s'mores and vodka

huzzah

2009-02-02T13:09:00.000-08:00

FINALLY, IT'S DONE.

Jesse worked on the music and did a great job on such short notice, I owe him so much. Competition's getting really tough these days, I'm just thankful I have an internship to fall back on. I guess the good thing about being in the west coast is, your job security's not so much at stake.

winter project

2008-12-03T01:07:00.000-08:00

Promotional posters have been put up on campus, so check them out when you have the time.

Oh I do love winter in California.

update

2008-10-18T22:24:00.000-07:00

It comes across as rather strange, writing about someone else's affairs, but Doen En (the musical talent mentioned in last entry) has decided to leave NYU to attend music school. Whether or not we think this is a good decision does not matter; when a mere 18-year old makes a decision like that after spending no less than $75,000 on one and a half years of college, you have to give her a pat on the back and commend her for her courage.

The Take Off OST EP has not yet been released, but a tentative track listing is as follows:

1. Opening Credits: Undercover
2. Who Is This?
3. Runway
4. Tree Of Hearts
5. Where's My Cheeseburger?
6. The Man With The Gun
7. Uzi, or Pen?
8. Pushing Buttons
9. A Sound Plan
10.Sneaking Into the Corall
11.Red Alert
12.Now It's Up To Them
13.Maiden Flight
14.Phone Message
15.Tears Of Flame
16.Taking Off: Ending Credits

we're getting there

2008-09-13T20:39:00.001-07:00

Animation is killing me! But nobody said it would be easy.

Soundtrack for The Assassin has been completed. It was scored by Haruki Fuji-Deckard and Anthony Riascos. Loves, both of you - especially Ant, since you're so reliable 90% of the time (when you're not stuck in a random bathroom somewhere)

What are friends for?

flight plans.

2008-05-17T09:32:00.000-07:00

La dee da, the weather in Barcelona is nice.
5/30, back to Sendai. 6/14, off to Hong Kong, then to Kobe on 6/27... back home 7/1, and an early return to California 7/20 to keep working on High Fliers.

Life is tough.

It's Gone.

2008-03-25T08:44:00.000-07:00

Spring break is over!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nooooooooooooo.

spring sem

2008-01-21T18:24:00.000-08:00

To everyone who requested the Take Off soundtrack, please e-mail me with your request once more for a passkey. Thank you very much.

It's going to be a stressful semester....

project passe

2007-10-27T18:42:00.001-07:00

Maki and En and working on the score of my current project, Take Off.

It's really amusing when two newbies (freshmen, at that!) take on the soundtrack of a junior's film. Things might go wrong - who knows? - but the overall entertainment will be worth the risk. Besides, what are friends for?

Back To School

2007-09-10T16:17:00.001-07:00

It's ExpeDoc this year! With a little bit of Narrative thrown in for variety. Life's no fun without its little distractions.

Miyabi's film never really kicked off, but that doesn't mean it won't actually be made. Everyone's much too busy to do things that don't count to their own degrees. Everyone's too selfish to sacrifice a bit of time and money to meet up so the film can be shot.

It's a hard major, film. It's a bitch.

Miyabi's movie

2007-07-04T01:09:00.000-07:00

To prepare En for her East Asian transition, I'm thinking of making a film in which she plays a girl named........ yeah, Miyabi. Not skinny, and certainly not a waif, but a little reserved and artsy. Like the original girl herself. And if she's lucky she'll hit it up right away with her co-star, whoever that may be.

This is if we ever get things rolling.

And that's a pretty big IF.

Summer in Sendai

2007-06-24T23:07:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if anyone realized the mistake in the previous post (EWR - NWK). Anyway, not that it matters. Just six days since arrival, and already I'm beginning to feel like I never left Sendai at all. It's a strange transition back to Japanese too.

But, all in, it's good to be home with mom & dad and Akio nii & Maiko nee again. The weather is great, almost as though the place is glad to have me back.

Hol Skedjool

2007-04-28T02:23:00.000-07:00

Going Northeast for a bit after exams, then flying home from Jersey (NWK) on the 19th of June. I'll be back July 17th. Wait for me, homies!

VA Tech Shooting

2007-04-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

It would be ridiculous to say that even after Columbine, the shooting at VA Tech didn't genuinely surprise anyone. God knows what the world's coming to these days. No, God knows what American kids are turning into these days. Too much CS cross-firing, maybe.

All Anko can say now is this.

R.I.P

Mini Phils PEX @ CAC

2007-04-02T00:38:00.000-07:00

I love Beard Papa and Krispy Kremes. Don't you? :)

Anyway, Colt and Tems' mini photo exhibition will be on the 27th of this month at the CAC, so please be sure to attend if you've been following their photoblogging on their recent trip to the Philippines!

Filming & Fuming

2007-03-13T15:45:00.000-07:00

Woods loves Maddy's short film!

Which means credit also goes to yours truly, because everyone knows about my trademark zooming-into-trees followed by pan-ups.

Or is it everyone knows? Whichever sounds better. Maybe everyone knows.

My little girl pal from Malaysia, En, is an intern with a local telly company called NTV7! Only her 2nd day at work and she gets to help out with covering a local celebrity. Thumbs up!

When she gets here, there'll be competition aplenty, what with not just her, but hordes of others looking to break into Hollywood as the next star Asian filmmaker. Everyone just wants to be Ang Lee, huh.

Where did the Japanese filmmakers go, huh!?

Happy Chinese New Year!

2007-02-22T23:59:00.000-08:00

It's nice to see Chinatown sprawling with street vendors and decorations for the Chinese New Year. Lots of free food, and plenty of discounts. It's an Asian paradise! It makes for many good photos, too, if you can somehow manage to stay out of the hustle and bustle. Never in all my time here have I seen so many pairs of striped socks and patterned layers in one place. Wonder where all these kids hide when there aren't any festival promos going on??

