing too interesting really, except for a plain white envelope with my address typed across the front. It was sent March 14th from San Francisco (which could really just mean from the Bay Area). There was no return address and as I held it up to the light I could see that it was a newspaper clipping. My interest was piqued. A newspaper clipping that is pretty personal. I opened the envelope and confirmed that it is indeed a newspaper clipping from the March 11th Financial News, but who knows which paper. Attached was a yellow post-it saying "Gemma, Thought you'd be interested! -J."
J? Okay maybe the article will give a clue of who J is. But which side to read? It is not immediately obvious. J is either trying to tell me to learn how Mutual Funds work, or J is emphasizing that people should check out a free report so that their retirement fund doesn't go down the drain. Okay, I am missing something. I am no closer to deciding who J might be and now faced with the second problem of deciphering the article. I know nothing of finance. Perhaps J knows this and has decided that it is time I took initiative and dive into the world of finance. I have no clue why anyone would send me this. So I turn to Google, which of course producers the answer.
Confirming my growing suspicions, Google tells me that the clipping and note are a scam. Why is it that mysteries are better solved when on television or in books but only disappointing in real life?
This post is intended for that one person who handwrote my post-it. You just wasted 15 minutes of my bedtime with a mystery that didn't even have a good solution. You also wasted a perfectly good post-it note attempting to scare seniors into looking into a free report to help their retirement fund, but you see, J, I am 20 years old. One day I hope to discover and solve a real mystery with a truly satisfying answer.

I think I was bored. . .

2007-03-16T20:37:00.000-07:00

Very recently I have had a lack of inspiration when it comes to writing my posts. I can't really see why because my life hasn't changed much save for the fact that I have been incredibly productive at the archive. The database is finally up and running on all fronts. I say this with extreme pride. I was able to take Steve's ideas and basic structure and turn it into a concrete being. I call it a being because it is almost a living thing. It is like my child. I shall make my database feminine. I made her basically from scratch and taught her do what I asked her to. Sometimes she did not obey me, like any child, but as she grew and matured, she learned that doing as I say isn't so difficult, like every ideal child. Soon she will be out of my hands and all I can do is hope that she can operate without me.
This leaves me with very little to do on my last day of work. I literally am sitting here twiddling my thumbs. Though, not while I type, that would be a challenge. Perhaps I do not want to write anything in my blog because I have realized that soon the designated time length I gave for my blog will be over. I am doubtful that I will be nearly as interesting once I have returned to Dartmouth. This is not to say that Dartmouth is not an interesting place, quite the contrary. Only, I won't have the same sort of animation inspirations surrounding me. . .
This is why I have taken to recently reading and re-reading the internships posted by Pixar and Dreamworks for this summer. I plan to get one of the internships offered by either of them. If anyone reading this happens to know someone high up at either of these places, I would greatly appreciate and introduction.
Ah! I am just so bored with this post, I don't even know if I should I post it. . . . Oh but I will just because I can. One of the best reasons ever made.

Problem Solver

2007-03-14T21:32:00.000-07:00

So this is apropos my previous post which some of you may have seen when it was missing the picture. There seems to be a problem with uploading pictures to blogger if you are using Safari on a Mac. I was frustrated at first because I thought that I was doing something wrong until I poked around a bit and discovered that, no it was blogger's issue and not mine. I was momentarily placated. Then as I read through all the problems people were reporting with uploading pictures on their blog (the same issue over and over again I might add), I got frustrated again. Not because of the renewed feeling of being upset with my blog, but because I was upset with the people reporting the problem. It is one thing to say you are experiencing a technical difficulty, but quite another to scream it at the tech people and tell them how frustrated you are and how long can it possibly take to get it fixed.
I have never really thought of myself as a problem solver, but now I am forced to think that I must be in the general scheme of things. If something doesn't happen the way I want it to, I try going about it a different way until it does operate satisfactorily. This is standard operating procedure for me and for most people I am friends with. I have found however that not everybody goes about things in this way. More often than not people will throw their hands up in frustration and complain to the person nearest them. If I am that person next to them I suggest a way to fix it, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I don't come with answers, but I certainly do what is in my capacity to find them. I highly dislike those people who just complain and give up, declaring that they are no technology, math, science, VCR, remote, rat cage, etc. expert. Not being an expert is no excuse for giving up!
It bothered me that the people were so snappy and rude when complaining about the picture uploading problem to the tech people. They obviously are now aware of the problem and are trying to fix it, so please do not repeat again that you are frustrated or yell at them for not having fixed it already. As it turns out, they still have not fixed the problem, but you will note that I have gotten my picture up on the previous blog. How resourceful I am! I used another browser. So simple. Stop complaining.
Next time you encounter a problem you cannot solve immediately, step back, have a think, try going about it a different way. You don't need to give up then oppressively lean on someone who might know how to fix it. It will not make them want to help you in the future.
On a somewhat different note, I make have found a way to be a sloppy Gemma version of Google thanks to the simple questions of one Miss Erin: "How do you display search results for other things?" Brilliant! I think I shall call it Gemoogle. I like the way it rolls off the tongue.

Today

2007-03-13T23:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Steve got cataract surgery. For accurate details of how this surgery is done, see diagram below.

Today, I nearly strangled someone out of frustration. Today, Steve also asked me to make the quivalent of a search engine, like Google. I have previously thought that Steve asked the impossible from me, but I usually managed to deliver because I had been limiting the way I thought about things. However, I am not certain that I will be able to imitate Google within the next 4 days. Quite the predicament.

My Luck

2007-03-12T14:09:00.000-07:00

I told my mum that I was really lucky this term.
She said that people make their own luck.
I am really lucky to have gotten this internship with the archive. Not only does it look great on my resume, but it has also taught me quite a lot about animation history. When I say animation history, I don't mean dates of when certain animators or studios were doing certain things and I also don't mean events that impacted the animation industry. While I do know some new dates and events that I did not know of before, what I really mean by animation history is the style, the way cartoons used to be made. Comparing them to today's cartoons is somewhat depressing. What happened to all the care and love that went into making cartoons in the first half of the 20th century? Now so many of the cartoons are shipped overseas to be animated. I would be very reluctant to send my child overseas to get the life put into her. That basically is what is missing in some of today’s cartoons: life.
Yes, the Simpsons and Family Guy characters walk, talk, and breathe ink but they lack the qualities possessed by animated characters of the past. Today's characters have predictable and drab movements. They are one-dimensional and wanting in true character. They are without life; they are lifeless. So what is this great standard I am comparing these to, you might wonder? Well, most older cartoons really. But one brilliant example is Popeye.
Now, for those of you who have seen some Popeye but maybe not a lot or not recently, you might be thinking, "Gemma, how is Popeye anything but one-dimensional?" He is a long-torsoed sailor who frequents land more than he does the sea and eats spinach in order to beat up a big guy so that he can win the affection of a tall, skinny, and quite odd looking woman every show. It is true, this is the basis for most episodes, but he most certainly is not one-dimensional. How many sailors have you met that sing, dance, ski, hunt, build ships, care for his father, and oh the list goes on! Not many I wager. Popeye may, at first glance, have a harsh exterior, but the more you get to know him (yes, get to know a fictional character) he has many more motivations and sympathies than the animated people of today. In fact I would say Popeye is quite a caring sailor even though the basis seems focused on him physically harming his rivals.
Well, this is not at all where this post was supposed to go, however, now you know how I feel about a sailor with abnormally large forearms. I meant to talk about I was also lucky that I got to meet all the people I did, and how I was lucky to find my job with Revolution Prep. . . but I have found that my writing really has a life and agenda of its own. So I let it run its course and I apologize that this title has very little to do with the content of the post.

Time for Truth

2007-03-07T23:31:00.000-08:00

Blogging has made me come face to face with my true nature. Because I now type out what I think and feel and send it off for the whole world to view, I have realized that I have a somewhat fickle personality when it comes to people. I knew this before, but now I find it harder to deny when other people are reading what I only used to think. I can like and respect someone one day, and then find them to be a terribly annoying loser the next.
Those high schoolers might be snotty, but they are MY snotty 16 year olds and I was sad to see them for the final time tonight. Once the last of my students had left the room, after profusely complaining that the other class had already been let out, I felt a slow weight beginning to descend. I have taught them everything they need to know and now I must let go of their hands and send them out on their own to repeatedly color over letters A through E. The sadness that accompanies every parting I have ever made was just as strong and even more surprising than usual tonight. I attribute this to the fact that they were my first class and as annoying as they could get, they will hold a special place in my ever changeful heart.

Judged Again

2007-03-07T10:19:00.000-08:00

Just a note on the last post: It was more an expression of my growing sadness that I am leaving behind the archive and LA than of me disliking any other volunteer. I quite like the girl I am training. She is friendly.
In other news: Something that Steve said to me a while ago has suddenly rung true, in a strange and completely unrelated way. Steve said that he was surprised by how many young animation students fight with things that John K. posts on his blog when the students are, as stated previously, so young and inexperienced in comparison to John. Steve was not implying everyone must agree with John, but whatever happened to respecting those with more experience and clout than you? While I agreed with Steve, let's face it, I couldn't really relate, not being and expert in anything let alone animation. But now I am forced to admit that yes, I have made myself an expert on the SAT. It is not something fun to admit to, but I worked pretty hard to become so familiar with something so dull. I then attempted to pass on my knowledge to my students, those ungrateful teenagers.
I have to say that after 6 weeks of teaching 16 year olds (a wealth of experience, I know) I have come to realize that there are just some people who do not want to learn. Certain children are surprisingly unreceptive. I realize that the SAT is not the most engaging of subjects, but how am I supposed to teach if the students are so unwilling to learn? Believe it or not I have become quite vested in my children's scores. While many have improved, some have not. Now it is time for them to grade me. I got a lot of "She's nice and helpful" but then I got the disappointing few saying that I was not clear etc. They also give me a letter grade on my ability to teach each section, my knowledge of the SAT, and a few other things. I can tell that the unreceptive children are the ones who gave me the less than stellar grades. This makes me angry because I am an SAT expert and how dare those tiny 16 year olds who have only just started to drive their own puny selves around say otherwise (I say as I stomp my foot in frustration)! Okay this is turning out to be very different from what Steve said, but I hold artistic license in this blog and that is the way I wanted to introduce my indignation about being judged by the snotty teenagers who refuse to listen in class or implement the really good strategies I showed them.
Really, who are they to judge me?

