Archive for June, 2009

Ah, blond jokes… Timeless… Amusing… And a clever ploy to keep the world unassuming of the wonderful smarts that lie under those golden locks… It’s a brilliant scheme, really!

You know, I actually enjoy them. Why, you query? “Masochist!” exclaim my fellow flaxen folk. Well friends, what other hair hue has the power to disprove a commonly held stigma whenever they are clever? Moreover, who else is entitled to the blanketing excuse, “Sorry, blond moment!” if they slip up?! If you can’t laugh at a joke at your own expense, then you are definitely taking yourself too seriously. And that, my friends, will never do.

So, I end with one of my favorites:

A blond walks into an appliance store and says to the attendant, “I’d like to buy the TV in the window.”
The man says, “We don’t sell to blonds.”
Infuriated, she storms out and goes straight to the beautician.

The next day she returns to the store, her hair a now fiery red. She says to the attendant, “I’d like to buy the TV in the window.”
The man snorts and replies, “No, we don’t sell to blonds.”

The girl, maddened, marches straight back to stylist and returns to the store with hair dark as night. She says to the man, “I’d like to buy the TV in the window.”
The man says, “We don’t sell to blonds.”

Exploding, she fumes, “Does this LOOK like blond to you?!?!?”
Turning his back, he states simply, “No, but that is a microwave.”

Over the weekend I had a chance to take a picture of our… what we call… financial therapist. Dear ol’ Lundsey does know how to have a good time. He promises me we will drive to Vegas for a cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee one of these days.

Mike Lundsgaard

The DVDs of our children’s TV show Slangman’s World have arrived! The show is currently airing on the American Forces Network (AFN) in 175 countries. If you don’t live in one of those countries (or even if you do), you can purchase the DVD from the Slangman’s World store.

Some of the Slangman’s World team — including David and Kenny, two of the creators — celebrate with the newly arrived DVDs:

Max, our awesome sound guy, arranger, and DDR champion, is getting older. *sniff* Here are some messages from the team to Max on this, his Very Special Day:

Andy: Max? Who is Max? Oh… you mean, John? The Sound Dude? I like that guy. He needs to eat spicy food. I don’t like his taste in food. I wish he would get angry more. I have never heard him swear. Oh well. Maybe as he gets older. Happy Birthday, Dude!

Andrew: [Max] has the innate ability to whimsically make you tap your foot. Happy Birthday. The End.

Tony: Happy B-Day to the music man that loves to wear flip-flops, eat twice his weight in a single meal, sleep in his clothes, play video games – of course at the office – and under tips at restaurants by 5 to 10%.

Leah: Welp, Maxie… Let’s just say that my first impression is, “wow! You are a super spiffy, vera’ cool guy!” So, don’t mess it up… ;) Happy Birth-Week, Kid!

Jenn: Happy birthday, Max! May this new year be full of late-night LAN parties, bowls of udon and curry, DDR competitions, trips to Little Tokyo, great music, and lots of laughs. Just for you, I’ll add a “w00t!”

And finally, David’s message for Max, which is, unsurprisingly, in the form of a song.

David: (to be sung to the tune of “M is for…”)

M is for the many hours Max works late at night.
A is for the additional hours Max works late at night.
X is for the Xtreme amount of hours Max late at night.

Put ‘em all together they spell MAX!!! Happy B-day, MAXOID!!

The Total-Absolute-Best-Non-Exaggeratingly-Amazing-Healthy Burger in the free world as we know it today…

After work, I craved a hamburger – the real deal – not soysauge, not tofurkey, not fauxburger, but the real McCoy. I don’t even eat red meat that often, maybe once every few months. This was the night! Nothing was going to stop me. When I saw some online menus offering the “good stuff” (not the quick drive-through gunk, which DOES have its place!), I couldn’t bring myself to pay almost $10.

So off I trotted to TJ’s to get their 96/4 hamburger which actually has LESS fat than ground turkey (according to the package). A pound cost $3.99. I also bought an onion and some guacamole. Done! Once home, I threw the pound of meat into a bowl, and added the following:

2 TB onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp pepper
1 TB dried basil
¼ tsp ground oregano (too much ruins it – but ¼ tsp….ahhhhhh)
½ tsp salt.

I mixed it all up until well combined. Then I sliced the onion and threw it into a pan with NO oil. You don’t need it. Try it. You’ll be surprised. I put the heat on medium high, and after 15 minutes of stirring it around (adding a little water each time the onion would start to stick – which means it’s caramelizing!), I had wet, delicious golden onions that smell so good you just want to jump into the pan – but don’t, okay?

