My fiance and I went to the 10:45pm showing of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on Wednesday night at the Mann Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Though we are not ones to flock to where the crowds are, we thought, “What the heck? Let’s knock out 3 birds with one boulder: see Harry Potter on opening night (pretty cool), see the innards of this famous, historical structure (awesome), and have a date (extra super-awesome)!”
We were advised to jump in line at least an hour before the movie. There was a showing of the thing nearly every 30 minutes in this theater alone. Is it REALLY necessary to stand in line THAT early? We came at the recommended time (as we had just grazed on some NYC-style pizza and felt we had nothing else to do but wait anyway), and plopped ourselves down on some lucky starlet’s footprint. Come to find out, the die-hard fans of the night were three dressed-to-Hogwart’s-code, late 20-early 30-somethings who had been sitting there since NOON!! Now, was THAT ENTIRELY NECESSARY?
Welp, nothing to do, what with 45 minutes till the doors open. TIME TO DRAW!! (And Tim and I had just as fine of seats as the 11-hour squatters, I might add).
Director Andy has a little “disagreement” with his camera. In all fairness, the camera threw the first punch.
I sent my “niece” Kelley a copy of the Slangman’s World DVD, and she sent me back the most adorable letter. I suspect her mother had something to do with the top part, but Kelley’s signature is all her own. (And I have it on good authority that she picked out the tiger stickers herself. Tigers are my favorite.)
Thanks, Kelley, and we’re so glad you enjoyed Slangman’s World!
So I FINALLY made it to a real gym tonight. Don’t get me wrong – I love working out in the office gym, but I needed to clear my head. So at 7:30pm, I left for the gym, did cardio for about 40 minutes, and then hit the weights. I guess I didn’t drink enough water, because when I got home at 9:30, I was crazy thirsty.
When I opened the fridge to get something to drink, there it was… the 15lb watermelon I bought yesterday. I figured, “Well… I’ll just have a little taste to quench my thirst. Then I’ll have something to drink.” I made the mistake of sitting with both halves in front of the TV, just mellowing out. I started to eat, and I was like a human juicer, extracting ½ cup of juice with each mash of my teeth. Each bite was as satisfying as the next…and the next…and the next… and the next…and the…
It’s now 11:30pm, and I just polished off the entire watermelon! You know how it is when you eat a huge meal, you feel pretty okay at first, then 20 minutes later, you wish you could unzip your stomach? Well, I feel like I just swallowed a water balloon. I’m afraid if I move too fast, I’ll turn into that character in X-men who suddenly turned into water. Ever drink so much water that when you do the twist, you can actually hear it swishing around? I need to record that sound for Max. He could add it to the sound effects library – SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, ka-BOOM!!
Before I joined the Veritas Team, I never pictured a room full of animators as being quiet. I was somehow under the impression it would be like a room full of cartoon characters… like Toon Town in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Loud and silly with lots of pranks and silly piano music. But I was wrong.
It is often strangely quiet and subdued in here. I guess that’s good. It means they’re working, I suppose. And all their silliness seems to come out in their work, which is what we want. But still, every once in a while I would love one of them to scream something or blast some music. We used to have a box of Nerf guns in here and that was kinda fun. It’s neat to see the team, totally deadpan, blast the walls and computers and such!
Every once in a while I shout “You know what time it is?” and blast Paul McCartney’s “Coming Up”. They don’t usually get into it. But it makes me laugh. I love those animators.
Feed me your privacy.
The need to exercise and maintain fitness is such a big factor in my productivity. My body, and my ears in particular, are my most important possession and I must take care of them. It may seem pretty obvious, but it is quite easy to forget.
With people blaring music in their cars, listening to music loudly on headphones (or worse, iPod headphones) ear fatigue becomes a common problem. Not to say I don’t listen to music or sound effects loud. I listen to loud sounds all the time, it’s just a matter of knowing when to take a break. It’s quite easy to lose track of time in a studio where there are no indications of time passing. My only clue is the little clock on the corner of my Finder.
There was an article on Mix Magazine regarding the hazards of the audio engineering field and it made me realize (or scared me into realizing) how important it is to maintain my health. Exercising and sun breaks certainly help a great deal. Yeah, it’s taking time away from working, but the time gained in increased productivity is greater than the time lost. Get more done in a shorter amount of time with better quality.
At least that’s what I tell my bosses when I run out to catch some sun rays.
The Slangman’s World team celebrates their first official mailing of a DVD to a customer with red velvet cake from Porto’s Bakery and a lot of goofy expressions:
I recently bought two Dance Dance Revolution games for the Playstation 2. Since I make too much noise in the apartment, I opted to buy them for the office. I am a sucker for dance music, and also in dire need of exercise, so this was a perfect fit (har har).
Sure, I may look a bit silly as I dance with as much grace as a guy stepping on hot coal with his bare feet, but when I am in the zone everything else just melts away around me. Then there is the excitement of actually learning a song on the more difficult level and actually playing it all the way through. I am told I look like I am tap dancing.
I bought the DDR Konami Mix as well as DDR Max 2, but in the future (after I master these two games) I plan to get the rest of the series and become the biggest DDR dancing fool at Veritas Studios. The only one that stands in my way of total DDR victory is Bri, and she is a nine-year-old girl. What? She can be quite good.
DDR cares not of age, but your dancing skill!
