The Hell of the Upside-Down Sinners

moroturkey @ 2009-04-19T20:28:00

2009-04-20T03:38:24Z

Went out for my weekly sushi in a ritualistic manner last night, but I might not be able to for a while.
I suppose if I only ordered veggie rolls and tamago...hmm.
I filed for unemployment on Friday afternoon. My mental tendency is to beat myself up over these things, but I've been trying not to. After all, I'm riding the same crap-encrusted star cruiser as everyone in animation, and it's someone else's fault if it's anyone's.
I watched LET THE RIGHT ONE IN again, and did some coloring for a friend's film. Talking to my folks made me feel better, too.

moroturkey @ 2009-04-18T18:07:00

2009-04-19T01:25:03Z

I took my car into the Honda place to get my headlights fixed and an oil change, and it turned out that I needed, like, $1500 worth of repairs.
All these shitstorms descending at once. It's starting to be fairly absurd.
After I found out, I went into the ladies' room and cried and banged my head on the wall. I ended up getting the more urgent repairs done, the brakes and headlights and whatnot, and the others will have to wait till I get a job. At least I know my brakes are sound and the maintenance light isn't constantly glaring at me anymore.

moroturkey @ 2009-04-17T14:41:00

2009-04-17T21:49:26Z

I managed to in touch with Devin. Basically he said he had wanted to break up with me but was having trouble figuring out how, and putting it off was making him even more depressed and anxious. I guess I kind of expected something like this, so I didn't press the matter. I'm glad he finally told me and I hope it's a load off his mind.
I imagine it will be better for both of us in the long run, but I'm going to miss him pretty bad. I already do. I deleted his number from my phone in case I got drunk and decided to call him on a whim.
The electricity came back on, at least.

moroturkey @ 2009-04-16T13:27:00

2009-04-16T20:44:09Z

I was trying to get the D out of my mind, but I got to talking with some Calarts friends, both male and female, and they seemed to think Devin's behavior (or lack thereof) is really rather mystifying. Disturbing scenarios occurred to us.
I'm not sure I still want to be this guy's girlfriend, but I'd like to know if he's okay. For all I know, he could be in the hospital (or the loony bin!) I tried emailing and texting him to no avail. My friend Jihyun thought I should go to his house and confront him, but I don't think it's such a hot idea. I might find him with another chick, or just make him really mad. Or he might not be there at all.
When I got home last night the power was out on my block. The wind knocked out one of the wires, I guess. I was going to make macaroni and cheese and then watch a movie, so my evening was pretty much wrecked. The power was still out when I left this morning.

moroturkey @ 2009-04-15T16:24:00

2009-04-15T23:42:58Z

I'm finding it hard to get interested in anything. I feel like I'm rotting inside my skin. But it's nothing new.
Hanging around Calarts. I've been trying to work on my new portfolio. Got some nice pieces for it, but I've got a long way to go.
One of my best friends is getting on my nerves a little bit, although I suppose he means well. I think he feels that I don't put enough thought and care into my art, and that I don't ask for enough feedback. The thing is, his art is amazing but it's extremely fussy and precious, and maybe that works for him. But most of the older artists that I've talked to say that spontaneity and, well, gnarliness, is my strong suit. Worrying about what Friend X is going to say isn't making my drawings any better, it's just giving me a pencil cramp.

moroturkey @ 2009-04-09T13:51:00

2009-04-09T21:05:04Z

That song 'Highwayman' appeared on my Pandora.com playlist. I like the tune, but I thought I heard the guy sing 'Many a young maid lost her marbles to my trade(!?)'
So....yeah. I'm out of a job and my boyfriend disappeared without a trace. I'm tempted to wallow in despair, but I know this is the worst thing I could possibly do. I could, instead, see this as a chance to get a better job. And a better boyfriend.
All the story folks went to dinner at Gordon Biersch last night. I had some hefeweizen and a crab cake sandwich. The beer was very nice. The sandwich was a bit substandard, too much spice and filler. I should probably have known that a brewery restaurant in Southern California isn't the best place for this eastern delicacy. I had a pretty good time, though.