Then I removed the onions to a plate and threw in the burgers, which immediately absorbed the caramelized onion goo from the bottom of the pan. After 12 minutes, I had plump, juicy, CRAZY smelling (I mean that in a GOOD way) hamburgers. I put them on a plate and topped them with guacamole and THEN some bacon and then the caramelized onions on top! (I actually use Morning Star bacon – it’s made from soy but I actually like it better than bacon!).

The moan factor on these hamburgers was a 10. If you don’t eat hamburger, try turkey. If anyone has a better version for hamburgers, speak now! Hmmm…. I smell THROW DOWN!

With the help of modern virtual instruments, it has become increasingly easier to add convincing orchestral sounds to a scene. I have recently bought my first set of virtual instruments from EastWest and I have to say, I love it!

The EastWest Symphonic Orchestra Platinum is packed full of beautifully recorded instruments and multiple microphone positions. This allows more control in ambiance. What is most staggering to me, is the sheer number of articulations that it comes in. Over 150 gigs of symphonic sounds at your finger tips.

It is hard not to get overwhelmed at first glance. Although I thought it would be much easier to compose convincing orchestra music with realistically recorded instruments, but I am finding that it has become much more challenging. With all of these various articulations at my disposal, it became more important to include the nuance of real performers. I found myself adding a new step to my work flow. Not only must I compose the melody, arrange and mix, I now have to program the performance as well. This may seem pretty obvious now but the level of attention has certainly increased.

Back then I only had to worry about general volume levels and velocity levels and layering instruments. Now there are velocity levels to adjust, aftertouch amounts to adjust, modulation levels, key switching, level matching articulations, and manually adjusting notes. All of this and keeping track of system resources and constantly optimizing the system to prevent lock-ups and over-loads.

It was one thing to read about and or know it’s coming. It’s another thing to actually trudge through the murky depths of troubleshooting. The good news is you only gain from your experience.

Ah, the notorious first week at a new job… (All right, let’s all say it together now, “Leah’s a Newb!!” Feel better? Good. Me too. Now then…)

Usually the first week is full of awkward situations like, “So who exactly is my boss?” and “Is it OK to use the Post-its?” and of course, “Where is the bathroom? Do I have to raise my hand to be excused?” But fortunately for me, my boss interviewed me and brought me in the same day, if I find stickies then I can keep ‘em, and the two bathrooms are clearly labeled and in plain sight.

I have never known a place to make a 12-hour work day fly by so quickly. Imagine my immense relief when I received that email from Andy inviting me to the sacred cup of coffee. (Frankly, more happens over coffee than at a desk. “Hey Andy, take a note!”) Walking into L.A. fresh from St. Louie, I couldn’t ask for more in an internship. I absolutely love coming to work because, honestly, where else will openly embrace my random fits of foreign accents or Midwestern nostalgia?

The allure of professional experience brought me here, but the cookies and curry bowl outings are making me stay.

Tough production schedules impact more than just sleep cycles. Here’s how we handle the lunch problem every week…

Monday: “We’re going to eat healthy!”

Tuesday: “Yeah, healthy. We’re totally doing it. Sort of.”

Wednesday: “I want a burger. I mean, healthy! Yeah! I’m so in! After I eat these fries.”

Thursday: “A burger is healthy. I’m getting a burger. And yes, I’d like fries with that. And maybe a milkshake.”

Friday: *nom nom Porto’s, cookies, See’s Candies, chocolate-covered pretzels nom nom nom*

Saturday: “Ugh. Starting Monday, we are totally eating healthy.”

Here is a sketch I did of one of our favorite animators at work on scribbling another one of his masterpieces. He is so damn awesome. I wish you could see what he drew. I wish I could see inside his head.

I think the trouble with me writing a blog is that I have a little bit of a self serving sense of humor. And by that I mean this: as long as I think it’s funny, then it’s funny. As long as I am amused, that is all that matters. Sometimes even, if ONLY I am amused, that makes it even funnier to me. That is possibly not a good quality for a director, unless of course you have the same tastes as a mass audience.

Now, I don’t necessarily have to be funny in my blog, which is good because I don’t think of myself as very funny but I don’t have much insight to offer anyway. And I had the same jokes and attitude I did when I was 17, but it seemed to work much better then for me than it does now. I guess people think that a 33-year-old should not act like a 17-year-old. Anyway, I’m still trying to figure it out myself.

I think what I am starting to feel is that I am a life long student of this craft and it may do better for me, and then ultimately the company, if I shut up a bit more and go with the flow. As a director, I am naturally very protective of what I put my name on and I tend to really fight for what I believe. I suppose you have to pick and choose what battles you want to fight, and pick and choice what battles you want to win.