Old News

2007-03-04T23:24:00.000-08:00

That's me. I am old news. I leave Los Angeles in a mere 13 days. I expect to be missed. But oh! How soon the young and brave (for a lack of more appropriate but less impressive adjectives) are forgotten! I have already been replaced! A new intern came into the archive on Saturday to solidify her position. I felt betrayed and cast aside. I had not even thought of packing and Steve had already shipped in a new girl to man (woman?) the machines. I had no clue what emotions hid behind the woman who strode into the archive that Saturday afternoon sporting a gray sweatshirt with a Mickey Mouse shaped American flag across the chest. (From boxers to sweatshirts, I own far less animation related clothing than many of the people I have come in contact with through the archive. In fact, I own none). But back to Saturday. . . Little did I know that behind that smiley and friendly exterior lay (wait for it) my replacement.
I smiled back at her as I explained my terribly complex job of burning DVDs and placing them into binders in the correct order so that they can later be taken out again and catalogued. I have to admit that it is comforting to know that someone will be able to continue to keep the archive organized after I am gone, I just didn't expect to "train" her let alone know she existed. I believe she found out about the possibility of interning for ASIFA-Hollywood from the video tour Steve made of the archive in which I am referred to as the intern. I should have known that with fame come troubles.
Perhaps I hyperbolize a bit too much than is necessary, but sharing my archival secrets so soon was not something I was fully prepared for on Saturday. I expected the archive to lament my departure and then search in vain for someone to fill my frequently complemented sneakers before finally finding someone who I would never know about. However, this only makes me more determined to finish the job I started so that I will lovingly be remembered as the intern who built a database! And the intern who cleaned Steve's office. Goodness, talk about a challenge! We also did that on Saturday. Cleaning and organizing, while difficult to get me going, is always so rewarding!
I am resigned. I will not be threatened. After all, I am the one leaving Burbank behind and not the other way around. Although it was suggested I drop out of school and move down here. But I have a feeling that there is still more waiting for me at Dartmouth and I am keen to discover what that is. So I will impart all my knowledge to the new intern and be satisfied knowing the archive is in capable hands trained by me.

The Vinci Family

2007-03-02T09:57:00.000-08:00

This morning I continue your animation education. This is a lie. I continue my own animation education. I've found the best way to learn is to teach. This is why I know the SAT in and out.
Back to the Vinci family though. That reminds me of the Medici family from Florence. You know? The family that produced some Popes, other kinds of rulers and were generally fantastic patrons during the Renaissance. Yeah, that one. Well the Vinci family also has a great deal to do with art. Carlo Vinci was an animator who worked for Terrytoons, Disney and Hannah-Barbera. I suppose the most well known things he worked on were Mighty Mouse and The Flinstones. I have yet to be able to pick out who animated what when watching a cartoon but last night I got to experience Steve pick scenes out from Mighty Mouse cartoons that were animated by Vinci.
Vinci's son and grandson, Paul and Mike, came into the archive yesterday evening to be greeted with 6 DVDs of Mighty Mouse cartoons that I had burned for them (although I did not know at the time who the discs were going to) and, more importantly, that their father/grandfather had worked on. We all sat down to watch a few cartoons. Grandson, son, and Steve pointed out bits animated by Carlo Vinci. Even to my uneducated eyes I began to see his distinctive style. Because I am no expert and can no better describe his style to you than I could attempt to walk on water, I will have to refer to the "experts" (though not Jesus). John Kricfaulsi says, "Carlo moves things as if he invented animation himself and had never seen anyone else's animation. He made up all his own rules. He doesn't use simple lines of action like the Disney animators did. Instead he uses zigzagged poses that to most animators would seem awkward."
You should read more about Carlo Vinci at the animation archive site, which I have cunningly linked directly for you. I think it must be amazing to be related to an animator! Of course the son and grandson seemed perfectly normal. Oh! They knew who I was and where I went to school too when they came in! No, not because I wear a Hello my name is. . . name tag, but because I am practically famous to the people who frequent the archive blog. Steve made a video to introduce people to the physical archive to clean away the misconception that the archive is just the blog posts. I am in it! Working away! You should watch it here and see where I work, who I work with and what I do!

Work and Play

2007-03-01T19:38:00.000-08:00

Most jobs that I have held have really just been a balance of work and play. In the end it is always more like play disguised as work. (Except for a two-day temp data entry job I held in high school. That was really boring). Working in the scene shop is always play, until someone falls through a trap door. . . or three people do. . . or your boss loses his mind. The bookstore was kind of like play because I got to hang out with my mum and read children's picture books. The archive is play because I get to watch cartoons if I want and hang out with fun people. If you don't understand why the archive is play then you haven't been reading my blog very closely. This is Steve playing (the ukulele). The archive is a fun joint. Teaching 16 year olds about the SAT is play because I get to make bad jokes and still sometimes get laughs. . . or total silence, which is fun too. Perhaps it is just my attitude that makes my work play; it is hard to say.
Well it is funny that my last post was about writing letters because I received a letter from the lovely Kim Owen (one of my cousins) last night! This amply stamped letter explained her job to me, which certainly does seem like play. Kim got a job as a bartender in Wellington (supposedly close to her flat and school). I think she just sort of fell into the job. . . makes me wonder why it is so hard to get a job as a bartender in the states. Not only does Kim dispense alcohol, but she also dispenses drugs. Oh the legal kind! Don't worry! Like "Red Hearts" a.k.a. ecstasy/speed. Yep, it is a legal drug in New Zealand, that ecstasy. I usually like to think of myself as pretty liberal as far as my views on drug usage go (not my own drug usage), but this strikes me as not the best idea ever. I suppose on the one had it could be considered better than the way drugs are handled in the US because at least in NZ the people will actually get exactly what they are paying for (the drug should be pure). Then again, because it is legal I feel that more people are going to be trying it, doing it with more frequency and in some cases getting addicted to it.
Ecstasy is an upper in simple terms. It fools around with your seretonin levels and acts as both a stimulant and psychedelic, producing an energizing effect, as well as distortions in time and perception and enhanced enjoyment from tactile experiences. (Anyone from SHP will remember the ecstasy presentation we were given in high school). On rare occasions the use of ecstasy can lead to death due to a sharp increase in your body temperature causing your vital organs to give up. I would think that if regulated, death would be even more rare. Yet even if the party pills sold on the street in NZ (Kim sells these pills out of a window onto the street) are not as strong perhaps as the ecstasy found "on the street" (in a much more sinister way) in the states, I figure it still must have the same sort of effects, like neurotoxicity. In addition, most party pill users in NZ usually take party pills in lieu of illegal drugs or in conjunction with them. Most people enjoy taking party pills for the energy they give you as well as the sense of euphoria and apparently most people who take party pills also think that they are a lower health risk than either alcohol or weed. I would find that difficult to accept as fact.
So I looked up party pills. Check out this product website. I can see why they are appealing with that packaging and those descriptions. It all sounds so innocent and candy-like!
Kim also says that she sells "energy pills" and "sex pills." First of all I would like to point out how uncreative these drug names are because there is also a "recovery pill" that people take after having used "party pills" to soften the edge of a hangover (oh yes, I did my research). Second of all, "sex pills"? Kim went into all sorts of details on the party pills and then only upon brief recollection mentioned the sex pills. Clearly the sex pills ought to have been given more attention in the letter. They sound like legalized date rape drugs. I can't imagine that this is what they really are though. I think they "enhance" sexual pleasure. Oh New Zealand, you amaze and amuse me. I can't ever see party, energy, recovery, or sex pills being sold so commonplace in this Puritan America.

The Art of Writing

2007-02-28T15:13:00.000-08:00

This title reminds me of the poem "One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop. It shows us that "the art of losing isn't hard to master." It is a beautiful poem that I believe I read my sophomore year in high school. After you finish reading my own informal type of art, I hope you go read this poem as a supplement to what I have written today.
"The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster."
The poem quickly progresses from losing small things to losing people. In a sense it is quite depressing but I like it so much because I am very bad at losing people. I do not like to let people go so when I do drift from them I feel a deep sorrow. This is why I try to keep in touch with friends through the art of letter writing. While emails are quick and a great way to stay in touch, I have always preferred real mail. I don't mind that it takes a few days because the joy that you receive along with a piece of paper cannot be replaced. Emails are black and white (well blitz is) whereas my stationary is Wallace & Gromit, Gumby, Cat in the Hat, a pencil with arms and legs, pink toile with Delta Zeta written across the top that I tear off because it was free.
My letter-writing career started with my correspondence with cousins and was then perfected by them too. Now I collect addresses in my black Moleskin book so that should the mood strike, I have many people to choose from. If you have never received a letter from me, it is most likely just because I do not have your address. Send it to me and I will then send you a letter.
It is too easy to lose people. Although I realize that I have not been in too many situations where I can lose people, I know that I as get older I will find myself in more and more of them. I have already lost friends from North, Nueva, Sacred Heart, and Dartmouth (those who have graduated). I cannot claim that I grieve all of the losses but it still saddens me. I sometimes wonder what happened to a few of those people. I was talking with Bonnie a while ago and we established that we both wondered where life had taken some people. The thing is we are not curious about the average, nice, smiley people. Instead we question what has happened to the people who seemed destined to crash and burn (eg. people who think that wheat is a mineral) and the people who were smart beyond all belief. They should have the interesting lives.
It also makes me sad that people LET it be easy to lose one another. I am determined to not allow that! I consider letter writing to be an art simply for the fact that so few people do it nowadays. People sometimes send birthday cards or thank you notes, but very rarely does one just send a letter to say hello and inform people of what one is up to. Because this is exactly what I do, I must claim that I am practiced in this art.
This post is not only to brag about my letter-writing skills, which sadly cannot be placed on a resume under the "other skills/activities" section, or to introduce you to a brilliant poem. It is instead a lament for the plight of written correspondence and the true skill of losing friends. At least I know that writing letters will not die due to any lack of effort on my part, and no true friend shall go forgotten while I still have fingers, pen and paper to write.

Los Angeles Winter

2007-02-26T14:15:00.000-08:00

I am thrilled with my camera. I am not thrilled with the fact that it cost money, but I am happy that I can take pictures now.
I have decided to document winter in LA for everyone in Hanover. I hear we got a lot of snow in New Hampshire and I was told that I was missing out on a good winter. I personally think I lucked out. Here is my beach:

Here is sunset on the beach, something that you east coasters don't get the pleasure of enjoying (snow or shine):

This is Lenny. Or so I named him. He walked along these rocks with a bouquet of irises and a red balloon. I wondered if he was meeting someone until he let go of the balloon and watched it do its jittery dance away over the waves. Perhaps he was stood up. While he soon returned from the rocky promintory the flowers did not. I can only guess that they too traveled out over the water:

More Photos!

