Strange Days

Ah. A moment's break between projects. Don't know how long it'll last, but I might as well blog while I have a moment.

-Work is going well. Finished a few projects that I'm super proud of, I'm having a great time with my current projects, and I've got some neat stuff on the horizon.

-Has anyone sent me email and not gotten a response? I'm starting to suspect that my @eugeneson.com email is getting lost into another dimension. If you sent me an email and I never responded, please let me know.

-Hmm, I wonder how my stocks are doing? Did anything interesting happen in the market?

-There aren't a lot of video games that I'm dying to play. Not that there aren't a lot of great games being released. It's just that I don't have to play them. But the new strategy game, Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization is on its way. I played the original Colonization for the Mac a lot back in the day. Though I don't know how I'm going to find time for it, but I'll find some way.

-I'm playing in two - count 'em, TWO - fantasy hockey leagues this year. For those who aren't in the know, I envy you. Fantasy hockey is like pretend hockey for the hockey obsessed.

My first league is with my buddies from San Diego. This team is going to depend on Martin Brodeur, Marian Hossa, Martin St Louis, and Zdeno Chara to lead me to victory. My second league is with my friends here in Los Angeles. This team is relying on the likes of Evgeni Nabokov, Marian Hossa, Brian Rafalski, and Thomas Vanek.

Wow. I just re-read what I wrote above about fantasy hockey, and it looks really pathetic. Then again, my fantasy players are trying to win me real money. And considering what my stocks are worth now, I could use the money - so HURRAY FOR MY IMAGINARY TEAM!

September 2008 Music Diary

Every month I list the tracks that iTunes has played the most this month. A Cameron Crowe-like mix-tape diary.

Not a lot of new music this month, but here's what I'm listening to-

The Show - Lenka
I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance - Black Kids
I Believe in a Thing Called Love - Lemar
Crazy in Love - Snow Patrol
Smile Like You Mean It - David Gray
Don't Look Back in Anger - Maroon 5
Vertigo - Lemar
Numb - Jamelia
Rehab - Paolo Nutini
Times Like These - JoJo
Get Your Freak On - KT Tunstall
Take Me Out - Scissor Sisters
With or Without You - Keane

The first two tracks were free Singles of the week in the iTunes store.

The other tracks are from the Radio 1 Live Lounge - a UK radio show where different performers come in and do live sets. There seems to be a thing with them doing covers of other pop songs, and they're quite catchy. Lemar covering the Darkness and U2, Paolo Nutini covering Amy Winehouse, David Gray covering the Killers. Great stuff.

Mr. Smoothie

It's that time again - the one weekend a year when I volunteer at my kid's school. You may remember that last year I suffered PCD (Post Traumatic Churro Disorder). Nightmares of brown sugar and delicious treats.

This year - I'm working the Smoothie Booth.

Now at the moment, I don't forsee anything awful and/or hilarious happening to me. But the weekend has just started. If there's some way to be permanently disabled by a smoothie, I'l find it.

I'm gifted like that.

Another Week - Another Post

Sorry about that. Another busy week for me - staying up late to get my work done. I didn't get time to watch the news this week. Anything interesting happen?

In a handbasket, you say?

Just to share how tired I was, I actually wrote a line of dialogue that was supposed to say, "Let's order an evacuation of the townspeople!"

Later on, I went back and noticed that in my sleep-deprived state, I wrote, "Let's order an EXECUTION of the townspeople!"

Heh.

What would Freud say? He'd probably tell me that I have deep rooted father issues. And that I need more sleep. And he'd be right.

So before I go take a nap, I wanted to plug my new favorite blog - Occasional Superheroine. Not only is she an excellent writer with some harrowingly honest stories to tell, but her blog introduced me to Leekspin.



Good luck getting that out of your head.

quick hits

Still busy - and loving every minute of it. A few quick bits-

-Animation Army event on Sunday was awesome. Thanks to everyone who came out. Had a great time hanging out with old friends and meeting new ones.

-Went to the screening of Ping Pong Playa. Great fun at the screening and the after-party - thanks to the people at Sofa Studio and Cherry Sky Film for that.

-Can't believe the NHL season is back upon us again. First pre-season Kings game is this Monday night. Yup, I renewed my seats. I'll come up with my predictions again before the season starts - but I'm predicting another LONG year for me.