UPDATE- With the intention of starting a search for a new boyfriend, I registered on eHarmony.com . After I filled out the questionnaire, it told me I was part of that unmatchable 20%. I thought those questions were dumb.

moroturkey @ 2009-04-06T16:23:00

2009-04-06T23:24:38Z

The voice in my head keeps telling me I had my chance and I blew it. I guess I'll just keep going because there's nothing else to do.

moroturkey @ 2009-04-03T10:14:00

2009-04-03T17:19:01Z

Set my Facebook page to 'single.'
A dull, frustrating, inconclusive end to a pretty good story.

moroturkey @ 2009-04-02T16:53:00

2009-04-02T23:59:11Z

Dunno if I get to stay at Disney yet, although I got better marks on my review.^^
It's kinda nerve-wracking, though. I'm also pretty upset that my boyfriend seems to have severed all contact with me, no explanation given.
I didn't think it would end like THAT.

moroturkey @ 2009-03-31T10:53:00

2009-03-31T18:01:05Z

I did my frickin' taxes. Woo.
I saw a great big American Egret standing next to the freeway in Burbank, but I had to keep moving. I suppose I'll never know how that story turned out, or how the bird ended up there in the first place.
Speaking of not knowing, I also emailed the D and asked him if he was mad at me or something. I would love to believe that he's actually a secret agent and that's why he doesn't have time for me. I think he'd be a pretty good spy. He's super organized, buttoned-down and good with computers and gadgets.

moroturkey @ 2009-03-27T11:44:00

2009-03-27T18:55:05Z

Was gonna try and do my taxes online, but it turned out I didn't have all the necessary stuff AND I left my phone at home. So I'll have to try again tomorrow. This kind of thing really upsets me for some reason. I'm not sure why. It's not like much is at stake. I'll probably get a nice refund.
Devin is busy this weekend AGAIN. It's getting me down. It shouldn't, I suppose. I got along okay before I met him.
Aside from these little piranha bites, things are pretty okay. I got a free copy of BOLT. It's...free.

moroturkey @ 2009-03-26T16:49:00

2009-03-26T23:53:34Z

Had my review. I'm not sure how it went. I'm going to try not to presuppose anything.

moroturkey @ 2009-03-25T12:54:00

2009-03-25T19:57:34Z

Oo, the WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE trailer!
I'm not overly interested in Maurice Sendak, but I am very much into Spike Jonze, cinematography, monsters and monster suits.^^

moroturkey @ 2009-03-22T15:14:00

2009-03-22T22:30:58Z

Another Devin-less weekend. I can easily imagine he's got a good excuse, but I'm getting kind of bummed about it.
Did my five-mile hike in Towsley Canyon yesterday. Walking at a good clip, it took me about two hours. I'm going to be pretty busy in the next three days and won't have much time for exercise, so I felt like I should make up for it.
There's a redtailed hawk nest on a cliff next to the northbound 5 approaching Valencia. I'm kind of worried about what will happen to the baby hawks when they take flight for the first time. They could very easily fall into traffic. I wonder if hawks understand the dangers associated with falling into traffic.
Watched ASHES OF TIME REDUX. I'd seen the old version on VHS a long time ago. Didn't like it then, but I thought maybe I should give it another chance. Didn't like it this time either. It's got a reputation for really great cinematography, but I couldn't see it. Certainly, it's not as good-looking as some of the other movies Chris Doyle worked on. It's got a great cast, too, Leslie Cheung, Brigitte Lin, Maggie Cheung, both Tony Leungs, Jacky Cheung, Carina Lau and Charlie Yeung, lot of 'ungs' but all they do is stand around, speak in monotone and glare at each other from beneath their glamorous eyebrows. Interspersed with the occasional action sequence shot way too close in, blurry and shaky-cam which doesn't do Sammo Hung's fight choreography any favors.

moroturkey @ 2009-03-21T13:39:00

2009-03-21T21:06:56Z

So, yeah. The Secret of Kells screening at Disney. A screening marred by a malfunctioning projector and the effects of one and a half Cape Codders foisted on me by one of my colleagues.
I admire what the director is trying to do, although I feel like it didn't work all the time. Some of the shots were SO stylized and flat that I had a hard time figuring out where my eyes were supposed to go. I thought it was kind of cool that they decided to make a movie about such a specific, culture-bound religious thing, although the cultural and religious aspects were rather watered-down. (Also I bet there weren't too many Chinese or African monks in 9th Century Ireland.*)
There was some comedy relief nonsense at the beginning which seemed to have been stuck in there to reassure us that we were indeed watching an animated movie.
I want to watch it again, though. I hope it'll get some kind of release over here, so I can see it properly.