2007-02-25T20:51:00.000-08:00

This time they are from the Annie Awards (as promised so long ago). This is before the show actually started:

This is Alexis and me in our seats:

Uhhh we weren't satisfied with the previous picture (and people say we look alike? I think not!):

This is us after the show and back at Alex's:

Don't ask. . .

I hope you enjoyed these.

About time!

2007-02-23T09:09:00.000-08:00

I have finally bought a camera! This means pictures in future posts to please you. As much as I am dedicated to pleasing you, the significance of this is really that my love of photography has been re-awakened by the purchase. I took photography in high school for two years which means I just started to get good and get into an experimental phase before I left for college where it was difficult to get into a photography class (first you have to take Drawing I, then of course you need to make sure it isn't at the same time as your much anticipated animation class). You can see my work as featured on the walls of my mum's house and my dorm room. I used to think that film was for professional photography and digital pictures were for goofing around with your friends. Now that I no longer have access to a photo lab, digital photography shall have to run the gamut on types of pictures taken. Although I still have my super nice film camera, I can see it sitting next to me feeling increasingly lonely, taking pictures I plan to develop myself only to remember that I don't have that option is kind of a damper.
I suppose since I have told you that I have a camera I should put up some pictures or this post wouldn't really do my new camera justice. I have only taken 3 pictures.
This is Krista Foley, my "mum" for the term. She is being silly. In all fairness, I didn't give her much warning time.

This is the Santa Monica beach.

This is near my work in Burbank. It struck me. So I took a really fast picture. Sorry if it seems a bit too depressing or ominous, I think you can handle it.

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

2007-02-21T10:24:00.000-08:00

Right? This is what we are told at least and I'd say it is generally accepted as truth. There are certainly times that friends have been attracted to someone and I just haven't seen it. I'm sure it goes the other way too. But, the whole eye thing aside, what really makes someone beautiful? I've heard that studies have been done (those darn unreliable and so un-scientific studies that I still glean information from) that found that across cultures one of the aspects that consistently contributes to one's perception of beauty is facial symmetry. This comes as no surprise to me considering I think that someone with level eyes is more attractive than someone with one eye two inches north of its partner.
Or do I?
All of the Disney heroines/princesses/what have you, have all been beautiful, there is no doubt of that. But they have also been extremely dull in that face department. Big eyes plus full lips, a small turned up nose, and flowing, slightly curled tresses gives us the basic formula for a Disney princess. Read through that description again. While I would love to have hair like Sleeping Beauty, I can't deny that this formula leaves something to be desired: imperfection. With imperfection comes interest. John K. had a post a while ago that got me thinking along these lines (I must give credit where it is due). It was a post about caricatures and undertures (the latter term may have been coined by John). He astutely pointed out that caricatures are much more exciting than undertures. The princesses and prince charming's were categorized as undertures. Rightfully so.
Why? Simply put: they are boring.
I tire of handsome animated characters. Now before you jump to defend your beloved Disney characters, take note that I am not really insulting beauty. I know from experience that beauty can certain be a burden. In Snow White's case it made her nice to look at but lacking in character compared to her short, goofy, seven dwarf friends. I gather then that it must be really hard to be both lovely and intriguing (as an animated character). Why though? The real life people we consider pretty are usually interesting as well (this ties back into the eye of the beholder thing). What do some people miss in the translation from real life to ink then? Ever since I talked with Michael, a volunteer at the archive, on Saturday about how easy it is to make animated people dull and lacking personality, I have been wondering how anyone manages to make a drawing both angelic and stimulating.
This brings me back to my previous query about whether I do find level eyes more attractive than lopsided ones. I have found many of Picasso's paintings to be lovely, and they are anything but symmetrical or boring. Betty Boop is also considered to be appealing, but she is also quite interesting. In fact, she is just plain strange looking. The sheer size of her head aside, it is also an extremely odd shape.
This only proves to me that reality certainly is overrated. I must conclude that while beauty is valued very highly, I think that interest should come first. So if Britney Spears wants to shave her head, while it might not make her more beautiful, I have to admit that it does make her much more interesting.

The Time for Stories

2007-02-19T01:43:00.000-08:00

I have always envied people who are good storytellers. I would like to think that given a good story I would also be a good storyteller too. Then again, the mark of a good storyteller is also being able to find those stories. While I have envied those who can entertain with their tales, I have equally disliked those who are horrible at relating stories. My sorority meets every Wednesday night to go over a bit of business and then to generally have fun and SHARE STORIES about our week. I have found there is a pattern to who shares stories, what they are about and how well they are told. Most people are not good at sharing their stories, no matter how interesting the subject may have been. If you are an amateur story-sharer then I think it is important to hit the basics. The basics include having a beginning, a middle, and an end. You do not need to stick to this religiously, but it helps structure your narrative so that those who are listening do not get lost in the mess of a yarn you are spinning.
There are all kinds of storytellers. There are the kids (or adults) who tell a lie to get out of trouble. Reporters who present the world with its happenings. Fathers who read to their children before it is time to sleep (or in my case: fathers who read to their kids while they both fall asleep). The point is, I admire the art of storytelling because it is not a skill that comes easily to me. In fact, the hardest part of any animation I have done is coming up with the story. I know that with time and work I will get the movements correct, but a story doesn't come quite as easily.
Every time I post is somewhat like torture for me because I need to come up with a mini story that I think will at least interest if not truly entertain my readers (which is, of course, my ultimate goal, goodness the things I do for you people). Since I am picky and unfriendly, I admit that I am not interested in every step of my friend's lives or nights out (unless it includes something truly extraordinary, like someone in a gorilla suit). Therefore I assume that no one would be interested in that about me and lately I have not run into anyone in a gorilla suit. Very disappointing. Quite the dilemma! A Gemma dilemma! Coincidence? I think not. As it turns out, that is pretty much the only word that rhymes well with my name.
My narrative strays. Well, the other day I received a blitz from my friend Mandy who is also taking this term off. We are both taking the Projects in Digital Arts class(or something titled similar to that) next term. Basically we spend 10 weeks making a movie, start to finish, in small groups. Mandy and I have decided we must be in a group. We have also invited Thomas (Donahoe, for those SHPeople who read this) to join us, I don't know if he knows that yet. While I have many stylistic ideas that come to me at the oddest times (okay not that odd, usually while I am driving, it is a great time to think, what else are you doing in the car anyway?), I am a complete blank when it comes to possible stories. Mandy's blitz asked me what our animation should be about. The dreaded question. I responded by saying it should be about a pet rock. Living or inanimate? (Thank you, Caroline). Sadly, I do not think this idea will really take flight.
Ah this post has gotten so long and I still haven’t gotten to the whole impetus for this specific post! The other night, at the Coral (naturally), Steve told a story of a man he worked with at Filmfare (I think that is where?) who decided that he would go up in a lawn chair. Yes, up in a lawn chair. Up where, you ask? No, just up, in a lawn chair, with many a weather balloon tied to it. I was particularly interested in this story, not only because it is pretty amazing that some guy got it into his head that he should go up (as high as a plane mind you) in a lawn chair, but also because the story sounded quite familiar. I had heard it before. In fact, I had seen it. This story had been turned into a play, titled Up, that was performed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival last year. It is one of the craziest stories I have ever heard, twice. But Steve is a fantastic storyteller so I didn’t mind at all that I had already heard the fictionalized version of the story. I wish I was a good storyteller like Steve. I suggest everyone hear this specifically mentioned saga, by the way, but not from me right now because the length of this post has really gotten out of hand. I feel like everything I do now involves storytelling! I saw the animated shorts nominated for the Academy Awards tonight and all I could focus on was how well they told their story.
I am done with stories for the night. I am going to go to bed, and listen to the Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde because my mum has kindly gotten me addicted to books on tape.

Cleopatra

2007-02-15T12:00:00.000-08:00

Apparently she was not beautiful. Whatever. I think that Shakespeare knew what he was talking about. Shakespeare certainly described her as beautiful. Or so I believe. Well, the play leads the audience to think that she is, whether or not I can recall it explicitly saying so. I owe most of my knowledge of Roman and English history to Shakespeare's plays. Needless to say my sense of those histories is full of generalities, dramatic monologues and heart-wrenching death scenes. I don't think that is such a bad thing in the end. It certainly makes the beginning of the War of Roses so much more exciting when I can picture Prince Hal (future King Henry V) as Dan Donahue in a Union Jack coat with long bright red hair. I know you would agree if you had seen all the Shakespeare plays that I have. Although I have to admit that the last production I saw of Antony and Cleopatra was disappointing. The set was lovely, but Cleopatra was not beautiful nor was Antony dashing. In general, Cleopatra was overly needy while Antony was a big wuss. That is not the way I read the play.

