Death of a Sketchbook

Another one bites the dust. Death of a sketchbook, pain of an ass to cut and scan everything. I'm only posting a few right now, more to come. Lately I've been going to workshops like it's my birthday. They're all a combo between 2's, 3's, 5's, 10's and 20's.

Also, at this one workshop this song by Prodigy came on that made me super nostalgic for my sport karate/bilang.com days (i'd like to think they're not over...). I tried to explain why the song made me laugh, but maybe you should just see the video. In my book, anyone who can sidekick like that may as well pop and lock all day cause they already took the gold! To quote Spike, "I love a girl who can kick my ass." lol.

Wondercon Recap

This WonderCon was admittedly milder/smaller than many of the recent ones I've attended, but I was fortunate enough to stumble onto some amazing experiences. I met a bunch of AAU freshmen at the con and hope to see them again in the halls (a half-sane 5th year senior...best. representative. ever.) . Above are a few of the autographed thingies I picked up.

Thank you to all the industry professionals (i think the entire story teams of Pixar and Dreamworks were scattered about the exhibit floor lol) who took the time out to let me pick their brains (And thanks for the pep-talk, Mr. Balistreri). You may never remember me, but I'll never forget the gesture. It was more than worth buying the merchandise which I've yet to fully enjoy, and it was arguably worth the panic attack I suffered at the sight of my bank account. Also, a big shout-out to my myspace pal, Steph Laberis, who I ran by serendipidously.

I went to not 1 but 2 backstage signings, a first and second ever for me. One was for "Sit Down, Shut Up", where I met the likes of Kenan Thompson, Henry Winkler, and Will Arnett. The other was for "Spectactual Spider-Man". I decided to go to that instead of the "Up" panel and was rewarded handsomely for 'keepin' it real'. I had plenty of time to hang with the Spidey crew, including character designer, Cheeks Galloway! I saw the animated Wonder Woman, but had to give up my ticket to the Watchmen screening to a friend who was staying in SF (i couldn't miss the last BART train).

I also went to the panel for "League of Super Evil" which had a modest turnout. No matter, since when we ended early, the exec. producer, Asaph Fipke came down from the podium and rewarded 3 of us with an brief 3-on-1 micro-clinic on breaking into cartoon writing, making a proper pitch document and his insights regarding the animation market in Canada and the US (thanks again, man. awesome stuff.).

I also managed to bring back some manga swag for my young buddies at the TKD school, as usual ;).

Phillip Rhee: The Best of the Best

I don't usually post anything on my other passions, but recently I came across a video by one of my favorite martial artists, Phillip Rhee. His father, Jhoon Rhee, created American "musical forms". But well before that, he taught Bruce Lee the Taekwondo techniques that took his kicking far beyond that of his competitors (flying side-kick, anyone?).

Anyway, this vid is from 1991, at his school. He speaks a bit on his philosophy on the martial arts, and I was floored at how close it was to my own. I wish there were more teachers out there like Phillip Rhee, maybe I could've started training earlier.

And for the non-martial artists out there, heartfelt talk about ANY arts tend to be worth a listen. Enjoy.




and here's his brother, Simon Rhee, performing one of the earliest open/creative forms.

Film History 2

Since my attempts to record a film journal by hand for Film History 1 was a bust, I created a new blog, chronicling the films I watch during the Spring 09' semester. Complete with hastily collected pictures, check it out if you wanna see what I'm up to.


Project 2501

The fate of AAU's Pixar Class

I remember talking with one of my fellow students in clothed figure drawing about the Pixar class. She was the first to inform me that it is now as dead as Circuit City. I just found an article on the Spline Doctors (many of whom taught at the school) website explaining in detail why it's over, ad well as some great insights and a nice dialogue in the comments section. Check it out.

Academy of Art and the Pixar classes

*sigh* use this URL til' blogger comes to it's senses...

http://splinedoctors.com/2008/12/academy-of-art-and-the-pixar-classes/