-Jon brought this up in the comments, but I suppose I should mention the Bulgarian womens' hockey team that got shellacked 82-0 by the Slovakian team. If you're bloodthirsty, you can watch the massacre on YouTube.

Sigh. You'd think at some point the Slovakian team would show a little mercy, but apparently in international play, goal differential is a tie-breaker. Thus the Slovak team had to run it up. Which sucks, because apparently the Bulgarian womens' hockey program only has 39 players in it.

The best part - which none of the news reports talked about - is that late in the game, one of the Bulgarian women barely pushed one of the Slovakian women. Girl fight ensued.

Okay, back to work. Stay safe everybody!

S.I.M.P.

Sorry for no blogging this week - crazy busy. In the meantime, you should be watching Phineas and Ferb on Disney Channel. Amazingly funny show - and this song has been stuck in my head all day.

Plugs and the Animation Army Event

Before I head off to seal myself in the writing cave, a few plugs-

Check out the DVD release of Marvel's newest animated movie, Next Avengers. Written by the talented Christopher Yost, it got released this week and is getting great reviews.

If you're out and about, check out the film Ping Pong Playa. It's opening this week, starring the incomparable C Dub Wang (aka Jimmy Tsai), and it, too, is getting solid reviews.

And last but not least, I want to plug the upcoming Animation Army Event next Sunday night. It features two talented animation pros, George Krstic and Will Feng. It also features some third shlub, but I've never heard of him and I'm sure security won't let him in the door.

See you in a few days!

Animation Army Event at Cinespace - Sunday, September 14th - 7:00 pm

This month Animation Army is proud to announce a new venue, Cinespace, and three extremely talented animation industry professionals as our presenters:

GEORGE KRSTIC, writer for George Lucas' "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (George will be showing clips from past and present animation projects)
WILL FENG, animation Production Coordinator for: "Metalocalypse" (Season 1)
EUGENE SON, writer for "Ben 10" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"

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Sun, Sep 14, 2008
7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Hosted by: Animation Army
(310) 458-6073
Cinespace
6356 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028

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We want YOU to join Animation Army!

Animation Army hosts social networking events every other month, for professionals and students in the animation industry. At Army events you can:
* Network with animation industry professionals.
* Find talent to work on your projects.
* Show off your work.
* Find career opportunities

Membership is FREE, just sign up at www.animationarmy.com, and we'll add you to our guest list for upcoming events.

September 14th Event:
Networking and cash bar from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Presentation and animation screening from 8:00 pm to 8:20 pm
Question and Answer session from 8:20pm to 8:30pm
Networking from 8:30 pm to 9:00 pm
Event ends promptly at 9:00 pm

http://www.animationarmy.com/

Hartlepool

Fact that I learned today : the people of Hartlepool, England are affectionately referred to as "Monkey Hangers"

Heard a passing reference to this on the radio today, which sent me scrambling to the internet. From Wikipedia

According to local folklore, during the Napoleonic wars, a French ship was wrecked off the coast of Hartlepool. The only survivor was a monkey, wearing a French uniform (presumably to provide amusement for those onboard the ship). On finding the monkey, some locals decided to hold an impromptu trial on the beach; since the monkey was unable to answer their questions, they concluded that it was a French spy. The animal was thus sentenced to death and hanged...

I can't believe I've lived my entire life so far without learning about a monkey being tried as a French spy. Now I have a reason to someday visit Hartlepool. The monkey is supposed to be popular all over the city, and the local football team even has a mascot, H'Angus the Monkey.

According to the official web site of Hartlepool, the story isn't true - but that isn't going to stop me from finding some way to work the Hartlepool monkey into some future story.

Because you can't hold a good monkey story down.

Speaking of those Wacky Brits

I took this picture last summer near the Earl's Court Underground station.



Here in the States we have gun amnesties - on the other side of the pond, they have knife amnesties. Where criminals are encouraged to turn in their blades.

It's so civilized, well-mannered, and respectable. Frankly, it's adorable.

Anyways, THIS apparently happened two years ago, but I only now found out about it.



The dead serious expression on that officer's face tells it all. I'd make a joke or two or a hundred, but it's just too easy.