The Annie's

2007-02-14T12:43:00.000-08:00

Then Sunday finally came! I woke up again at 7 and got ready for the Annie's. You might be thinking: "Whoa there Miss Eager, isn't that a bit early?" I agree with you. But I had to tutor all morning and afternoon before the Annie's so 7 seemed like a good time to wash and blow dry my hair. About 90 miles and 9 hours later, Alexis and I stood in front of the Alex Theater. It is a lovely theater and has neon lights in the front. Of course, it had a red carpet too, which we discovered had a rather large lump in it, that couldn't have been safe. There were also two large animated characters, the bear and the uhh deer from Open Season. Alexis and I greeted my archive friends (a.k.a. the 4 people I knew at the Annie's) then proceeded to the bar so that Alex could get something to drink. I could not, however, because I had been very honest and said that I am not yet 21. Silly me. It is only a few months.
Once we had wandered inside the theater we took a look at our tickets and discovered that we had seats in the very front row of the balcony! Very good seats! We took pictures, I will get those and put them up ASAP. (if you cannot wait, then look at some of the pictures on the ASIFA-Hollywood blog).After 4 hours or so, I discovered that the show had ended. It had gone by so quickly! I am not really certain what to say about it though because I have no idea what people want to know about it. So here it goes:
The host of the show was Tom Kenny, best known I suppose for being Spongebob Squarepants. He was quite amusing and full of energy. The family of Windsor McCay was there too! Speaking of Windsor McCay (who you should all know, if you don't, please look him up), they give out Windsor McCay awards at the Annie's for career achievement in animation. This year there were three recipients: Bill Plympton, Genndy Tartakovsky and Andreas Deja. I have to admit that I know very little about Genndy, apparently he did the Samurai Jack stuff. But Bill Plympton on the other hand I certainly had heard of before. For anyone who has seen his work will not soon forget it. I can't even describe it. But I know that he tends to shoot his animations on 4's and 5's instead of 3's, giving it a slightly jerky feel. Andreas Deja I know because he has done a lot of work for Disney. Look these guys up. John Lasseter was also there and he spoke to Steve and said that he would stop by the archive! I can only hope that Steve might convince him to come to the archive soon. . . while I am still here. I hope Steve reads this. I would please like a job at Pixar for this summer or after college.
After all awards were given (the award is in the shape of a zoetrope by the way, pretty neat), Alex and I headed downstairs and outside on our way to the "after party," which consisted of a buffet full of food shaped garlic. There were very few seats and both of us were tired so we did not end up staying too long. Instead we went to get pizza all dressed up.
For some reason I feel like this post isn't as exciting as it should be but you will have to forgive me because I am again very tired and starting to get lonely due to a lack of friends (the Foley's are in Montana) despite all the glamour in LA. If you live in LA, we should be friends so that I can have more people to be social with. As it turns out I am a social person, even though I tend to have a short wick with most people.

The One Busy Weekend

2007-02-14T01:28:00.000-08:00

The moment you have all been waiting for! I will now share with you the event that was my weekend. It started Thursday night at the Coral when I met John K. (for longer than a hello this time). I noted that he turns his head rather quickly, likes to raise his eyebrows, and has a gruff voice (these are the things I noticed, whether they are true or not is up for debate). I liked his glasses; thick green frames. I also liked that he got spinach in his scrambled eggs. I was invited by Steve to John's house on Friday night. I wasn't sure what to say at first because my answer is obviously "I would love to," but I was just so struck by the fact that Steve asked me even though John was sitting directly across from me. By the end of the night I had been given John's address and phone number and also been invited by J.D. to watch a movie shoot on Saturday night. I left the Coral that night feeling very LA.
Friday I shopped "like mad" for a dress to wear to the Annie's. I had nothing even approaching what should have be worn on Sunday in LA. I was not successful that morning and left Santa Monica disliking all dresses and all shops. I was grumpy. I went home and knitted to de-stress. That evening I went over to Alex's place and then we went out shopping again. I suppose this time was more fruitful because Alexis and I both found dresses. We then both headed over to John's house. I brought my sister because I try to make it practice to never enter a new social situation alone (Erin can attest to this). We got lost, inevitably due to the sad map Google produced for us. But we did get to see Circus Liquors! This might mean very little to most of you, but this is the liquor store where Elton leaves Cher alone to get mugged in the movie Clueless. The place exists, I have seen it, and there is no phone booth there as Alexis so astutely noticed.
We eventually made our way to the correct street and found ourselves sitting in John's living room while listening to some of the most entertaining music I have ever heard played at a social event. I almost laughed aloud many a time throughout the night because I kept remembering that I was in John K's house and that is just ridiculous. He fit his home and that pleased me.
We spent about the first 15 minutes hearing Steve and John rail on Alex's work. I understand that in a way animation is their baby, so they are protective of it. But what they fail to consider is that Alexis is my sister so I can be protective of her (if that makes sense) and that perhaps she and her company have done some good work with restoring Disney animations that they (S and J) have not yet experienced. In addition, her company does not do the color for these restorations, Technicolor does. So don't complain to my sister about the quality of the color or the fact that Technicolor felt the need ramp up the contrast and over saturate the drawings. Unfortunately, I failed at being protective of my sister because I had no clue what to say. I felt bad.
Overall, it was a fun night and I wish I could have stayed longer than I had but both Alexis and I had work and plans for the next day.
Saturday, I woke up at the early hour of 7. I then drove to Pasadena to proctor a practice SAT (aka watch high school students suffer). Then I drove to Oak Park to tutor a student from my Wednesday night class. His father made sure that I gave his son more math homework so he could get a lot of practice in on that. That made me laugh (on the inside). I ended up driving over 100 miles that day, don’t ask me why because it is a boring story. I felt like a slug so I went to the gym and worked out twice as long as usual. It was my personal revenge on the shops I had gone into on Friday, not that they would know. After that I was much too tired to go to the movie shoot so I stayed home and knitted some more. Good thing too because the shoot had been cancelled.
(okay I am splitting this into two posts because I am tired and this could get long).

Pool

2007-02-09T16:43:00.000-08:00

Pictures! Oh man! This is from when Beth was visiting and we played pool. This is me playing pool. . . or attempting to.

That is the only one we took inside because apparently you can't take pictures inside. . . just in case we wanted to steal their unique decor? So this is one of us oustide instead.

Then this is one of Beth and Rebecca pretending to play pool, and me doing who knows what.

Dated

2007-02-09T01:08:00.000-08:00

First of all, I would like to point out the beauty of the internet. It allows anyone to express any opinion no matter how outrageous. Now that I have made that clear, I would like to point out that my blog is a wonderful example of this. I do not expect you to agree with anything I write, let alone believe it. So! In my world astronomy/astrology is not a science. I would rather continue to think of the stars as I saw them as a child. They are the beautiful things that only decide to reach their full potential when away from the garish city lights. The only science-like thing I want to know about the stars is that the universe is infinite. I understand that this may seem strange to some people. Unfortunately I cannot even attempt to put into words the awe, the amazement, the. . . (I have no words) that I felt when I learned this. It might be really obvious that the universe is infinite but it is a difficult concept to fully imagine. I loved the feeling when I first realized that a miniature of the universe still couldn't fit into a shoebox. I miss that feeling too, because now that I am older and hopefully wiser that feeling comes with alarming infrequency.
It must be true then that youth is wasted on the young. I came to this conclusion this evening when driving back from the Coral where I had been repeatedly called 11 years old by a certain Mike F. (who insists he can get away with anything as long as he is wearing a NY hat). This is supposed to be a compliment to a woman, but I personally just feel bashful about the fact that I am the youngest when at the Coral. I am young and sadly I have to admit that I must be missing something. While I was neither complimented nor offended by being called so young (I was actually quite amused), I had trouble figuring out why it was so important that I was the youngest at the table (only by 7 years mind you, a brief bit of time if you ask me). Since I could not figure this out I have to admit that I am obviously not appreciating youth as much as I should. Yet, I have never experienced anything but my current youth and my even younger years, so how I am supposed to know if I am appreciating my age as much as I should? Aye, there's the rub. While I think I am enjoying my age to it's fullest potential, how will ever be able to tell if that is so until I am older? Then it is too late by that time, convincing me that youth certainly might be wasted on the young. However, this statement cannot be said in any vindictive manner, for everyone has had the chance to waste his or her youth, even the elderly.
So, while I am still young, I fully plan on looking at the stars without bringing science in to dampen or change their glow. (I do acknowledge that perhaps science brightens the stars for others, but hey, this is my blog).

Real Science

2007-02-07T09:57:00.000-08:00

Whenever I hear someone say they should be more like someone else, I always think of Disney's The Jungle Book. "I wanna be like yooouuu. I wanna walk like you, talk like you tooooooo." I can go on. But this brings me to my next point about how I really need to choose a class to fill one more science distributive before I graduate. . . . or so I can graduate. I swear these are related. You see, I found the perfect class! I have always liked science, but taking science in college frightens me because almost every real science class seems to be geared toward people who want to go into that particular field or who want to go into medicine. Needless to say, this makes the classes really hard and a lot less fun for the Gemma-like person who is taking the class simply to enjoy the material. But the Gemma-like person also feels like she is cheating if she fills her science by taking Astronomy because the Gemma-like person will tell you that it is not a real science. Psychology is also not a science. . . . I think I just alienated half of the people I know at Dartmouth.
I feel like a lot of people I know are majoring in Psych at Dartmouth. I took Psych 1. . . . what a disaster. They tried to convince me that it was a science. I remain skeptical. I felt like so many of those studies were ridiculous. This is not to say that they were not correct in the end (people do conform to gain acceptance and the dog will drool if you ring the bell), but all of the uncontrolled variables and some of the far fetched conclusions really drove me to believe that there is no way this is true science. Biology. Chemistry. Physics. Now those are the sciences for the real science people. (I really am making people dislike me, I can tell). I say this as a Computer SCIENCE major. That is also not a science in my mind. I work with a very strict definition of science and it does not include looking at stars or showing pictures to people to see if it makes them blink more frequently.
For example, I think that Bonnie is taking real science. She is studying our earth to create things that make it better, safer, faster, shinier! Now you Psych people can argue that you too make the world shinier and I wouldn't argue that knowing how a mind works is not important, but it still isn't a hardcore science.
I think I have made sufficient enough enemies in the Psych department now, so I shall wrap this one up with how frustrated I am that I cannot take a REAL science because I don't have enough time left at Dartmouth. Instead I think I will take Primate Societies in the Anthropology department (now that is a sweet department, not because it is a science, but because their study abroad takes you to NZ). This brings me back to the original connection between The Jungle Book and my science career at Dartmouth.