Happy Chinese New Year, all. Don't complain about your otoshidama, or packets, whatever they're called in Chinese.

French Dream

2007-02-01T02:33:00.000-08:00

No laughing, now.

Guess who woke up sweating in the middle of the night after a totally whacked-up nightmare involving blood-stained swords, priests with bowl cuts, speeding horse carriages and Marie Antoinette lookalikes?

I think I've been watching too much Le Chevalier d'Eon recently.

COLD, COLD, GO AWAY!

2006-12-08T03:24:00.001-08:00

It is freaking COLD!!! It's cold cold cold cold coooold!!! And here I was thinking I'd escaped the cruel winter cold of Japan. Bah. Never underestimate Southern weather. Valencia is not all it's cracked up to be. Oh, it's quiet, though, and that's what people like about it. It's not crazy-noisy like LA, and it's not packed with gamblers like Vegas.

On a more positive note, all this snow makes for good shooting. Maddy and I have been waiting months for this annoyingly cold season to arrive so we can start shooting her new short film. Terry's been waking up really early the past two weeks just to catch the sunrise... and she knows what a light sleeper I am. I go to bed at 1 am and get up again at 4, thanks to all the racket she makes washing up.

But some trouble's all right if it's for a good cause. Even I have to admit Terry's photos are breathtakingly beautiful. If she gives me the green light we'll have the photos up for you all to see.

Dinner tomorrow at Emer's place. Stuffed turkey, too! Wheeeeee. Emer's all right, though the other CCA students seem to be giving my coursemates a headache. No idea if it's because they're too advanced or if they're just too stupid to go along with our ideas. Coupled with the burdens of the cold, all that complaining makes for a really tense atmosphere in the dorms.

Anyway, off to do more work now. Will update more frequently once exams are over.

Finally Back!

2006-11-23T08:38:00.000-08:00

You'll have to forgive me for taking such a long time with this post. It's been nearly a month... no, wait, it's been a whole month, hasn't it? A lot has been going on around here - plenty of projects, movie premieres, fashion shows and the like. There is so much happening that the average fun-loving girl in her right mind would not stay at home to miss out on Cali's big events.

A friend of mine sent me photos of the Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week 2006. A country like Malaysia has a lot more to offer than you think, and though 50% of the nation's population is still held back by a united and very conservative mentality, there is a small minority that is unafraid to have leggy Malay models parade down the runway in figure-hugging or flowing outfits that show off either the decolletage, the derriere or both.

The collection that impressed me most (Zang Toi excluded) was the one by Khoon Hoi, who, I am told, was 2005's Designer of the Year. His dresses were long and floaty, very simple, and a great lot of them were made from chiffon - my all-time favorite fabric. Melinda Looi also had some very lovely designs... apparently she is currently Malaysia's most established (and most well-loved?) designer.

Maybe I should take a crash course in designing... since fashion shows pique my interest so much. It's getting so all my friends who manage to catch shows in their places of stay send me photos immediately so I can be inspired by creative genius from all over the world.

As aforementioned, I spent the past month travelling all over the state attending events and conferences to satisfy my own lack of creative juices, and interestingly enough I did not buy any clothes. Shocked, eh.

I am now working on a side-project with a friend from CCA, Emer Maslow-Jones; a little documentary that's got to do with kids. It won't be fun if you know what it's about, so I'll keep mum until the documentary's done. Exclusive screening only for students of Calarts and CCA! Stay tuned ;)

P/S : Don't like Daniel Craig. Want Pierce back.

Impressionistic Shards

2006-10-23T01:35:00.000-07:00

I've been watching Death Note, and I must say I'm quite impressed with the animation. The producers have made some alterations, and though it doesn't follow the manga's storyline fully, it still leaves you with a sense of exhilaration. A longing for more. It's much better than what the movie had to offer. I think I'll come up with a remake of it when I graduate - using more than just Japanese.

Weekly report? Nothing much goes on around here - I knocked over someone's clay pot. But it was a tiny thing, so I don't think it really mattered. He/she can't have been too pissed off.

My Muse In Fall

2006-10-17T05:30:00.000-07:00

You know it's fall when the colors around you drastically change.

The cold is quite refreshing, to say the least. It's definitely much warmer here than it is in Sendai. Nearly two years have passed since the last fall I spent at home. I haven't seen a snow-covered Sendai in a while. No cherry-blossom viewing. Just summer back home, and a lot of glistening, oily beads dotting the skin.

It's a pretty good time to go short-filming, though. Some seniors from the film department are out filming short documentaries. Yesterday Kevin took a bunch of kids and their soft toys to the field out back and had a ball of a photoshoot. I was invited, too, but I had work to do so I opted out. Now I'm beginning to wish I'd just foregone that work of mine.

The air's crisp and fresh, the sky's a lovely hue, and the grounds are covered with leaves in every color imaginable. It's like strolling down memory lane, literally, except that you don't have too many memories to look back on if you've only been in Valencia two years.

Think I'll start on one of those mushy fall shorts. It'll be scriptless, of course. Just like every other highly disorganized short I've ever made in past years.

Teh 1st Post

2006-10-14T05:32:00.000-07:00

We'll make do with this fairly simple layout for now. =)

On to today; well, yesterday. Somebody ought to whip Josh for ridiculing me in front of Woodberry's class. I swear the camera was running the last time I checked! If I don't make the Honors/Dean's List it's going to be all your fault, Dalton. Blehhhhhh.

Apparently some new kid is transferring in. Can't wait to meet him/her. I love terrorizing new people.