Addiction

2007-02-05T23:05:00.000-08:00

I have not posted in a while, for that I apologize. It was brought to my attention that reading blogs is addicting. While I don't suggest that my blog alone causes the addiction, I am sorry for the withdrawal that some of my readers may have experienced. I like to think that I do not have a very addictive personality, which is why I have yet to get hooked on pretty much anything (even though my mum has tried so hard with tea), so I have some trouble relating to this. But I kind of counted on having pictures to fill up the days that I could think of nothing to write. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like that will happen for quite a while. Still no camera. I don't really want to talk about it.
Anyway, I haven't written because I haven't had all that much to talk about really. Oh. . . well I guess I have. I lied. I did quite a few things this weekend.
Saturday night I met up with my Rebecca friend and my Bethy friend! Beth was in LA visiting from Boston for a while. We took Beth to authentic Californian food, a.k.a. Mexican food. Where she proceeded to confuse herself over what she had ordered in a "different" language and also get excited over mole sauce (pronounced like the little mammal featured in the Wind and the Willows by Beth). After food we went to play pool. Rebecca and I were the youngest people there and I believe the bar tender offered us apple juice. Very sweet of him. I also think we were the only people laughing there too. People take themselves so seriously! Maybe pool is more than Saturday night entertainment to some, but you would have thought we trespassed on something sacred the way some people stared at how we butchered the game and sang loudly to all the songs. They needed to relax; be more like us.
On Sunday, I went to the Getty Villa. Which is like the Getty Museum. But a Villa. I went with Alexis and Sean and all of their couple friends. I stood out. I am not in a relationship, nor am I married (surprise!). Back to the Villa. It was built to resemble the Paparii Villa, which was covered up by that big volcano eruption that wiped out all of Pompeii; it was Mt. Vesuvius I believe. Well it was simply gorgeous, dahling. The architecture and gardens were just fabulous. (I hope you read that in the right voice). They also have a decent collection of Greek and Roman. . . . well, stuff, to put colloquially. They had a lot of stuff. Being a true art expert, I can say that none of it was really AMAZING except for some of the mosaics. There was a really beautiful one of Venus pouring rose petals about, as you are wont to do as goddess of love, and a nice pair of tigers doing various violent things. I was more interested in seeing them for all of the pieces for their age and story, awakening my love for history, rather than for their value as art.
Then I watched the Super Bowl, a very different form of art. I believe this brings my weekend to a close. I hope this satisfied a certain specific reader.

Those Days

2007-02-01T23:52:00.000-08:00

Everyone has "those days." The ones when you wake up and just don't want to get out of bed because you know that it just isn't worth it. I think that today was one of those days. I stayed in bed for so long after I was awake it is almost embarrassing. As it turns out, my premonition was spot on. I woke up to a very upsetting blitz from one of my countless bosses (I have a lot as it turns out). Now I think that I have to quit one of my jobs. I say "one of" because I have never had to quit a job. I have always kept it around for when I come back to that location. Not to mention I've also really enjoyed all of the jobs that I have held, so why would I quit? This just makes me really upset. I might as well tell you which job. I am going to quit my job at the scene shop at school and it REALLY upsets me because I think of all the jobs I have had, this is the one I will miss the most. I love the theater. I have been going to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival every year since I was 7. I would say the theater is one of my greatest loves actually.
Now I sit in the Foley kitchen eating my Hearty Minestrone soup by Wolfgang Puck hoping that it will make the end of the day be better than the beginning. Not working yet. I feel like today should have actually been a pretty good day considering all of the other things that happened. Today the son of Clair Weeks came into the archive with a whole bunch of original artwork by his dad. Who is Clair Weeks? He was an animator for Disney, check out that link to read more about him and to see some cool stuff (like an authentic Walt Disney signature, wow, hard to come by). Anyway, that was really cool. Plus I got good feedback from my first time teaching the SAT class. Although that was a pretty harrowing experience, I had nightmares about those kids, maybe that is why I didn't want to get out of bed. All in all, today should have been a good day in my opinion, but instead it was a really bad one.

Misspent Childhood

2007-01-31T23:46:00.000-08:00

Again, while at the Coral with some of my favorites, S, D, G, and ? (I don't think I ever introduced myself), I found myself sitting quietly by while they discussed cartoon I had not seen. I don't really mind this seeing as I am here to learn and pick new things up but I was beginning to get a little frustrated with myself. How do I not know most things they are mentioning? What did I do as a child? As an adolescent? I obviously did not watch nearly enough TV. I was too busy in my backyard pretending my swing set was a rocket ship. Although this fostered the imagination, it did very little to enhance my knowledge of cartoons.
Or perhaps I just have a poor memory. I am inclined to believe this but I would like to pretend it isn't true. Conclusion: I need to catch up on my cartoon watching.
Yesterday we digitized some VanBeuren cartoons. Now those are some quality cartoons. They are pretty trippy actually. Strange to the point of wondering what the people watching these when they were first made thought. Did they think that these were funny or just plain weird? I think they are both. It suits my kind of humor really. You've got to love it when the two main characters, Tom and Jerry (not the cat and mouse, this was before their time, there is no coincidence there but I won't go into it), are singing and they lean close together and poof! their mouths join into one singing mouth. This stuff is pretty out there, but there are some brilliant/amusing walks and runs.
Speaking of Tom and Jerry, or really just of Jerry, Steve got very mad at Family Guy yesterday. Rightfully so in my opinion. Now, I know that some people reading this are probably Family Guy fans, but bear with me, I am slowly being turned into a cartoon snob (although expert sounds nicer to me). He discovered, through YouTube (which made it into Forbes' Midas List this year, as did this person), a parody. . . well more like an exact copy that Family Guy did of Gene Kelly dancing with Jerry the mouse. I suggest you watch both versions (Family Guy Jerry). Ugh! an exact copy! Really now, Family Guy. And it isn't even a good copy. . . .
Okay, I rant. Now I forget the initial purpose of this post. I ponder. Oh right! Bill Peet. I don't remember too much about the authors I read as a kid except for Dr. Seuss and Bill Peet (I speak of picture books). These are both rather fitting. Perhaps my childhood was not too misspent after all. Dr. Seuss fits perfectly with my love for Dartmouth. Dr. Seuss attended Dartmouth. Bill Peet fits with my love for animation. Bill Peet was apparently an animator and storyboard artist for Disney. . . until he got fed up and quit so that he could write and illustrate books. I loved his stories as a kid! They rhymed and what more can you ask for as a kid except for some good drawings? Bill Peet delivered on those too. It is comforting to know that perhaps I was destined for both Dartmouth and animation.

Sorority: the Life, the Love, the Limit

2007-01-29T17:37:00.000-08:00

Quick note: this post could be considered a pure rant. Do not read if rants aren't your thing.
When people ask me why I decided to join a sorority, I tend to respond with some wishy-washy answer about liking the girls or not wanting to have missed out on something good. While both of these answers are true, I can't deny that both are a double-edged sword. I do like the women in my sorority, yet they also cause strife, confusion, depression, anger, and at times desperation in my life. Not to mention, I tend to not like girls in general. I have had countless wonderful experiences because of my sorority, but I have had almost as many displeasing ones to match.
So why did I join a sorority? The last night of rush came down to a choice. Although I had gone to two houses that night, I was not, like most girls, choosing WHICH sorority to join. I was instead choosing between one house or none. I stand by my ultimate decision because, as I said, I have made some excellent friends and I have made some unforgettable memories. But there are so many things about being in a sorority that make me tense up and want to runaway.
Sometimes I wonder how some of the women in my house will ever survive life outside of it. Some seem completely unable to relate to what I call the "real world." How did they miss that blatant social cue? How can they be so sensitive to everything? I appreciate sensitivity as much as the next person. Yet the degree it reaches in the house makes me afraid to say what I think or feel. This is ironic considering my house prides itself on being such an accepting place. I cannot handle the stress of constantly worrying if I may or may not have offended someone or made them go cry behind a door. I hope that those of you reading this who know me pretty well know that I do not like to hurt people and do not directly say things to people if I think it will harm them.
This past term I found myself dreading certain social events because of this. I hate drama and it only seems to breed in sororities. Perhaps this is no surprise to people who are not in a sorority. But when I first joined, I knew my house would be different. Yet, sadly, there are just as many crying, yelling, stomping, and oblivious girls in my house as in any.
I repeat again that this is not to say I regret having joined my house. Just sometimes I think about how simple life could have been without this stress.
Note to anyone in my sorority (or I suppose any sorority, hello redhead!) who may disagree and is reading this: This post was not intended to be malicious; it is simply a reflection of how I feel. I still like you and the house.
Note to anyone in my sorority who may agree with me (I know you exist): I think it is okay to sometimes get away. It is probably the healthy thing to do.

Forum

2007-01-27T22:30:00.000-08:00

This post is generally in response to some comments that I have gotten over the course of my blogging life.
In a way, I wish my blog could be a sort of forum, Bonnie. But then I fear that you might steal the show and if you quickly scroll to the top of the page, you will find that these are the Los GEMELES Adventures. No just tricking, no one can STEAL my blog, only enhance it. I do wish that I could respond to people's comments so that everyone could see. I suppose I could comment myself, but then I would be commenting on all of my entries and that seems a little excessive.
So, Laura, I like you too. I also really like saying your last name.
Kenny, Ronaldo is pretty darn sweet, I wish I could handle a soccer ball like him. Thanks for sharing that link!
Dave, you don't comment. . . in fact, I don't even know if you read this, but it only seems natural to mention you if I mention Kenny. So, thanks for finding that article about drinking water and I will continue to say: let's not let it be a year again before we see each other.
Emma, you will note that most people who comment on my blog (excluding Erin, again), do not attend Dartmouth. This might say something about our school. I am not sure.
AshLAY, I like saying your first name. Someday we shall sit around a fire while I recount the Disney story. I like your hair too.
Christine, I am not sure what to say to you for once. . . this is a surprise since between the two of us we rarely seem to run out of words.
Alexis, I see you all the time, I don't need to write anything to you here, but you are remembered!
Erin, please stop being sick. Please keep commenting on my blog. It makes it seem like we are almost near each other instead of on opposite coasts.
and finally, to my most frequent commenter
Bonnie, it sounds like thermo is driving you crazy. When you type thermo, I think thermos. Then I think of the lunches my mum packed me when I was a wee one. I also think of physics, and Kugland, and how he was about as old as we are now when he taught us. It showed. But I loved that class, even when people tried running through the walls. We drew some great comics. Oh dear, I must stop writing to you because it could go on for a while because now I am thinking of our French dialogues, and you know where that leads.

The Biz

2007-01-26T18:28:00.000-08:00

"Are you an animator?" "Ehh. . . I hope to be? One day? Sort of?"
"Either you are, or you aren't." Oh crap, "Yes, yes I am."
This question continues to stump me. In truth, I really just fell into animation. It was not my dream to be an animator when I was growing up. It didn't even cross my mind. My sister was the artist of the family. . and my mum. . . and my grandpa. Well, whoever it was, it was not me. I was going to be a teacher, or a uhhh, I was keeping my options open. Honestly I love animating but I still can't consider myself an artist or an animator when I am sitting next to people who have already made a career out of it. It is more my dream to get into the technical side of animation. I think this fits with my track record. I tried to whole acting thing, and after being cast as an exotic bird in Peter Pan my freshman year in high school (yes, this role was CREATED for me and 3 other fortunate girls; we wore bright unitards, tutus, wings, feathery Vegas head pieces, boas, and lots of sparkles), I decided that it wasn't my scene. Then I discovered the world of backstage and I haven't been able to leave it since. Maybe I am just more comfortable behind the scenes, but I would love to be a Technical Director. Then again going with what is comfortable does not always turn out to be the most rewarding.
Along those lines, last night, after consuming a large pancake for dinner at the Coral, I sat back and listened to some truly interesting/amazing stories. Some of them were amusing, some frightening, but all gave me a better insight into the life of an animator. It seems to be a life filled with long hours and battles with companies who take the rights to your cartoons so that you can get it on television. It is not an easy life, and certainly not one filled with a lot of dollars. So why choose animation? They draw simply for the love of drawing. This is my conclusion. I like this answer because it leaves the romance in the picture. I am still young and I still have those "stars in my eyes." I think I will keep those stars around as long as possible.

Disney Fights Dirty

2007-01-26T01:55:00.000-08:00

This was really just an eye-catching title to make you read this entry. I am not, in fact, going to tell you the specifics about why and how Disney plays dirty. But take my word for it, they do. If you feel like hearing the story (and it is a good one) ask me to tell it to you one day, and we shall sit around a fire and drink hot cocoa while I shock you with knowledge I dare not impart in writing.
This may seem a bit drastic and very cryptic to you, but I have no desire to be tailed by anyone hired by Disney just because of a blog entry. Okay, this probably wouldn't happen. But that is how good this story is.
Today I realized that I am a blogger. This frightens me in the same way that someone knowing my name without me ever having met them before frightens me. Anyone can read my blog. I set the preferences that way. But I am not certain about why anyone would want to read it. While I think that I sometimes have interesting things to share, I feel like they could really only be interesting to people who know me pretty well.
I now see why Emma aggravatingly only mentions people by their first initial. I don't think I will adopt this because then I will refer to A or E and no one will know which A or which E. Or I will say I spent another evening at the Coral tonight with J, J, G, S, L, M, and K. This bothers me. But the whole reason I am on this tangent is because J asked me tonight if I had a blog, and no wonder my name is familiar. I was so embarrassed on the inside and to this moment (day doesn't really work in this case), I can't really say why. Perhaps J is reading this. . . Perhaps from now on I will be more careful about what and about whom I write. . . eh, no, that isn't really my style. I will just have to get used to the fact that relative strangers may have a better insight in the workings of Gemma than I would initially expect or prefer.
This whole entry has basically been about me anxiously looking over my shoulder. I think that means it is time for bed.

Land of the Far Beyond

2007-01-24T23:50:00.000-08:00

I feel like. . . a little squirrel, if you will, who has lived her whole little life in a little nest with her little siblings and less little mother. For the sake of the story, I will call myself Perri. Perri the squirrel. This is my true life fantasy. (For those of you, as in most of you, who do not understand this reference, I recommend checking this out. It is the first, the finest, and the last true life fantasy ever made.)
It all started last Tuesday on the corner of 7th and Wilshire. I walked in to Revolution Prep feeling almost sick because of nerves. Yet I had my lesson down pat. "Rugby is a game of its men of fame, of its men of--" no, it didn't go like that. But as much as I had practiced my 2-3 minute crash course on rugby, I still have no idea what I actually said when I got up to speak to the "class." Apparently they liked what I had to say though because I was invited back to training. I was given a binder of all of our materials on Friday and asked to learn it by Tuesday. I ate, breathed, and dreamed about that binder. Come training on Tuesday, I managed to pull myself together and not mess up horribly. So they kept me around for the second day of training (quick note: everyone who came to the first day of training came to the second, I wasn't special). I also managed to scrape through that tonight with all body parts still in tact. By scrape, I really mean stroll with confidence until we got to the grammar section. I could go into detail about why grammar and I are not friends but I think I will spare you, or just save it for a later post.
I am now a trained SAT prep instructor.
This is where Perri comes back into the picture. I have been given my materials and my instructions, but will I be able to leave the nest and walk along that branch without falling into the frightening Land of the Far Beyond?
A bit lost, a bit nervous, and also a bit excited, I stride out in the world armed with only my dry erase markers, binder, and Revolution t-shirt. Can I handle the pressure and judgment of the high school students? Stay tuned.
P.S. when I put links in blog, I put them there because I really think they are worth going to, click on the Revolution link, see where I work. It is a really cool company (that does not just provide services for rich white kids so they can go to rich private schools)

Untitled #1

2007-01-23T15:27:00.000-08:00

First, I would like to say thank you to all of my loyal readers. I know who you are because you comment, or just plain tell me that you read it. I really couldn't have done this without you. You are what make all of this worthwhile. I sign into my blog everyday holding my breathe in the hope that someone has commented. . . and I am rarely let down! In fact I have always had a loving comment waiting for me, unless of course I am talking about my internship or about animation. Really people, this is the reason I am down here in the first place. But no! Do not fear or tremble in the corner; I still love you.
The curious reader may be wondering at this point why I am writing a thank you speech for myself. Smart reader! I am not just writing this to encourage those of you comment-shy folk to let me know what you think or what you want to hear about, I am writing this because it is awards season down here in L.A. and I am determined to be just as prepared as any actor off the street to accept an award (any award will do).
Now, wouldn't it be neat if I went to an awards show while I was here? I am after all trying to get into one part of the industry. I fear that this will not happen however. I blame my lack of connections and lazy agent.
But wait! What's this I hear? Gemma IS going to an awards show?! Unbelievable! Her ridiculous dreams of receiving an award may yet come to pass! Okay, in reality, probably not. Mostly because I haven't done anything deserving of an award.
What awards show you ask? No, not the Oscars. But this does not make it any less exciting for me. I am going to attend the Annie Awards on February 11th. Most people are probably starting to deflate a little after that build up because most people do not know what the Annie Awards are. They are the animation awards that ASIFA-Hollywood is responsible for holding every year. While I doubt Brad Pitt will be decorating the ceremony with his presence, I am quite excited to go because the people who will be there are like stars to me. I have one ticket for myself and one ticket for a friend. I have to admit it really wasn't a hard choice: I am bringing Alexis. Not only will she look great on my arm while we stroll down the red carpet (if there is one), but she will also make sure I am dressed and make-upped properly (something I must admit is not my forte). Not to mention I know this is something that both of us will enjoy.
So go ahead, be jealous. I promise to relay every detail of our thrilling night come February 12th.

Freedom

2007-01-22T23:43:00.000-08:00

I have usually liked my dreams. They tend to amuse me. I like to think of them as a bonus to going to sleep. I not only become well rested but I also get told a good story or two. It is kind of like going to the movies. You pay to see one movie but then you also have the pleasure of seeing a few mini ones! I believe most people call those previews. I've been known to have dreams of lizards made of double mint gum packages and of living in an underwater RV. But not all dreams are quite so enjoyable. There are also the dreams relating to schoolwork, which are usually more painful than anything else. For example, when learning about integrals my senior year, I had a dream in which I was required to find how many people I could fit under a curve.
I like dreams so much because they are controlled by the imagination and I know that the imagination can come up with some crazy stuff. Actually, I find that the only limiting factor for most things IS the imagination. So I have a great respect for it. I think this is why I like animation so much: the only thing holding you back in animation is your creativity (or if you are working for someone else, then I suppose the higher ups can also limit you). There is a sort of freedom in animation that I have come to appreciate. You create your own world in which anything can happen. Don't want gravity? Gone! Feel like your neck should be able stretch at will? Done! Want to breathe underwater? No problem! I fully appreciate the freedom you are given when animating. This is not to say that are no rules to follow when animating. In fact rules are quite important especially if you are just starting out. . . I've started to lose my point.
My original reason for this post was not to talk only of my dreams but to emphasize the differences between drawn animation and computer animation. While I personally find this very intriguing, I am uncertain if my audience wants to hear me rant about such things. Suffice it to say that I think there is quite a bit of potential freedom in computer animation but I am uncertain whether anyone has been able to fully realize that potential. It is much easier for me to see the freedom in drawn in animation. I hope that one day I will be able to take what I may learn about drawn animation and apply it to computer animation.
I think reality is over valued in computer animation. You can really do anything on the computer so why limit yourself with reality?

By Numbers

2007-01-21T20:13:00.000-08:00

This one is for Erin because she complained that I hadn't written anything new (some of these might be a stretch):
0- (one must not forget about the number zero, as all good computer scientists know) The number of times I thought I would have to worry about the SAT ever again. How wrong I was.
1- The number of people I have inspired through my blog. It has been confirmed, I am Miss Allie Fecych's muse. I expect this number to grow by leaps and bounds in the coming months. Maybe I will inspire you to take a greater interest in animation, to start your own blog, to adopt a child (*disclaimer* this is not recommended for most of my known readers), or to simply try a new flavor of ice cream.
2- The ideal number of headlights on an automobile which became so much more enchanting when Disney's Main Street Electrical Parade came up on shuffle on my iPod (yes, this happened last night. THE 405 and I had a magical moment together).
3- The number of people I know who are currently visiting New Zealand. Those lucky jerks. Hi mum!
4- The amount of days I have to fully prepare myself for my first training session with Revolution Prep. I am supposed to have 10 days, but I suppose less than half will do. (Holy man!) So far I have learned that my students have no choice but to trust that I know what I am talking about when I stand at the front of the room. What a scary realization.
5- The number of tanks of gas I have filled since January 3rd. That is a new tank of gas every 3.6 days! Typical SAT question: At this rate, how many tanks of gas will I have fed to my car before I officially think I drive too much in L.A.?
6- times 2. . . . The biting temperature that is currently besieging Hanover, NH. Yikes! People have asked me whether I will bring my car to Dartmouth and I always respond with "No! Who would subject a car to such weather?" Now that I am in L.A. for winter I am forced to realize how ridiculous that is. For if I thought it inhumane to subject a piece of metal to the cold how could I think it okay to subject myself to it? If you have the choice of a low of 56 during the winter or 12, what would you choose? No wonder I find there is such a difference between people from the east coast and the lucky ones from the west (Erin, you are an anomaly), I think a part of them is permanently frozen. Like the baby toe or ear lobe. I am not implying that people from the east are frigid, I promise they are just as human and caring as we are.
7- The total number of scarves, hats, and jackets that I will not wear until next winter. They are getting lonely. Perhaps I shall take them on an outing anyway to persuade them that they are still well loved.
8- The hour that I arrived at a pub in Santa Monica this morning with the Foley's to watch the Manchester United v. Arsenal game. I decided that both Bonnie and I will have to live in the same area when we grow up so that we can go to a pub together at 8 in the morning to watch soccer games. I hope she doesn't mind that I have scheduled this into her future. Other people are invited too but she is the one I can imagine actually doing it with.
9- About the number of successful pieces of fish that Alexis and I made when we attempted fish sticks the other day. Getting the oil the right temperature is hard! But I decided that since I did manage to cook edible food, I can cross off "Learn to live in the real world" from my to do list. I give Alex and myself one gold star (we will have to learn to share, one more thing to cross off the list).
10- The number of fingers on my hands and the number of toes on my feets (not to be too cocky or brag). (The fingers are counted separate from the toes, this does indeed make 10).

Oh and. . .

2007-01-18T18:43:00.000-08:00

I went to my "audition" on Tuesday with Revolution, an SAT prep company, and I believe it went well. Although if you had asked me Tuesday night if it went well I would not have been able to give you a straight answer. I was asked to prepare a 2-3 minute lesson to teach to 3 people who work there already and about 12 other people who also applied for this job. I decided to teach them about the basics or rugby (Krista helped me come up with this topic). I got everything I wanted to say out and I think they actually learned something about the sport. But then all the people who went after me (I was second up) were, not only all older than me as well as better dressed (suits, skirts, etc), but also seemed more confident and interactive. So I wasn't absolutely certain that I would be getting called back to training. But I guess they liked rugby because they did call me back! I will go to the training sessions with them next week and then start private tutoring in the Pacific Palisades after that. This turns out to be quite a good find as far as jobs go because it not only pays well but I can also continue to work for them in San Mateo once I go home for the summer. Hooray! I will know all there is to know about taking the SAT. I will be a useful tool for all high school aged students. If I prove that I am a good tutor though, they will move me up to be a SAT II, LSAT or MCAT tutor! Then I can be useful to even my friends! But I will still have to charge you. Sorry.
I will soon be able to afford a new camera and then I can take more (less awkward) photos to post on my blog just for you. Isn't that exciting?

Ooookay

2007-01-18T17:56:00.000-08:00

Here we go. Here are some pictures. Steve, the man I work with at ASIFA, discovered my blog so now he has told me that I need to put pictures up. Then I explained that I have no operational camera at the moment. But Steve, kindly took some photos of me at work on "my" 4 computers at ASIFA-Hollywood. I think I might look really ridiculous. That is a fake Gemma smile if ever I saw one.

Shopping

2007-01-17T22:53:00.000-08:00

I am not a very good shopper. I like it when I find nice things and they are on sale, but I have very little patience when it actually comes to doing so. This is probably why I end up owning only 3 pairs of pants all of which have holes in them.
This doesn't seem to be too bad of a problem for me though (except for the holes in the pants). I like to tell myself that it is much better to be someone who does not shop often as opposed to someone who spends his or her money on clothes all the time. But today I indulged myself and did my favorite type of shopping. This is the kind of shopping that costs me no money at all because I could never afford to purchase even a piece of what I am looking at. No, I did not go shopping at Tiffany's or Armani or any other expensive retail store. I took myself house shopping.
Krista and I had a nice long walk along the beach this afternoon to go to the Promenade for lunch. On the way back, we decided to take the more residential route. I saw some of the most beautiful homes this way. There were quite a few that I could see myself living in. They all tended to be relatively big, have big windows and some really nice trees. Basically, when I grow up I want to live in a house just like the one I grew up in. For anyone who never got to see the Hayne Road house, you really missed out. It had the most spectacular backyard, which I managed to transform into not only the usual jungle, but also a circus, an ocean, a battle zone, a race-track, an archival dig, a roller coaster, an ice rink, a secret garden, and I am sure so much more.
Yes, I will find a house just like it. First step toward that is to get a well paying job, or at the rate that my current job search is going, just marry rich.
My kind of shopping certainly involves a lot of imagination and even more wishful thinking.

A Tour

2007-01-17T18:07:00.000-08:00

This is a quick tour through the L.A. life of Gemma Ross.
Firstly, I am living with the Foleys while I am down here. No, they are not some random family I found who I decided had a nice house in Pacific Palisades. They are very close family friends whom I have known my whole life. I am living in the downstairs guest-room/sensory-deprivation-room/room-with-a-drumset-but-no-drawers. It is a very cozy room. The fact that it is sound-proofed though makes it hard to get up in the morning because I am used to the sun guilting me out of bed. Chris and Krista Foley make me yummy dinners and entertain me when we are home. Sometimes I might refer to them as papa and mama Foley. Do not be confused. There is also David Foley, who went to BC but is now back in L.A. working in a tall building in downtown. But I have only seen him once so far. Then there is Kim Foley who is at University of Chicago. We are the same age. I have not seen her. This is possibly because she is in Chicago.
Secondly, my internship is in Burbank. Los Angeles is composed of lots of cities for those of you who do not already know this. So both Burbank and the Pacific Palisades are still a part of L.A. I have to take 5 highways to get from home to work! The PCH, 10, 405, 101, and finally 134. It can be pretty intense.
Thirdly, I have about 3 friends down here. I will now list them in no particular order. 1. Alexis! My sister! I count her as a friend. She is a friend that comes with 3 other friends attached: Sean, Chloe, and Virginia. Sean is her fiancé. He plays around with the viruses. The other two are their really cute new pet rats! 2. Sergio-friend! He goes to LMU (this is in L.A.). He was a year ahead of me at Sacred Heart. He is a cool kid (he is older than me so I don't know why I call him a kid) who needs to hang out with me more often. . . hi Sergio. 3. Rebecca-friend! She goes to Dartmouth with me and is also a Theta. She too has this term off and has taken a job that involves her teaching herself physics and Linux. I hope it is paid. We saw a movie the other day. Pan's Labyrinth. It was good, even if a bit gory. Go see it.
Fourthly, yeah. . . I don't have anything else exciting that should be explained about my life down here. But now you know who I spend my time with as well as where I spend my time! Now I can refer to these things without confusing the masses.

Pictures

2007-01-15T09:58:00.000-08:00

I just thought I would let you know that I was thinking about putting up some photos because, hey, they are fun to look at in moderation. So I busted out my camera to take a stellar picture of the ocean, pressed the on/off button only to discover that my camera didn't much feeling like turning either on or off. It was suddenly stuck in a strange limbo between the two states of power. I tried recharging my battery and that seemed to work for one run through of turning it on (silently celebrating) and then off. Sadly when I later returned to my camera to take a picture it, yet again, refused to either turn on or subsequently turn off. So I apologize for the lack of color and excitement on my blog, but until I get my long sick camera to behave, I am afraid I will have to look for a new one and you will have to look at a photo-less blog.
If for some reason you feel like donating to the Gemma's Camera Should Work Fund, I will gratefully accept it. Actually I typed gracefully the first time, ha, I will try to accept it gracefully too. I found a great Oregon Scientific Barbie Digital Camera. Ages 5 and up.

A Man's World?

2007-01-14T23:15:00.000-08:00

I never much liked this statement, mostly because I am not fully certain what it means. What is a man's world?
When I announced to my boss (at school) that I am a computer science major, he told me that I was going into a male dominated field (okay, for any of you who know my boss, this is not how he said it, but it is the equivalent). He might have told me I wasn't going to get a job because only men work in computer science. I told him that if that happened I would return to Dartmouth to get a job in construction with him. Much more feminine. . .
Sure enough, my computer science classes have usually had a ratio of 3 women to about 20 men. In a college that is 50% women, I have to wonder where they all went. Are they all taking Women and Gender Studies courses? Impossible!
This Saturday, Steve asked for volunteers at ASIFA-Hollywood. While chatting to one of them, he mentioned that his girlfriend is an animator in Mexico. In fact, she is the first female computer animator in Mexico. The company didn't want to hire her at first because they do not hire women, But her stuff was good, so they did in the end (I haven't checked my facts on any of this by the way so. . . yeah, sorry if your cousin was actually the first female Mexican animator). However, I personally can't even imagine being the first woman to do anything anymore, except for being president. I think it would be frightening, yet somehow exciting at the same time.
Most computer science majors are men. Many animators are men. (The only woman I have met so far through my internship happened to be the girlfriend of one of the men). Most people in construction are men. Although, I must admit, most student employees in the scene shop are inexplicably women. . .
Now I find that I am uncertain how to end this post. I have written myself into a literary corner and left no windows or escapes, save for the gaping feminist hole to my left. I fear that this is the out I must now take. So, at the risk of sound terribly feminist (something I tend not to do), I have to conclude that there is no such thing as a man's world. I defy you to find one. I will graduate a computer science major modified with animation from the last ivy-league to admit women and I will get my dream job (just probably not in Mexico).

It's tough.

2007-01-12T21:03:00.000-08:00

This post is particularly hard for me. I have toyed with a couple ideas of what I should write about, but nothing so far has really struck me. Perhaps I have the blogger's version of writer's block (which seems much less romantic or problematic, I suppose).
I could tell you that I saw Ray Liotta today at the gym as well as the oompa loompa again.
I could tell you that I met John K., creator of Ren and Stimpy. I was on my way out at this point though, so I did not go to the Coral to hang out with him and others.
I could also tell you a bit about the lovely family I am staying with. The Foley family. But that blog requires more time and thought than I am willing to give it right now.
I could tell you that I finally got called back about a job. Revolutions called me. It is a SAT prep company. They would pay well. I have an "audition" (so L.A.) on Tuesday.
I could also tell you that I went down to the beach to watch the sunset today. It was windy, and I got goose bumps. The cold was worth the view though. There is something about the ocean that entrances me. It is so beautiful, yet sinister at the same time. Because it was very windy, the view was made even nicer. There are few things worse than a boring ocean. There is nothing sinister in that.
I could also tell you what I had for lunch, but I promised I would shy away from such mundane and uninteresting things. Plus, I am not sure I had lunch. . . did I? Oh, yes I did! A tuna sandwich from Gelsons on a french roll with lettuce. It came in a plastic box. No, I will not bore you with those details.
Maybe this post was just me trying to point out to those who may have never tried blogging that it is quite a difficult task to write something new, yet interesting each day.
What does my blog reading public want to hear?

Movie Actor Sighting!

2007-01-11T13:36:00.000-08:00

This is my first one on this trip! How exciting! Not quite as exciting as Johnny Depp per se, but I think it is more unique. This morning, while doing the gym thing, someone caught my eye. Hmmm, he is familiar looking, I thought, and it didn't take me too long to figure out why. You see, there are signed movie posters all over the gym (pictures of big scary body builders too, but I try not to look at those. They frighten me), so I decided that I just HAD to see at least one movie star in my time at the gym. Now it has happened! Okay, have I built up enough unnecessary suspense? I saw the man who played the Oompa Loompa in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. So no, not Johnny Depp, but was in a movie with him.
I thought I should share my first sighting. I am, after all, in Los Angeles.

Captain Kent, Super Dave

2007-01-10T16:41:00.000-08:00

As I withdraw my hand from the grip of a man wearing a blue Warner Brothers polo, he asks me if he may shake my hand. I pause in confusion and extend my hand again, not wanting to seem rude. He grasps my wrist and pumps it up and down, causing my hand to shake. His laughter fills the diner, making a girl in a tiara one table over glance at us reproachfully. This will be an interesting night.
On my right sits "Captain" Kent, a stop-motion animator who put an astounding amount of saltine crackers into his bowl of chili. On my left is "Super" Dave, a young animator from St. Louis who is trying to get a cartoon up and running for Cartoon Network. Dave was incredibly good to have around. He seemed to take pity on me when I was obviously feeling out of my league and took it upon himself to explain certain things or to bring the conversation back to something about which I could contribute. On his left is my boss Steve, head of ASIFA-Hollywood and former Ren and Stimpy producer. Between Kent and Steve is the blue-shirted man whose name, I must embarrassingly admit, I do not recall. But I can tell you that he went to William & Mary, works for WB, and had a piece of pumpkin pie with a generous serving of whipped cream.
Last night I realized the full implications of my internship. Yes, there will be quite a bit of sitting about until I can work on the database, but I feel that very often I will also be sitting in awe. I may know more about animation than your average bundled up person in Hanover, yet I know very little compared to everyone I will meet through this job. My table at the diner dropped names of animators and old TV shows like it was their job. In fact, this is their job. I have met real live animators (who aren't my professors) making a living in the real live world. Or at least they are trying to. I sat silently as Dave described Cartoon Network's antics to get him to work an entire week of 10 hour days for no pay. My eyes widened as Kent complained about a company that still hadn't paid him for a job he did 2 months previously. "Are you sure you want to get into this business?" Kent jokes. I can only laugh in return and respond that I may have to rethink my options.
Finally my two passions have joined. History and animation. Now, history of animation may not be the most studied of histories, but I like to think of this term as a sort of art history course. Though the art in Popeye or Bugs bunny is not very easily seen by many people, I have found many of the animations I have come across so far to be simply marvelous. Because it may be difficult for some to discern the art in a Mighty Mouse episode, I pride myself on being one of those who can.
So next time you see a cartoon, do not write it off as simply something to keep the kids amused for a half hour at a time. If done well, it is a piece of art. For anyone who has tried their hand at animating, a cartoon always has the potential to hold that beautiful squash and stretch, that perfectly timed pause, or that impressive use of overlapping action.

Fear of Judgement

2007-01-09T00:41:00.000-08:00

"Hello, my name is Gemma Ross. I attend Dartmouth College. Yes, that is an ivy-league. I am a Computer Science major at an ivy-league school, may I please serve popcorn?"
For some reason I find it odd that I wonder whether or not I am truly qualified to work for Starbuck's Coffee. Perhaps my course on Women's History from Antiquity to the Reformation or Discrete Mathematics in Computer Science did not prepare me for the life of a barista, but I think that, if hired, I could serve one fine cup of coffee to the addicted masses. I am afraid that I have been judged by Robek's, Starbucks, AMC, Blockbuster, and Borders, and been found wanting. If given the chance, I would show them how tasty I could make tea, how smoothly I could blend smoothies, how lovingly I could butter popcorn, how efficiently I could scan movies. God of Part-Time Jobs, let me try my hand at these, and I promise to please.
Although, I suppose it has still only been a few days, and some of the afore mentioned companies may yet get back to me. I wait in anticipation.

The Emerald of LA

2007-01-07T22:49:00.000-08:00

Today I rediscovered the beauty of grass. Now here me out on this one! At about this time back in NH, I would be preparing myself to not see grass for several more months. I have always found Dartmouth to be an incredibly beautiful place to attend. I am proud of my brick school in the middle of the woods. But I am finding beauty in my surroundings in L.A. as well.
Everyday I drive down Temescal Canyon in the Pacific Palisades, ahead of me is a gorgeous view of the sparkling blue Pacific Ocean. Perhaps I am sprinkling too much fairy dust on Los Angeles but I can't deny that I love the Pacific. I personally haven't found an ocean to rival it. The sun here doesn't hurt either. While I know that a fresh blanket of snow makes everything gorgeous in NH despite the cold, the quality of sun in L.A. makes many things quite pretty despite the mass quantities of pavement and the abundance of cars.
Okay, back to my original topic of grass. My friends from high school, Sergio and Alicia, took me on a driving tour around LMU's campus this afternoon. I think it is lovely. With that generalization out of the way I can get onto the true details of what intrigued me about the tour: the green green grass. As the library and dorms were pointed out on my left, I could barely lift my gaze from the 3 people playing on the grass to my right. Three people? If we had this sort of grass at Dartmouth in January, you probably wouldn't be able to see the grass because of the amount of people who flocked over to enjoy it. C'mon L.A.! This is a winter paradise and most don't seem to notice.
Los Angeles is without a doubt a very exciting place to live or visit, but I believe that we have intrinsically different values. Although I will not write it off before I have tried it, I doubt a long relationship would last between us. I could list more reasons but I am getting tired plus I still want to try to keep each post to a decent length. I also don't want to sound too negative about L.A. Don't worry, I still like you.

Terrytoons

2007-01-06T18:01:00.000-08:00

I have just discovered Terrytoons. Okay, I didn't just discover them since I have seen Mighty Mouse before and Terrytoons studio made that series. I think you understand what I mean though. They weren't exactly all over the TV when I was busy watching cartoons as a kid, so therefore, they are new to me. I think it is true shame too that my generation didn't get to grow up with them. I find them hilarious. Pretty much every cartoon has a moral (as all good cartoons do), but they get them across in brilliant ways. For example there is one cartoon, Happy Valley, which amuses me to no end. It is the story of a happy happy valley (surprise!) and they have no problem singing about how happy they are. But it wasn't always so happy according to granpa. "It was the night of the big barn dance. . ." Dissolve to a shot of everything and everyone dancing, including the trees, horses, and hens (naturally). !!Lightning strikes!! Now the villain gets a song. His name is Greed. Greed places some gold in the land and everyone in Happy Valley goes crazy and digs up their crops in search of more despite granpas warning: "Happiness and contentment are your riches! Don't be poisoned by greed!" Spring comes, but no gold and no crops! The farmers had learned their lesson that peace and contentment are the true riches in life. This is all done in a song, mind you, making it quite impressive in my opinion. What happened to the marriage between cartoons and song? I love that about the older Disney movies. There was always singing involved! Maybe I love this aspect so much because I am not a very good musician. I find it disappointing that this tradition is dying.
UPDATE! Apparently the only place you can see Terrytoons is at ASIFA-Hollywood (I don't count small clips on YouTube). Wow, I gotta make the most of that one. They aren't going to put them on DVD because I guess they don't believe they are good enough. But I beg to differ. I was also just told that I am free to make a copy of whatever I please for my reference! Man, I lucked out with this internship! So I can show some of you the wonderful singing Terrytoons.

My First Time

2007-01-06T13:41:00.000-08:00

. . . blogging that is. Who knows if it will be interesting. As I roam into the world of blogging I find that I should set a few rules for myself. Firstly, I personally highly dislike blogs that simply detail what one has done with their day. My days are not nearly entertaining enough to justify a long post discussing what I bought at the grocery store (I have not yet gone to the grocery store, so that would be a lie anyway). Instead this shall be more my reactions to things that have occured during the day. My end goal is to keep this as fun and informative as possible. I think this is a reasonable goal because I have a friend who managed to do just that (Hi Emma!). I suppose that was really only one rule. Moving on!
Well I am in Los Angeles for my winter term. So far it has been a great 3 days. I have started my "internship" at ASIFA-Hollywood. What is ASIFA-Hollywood, you ask? Google it. No just tricking, I will tell my eager and curious audience. It is a non-profit International Animated Film Association. Yes, that is what ASIFA stands for. . . but in French so that it works out nicely. I am obviously with the Hollywood branch. We have an incredible amount of stuff here! Like the original drawings and storyboards of Ren & Stimpy, storyboards for Speedy Gonzales, drawings from Disney movies (I am looking at one from Sleeping Beauty right now Ashley), cartoons from way back in the 30s, and so much more that I can't even begin to detail all of it. My job as "intern" is to help ASIFA get a database up and running on which people all over the world can do research on animators to get their bios, some sound clips, pictures of their drawings, and their animations, of course. It seems a bit surprising that something like this does not already exist but at least it is in the works. Unfortunately there is quite a bit to be done before I can make this super incredible database. For example, a lot of backing up of things to be semi-specific. So to paint a quick picture of what I am doing right now: I am burning many DVDs that take about 15 minutes each, leaving me loads of time to play around! This is me, playing around. I would frolic about the computers but I would fear that I might harm them with my exuberant dance moves. I will settle for writing my first blog entry instead.
This is entry is turning out to be pretty long, I think I should stop. Are you still reading this? Amazing! I have a short attention span when reading things online. Perhaps this is why I insist on getting the paper version of the NYTimes. Or perhaps I just like the feeling of reading a paper from front to back and having the black ink proof of it on my fingers. I dislike the NYTimes online, I can't read it very well. I will wrap this up then. I work at ASIFA on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 1 - 9p. Odd hours I know, but it lets me avoid the LA traffic, so I will not complain. What do I do in the meanwhile, you wonder (Sorry if I keep putting questions in your mouth.)? I am looking for a job. So far I have applications to Noah's Bagels, Robek's Juice, Blockbuster, and AMC Theaters. It is a strange feeling for me to fear not being hired by AMC. Afterall, I go to a good college. . . I should be able to excel at serving popcorn, right? I hope they hire me.
Okay, I'm off! I plan to make subsequent entries shorter. (Feedback always appreciated, but make it nice. Suggested remarks are: "Gemma, what a brilliant blog!" or "Gemma, I eagerly await your next post!")