*Yeah, I know, they were shooting for mainstream success and they assumed little Chinese kids would not be able to enjoy the movie unless there were East Asian characters for them to identify with. This is why FINDING NEMO was a box office flop around the world. All the characters were fish.

moroturkey @ 2009-03-19T15:37:00

2009-03-19T22:41:20Z

Obama's caravan drove by the studio a few minutes ago. I saw him quite clearly. He looks just like himself. Woo, history! So exciting!
Everyone was waiting at the corner. At one point, an electric utility truck went by and everyone waved and cheered at the utility truck, they were in such an expansive rapturous mood.

(Although it had no historical significance, my pitch this afternoon went quite well, too...I feel sort of bad about my last entry.)

moroturkey @ 2009-03-19T10:49:00

2009-03-19T18:05:40Z

Managed to get in touch with Devin. He was visiting his sister in Santa Barbara.
I have one more pitch before the final review and my boards are not as nice or finished as I would like. I had originally planned to work late last night, but the editing program I was using kept malfunctioning. I wasn't feeling too good either. So I left, went for my hike and went to bed.
I think...I KNOW I'm not trying hard enough.
I want to have a job. I want to be self-sufficient, I guess. I wish I could be more enthusiastic about what I was doing. It's kind of hard to be enthusiastic, though, when I look into the future and see nothing.

moroturkey @ 2009-03-15T15:40:00

2009-03-15T22:57:59Z

An online quiz told me my spirit animal was a weasel. I'm rather flattered, although I think I'm too gloomy to be a weasel.
Watched LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, the Swedish vampire flick. It was a bit of an odd experience because I didn't really realize what was going on until the very VERY end, and it was like a punch in the gut. I also liked how it featured a traditional vampire who doesn't do kung fu or fire guns or...have DNA.
Throughout most of the movie I was sort of puzzled about what attitude we were supposed to take towards Oskar and Eli's behavior. Eli is sympathetic but also pretty obviously a monster. S(he) kills innocent people and sucks their blood. It's unacceptable, haha. When Oskar becomes Eli's renfield at the end, we know that he's probably dooming himself to a really miserable life, and we see the lengths that unhappy people will go to. It's a tragic love story, but at least Romeo and Juliet had the good sense to die. Oskar and Eli are going to be together for a good long time and if it's anything like Eli's previous relationship, it's not going to be very pleasant at all. I think I responded to it more personally than I thought I would, because it was like "This is what can happen to lonely angry people." The movie made me thankful that I have people who love me. Nice people. Who aren't vampires.=p
Or at least, this was my take on the movie. Some people feel that ending is more optimistic.
I thought the scene with the CG cats was kinda out of place and...not very good.

moroturkey @ 2009-03-14T19:58:00

2009-03-15T03:13:13Z

The final story assignment is coming together, although as of last Friday I'd hit a snag involving multiple sets of fingers coming together, overlapping and performing various functions. It's always the small stuff that gets you. Eventually I said 'The hell with it, I'll see if a solution comes to me over the weekend.' In fact, I was discussing it with one of my story buds at the weekly cocktail party* and a plausible solution occurred to me right then.
Watched SYNECDOCHE NY last night. I figured Charlie Kaufman's movies are usually pretty interesting, at the very least. Hate hate hated it. I almost wonder if some of the critics saw a different movie.
I'd skipped my hike on Monday, Tuesday and Friday, so I did the five-mile hike today to make up for it, and then I went out for pho with Minkyu.
Haven't heard much from the D since last week. I think he's stressed out dealing with his idiot clients, and I suppose he might need some time by himself. If he wants to hang out with me he can give me a call.

*Yes, this guy has started hosting a cocktail party out of his cube every week. Cheese and crackers too. He wants to have a different drink every time. This week it was a pleasant girly drink called the Market Crash, with sake and pomegranate juice.

moroturkey @ 2009-03-10T16:20:00

2009-03-10T23:31:30Z

Yesterday I got a decent start on my stuff for my final review. Didn't get much done today, though, because I was waiting around to get advice on this and that. It's frustrating.

moroturkey @ 2009-03-06T16:39:00

2009-03-07T00:45:59Z

Grrr.
I wish people would just TELL me very CLEARLY in ALL CAPS what they want me to do, instead of expecting me to extract the pith of their sissy corporate talk.
Aside from that, I suppose I'm alright. Got my final review coming up in a few weeks. Maybe I should think of it as the end of another year at Calarts. (I told my mentor to come and bug me about my progress at regular intervals.)

Rat King

2009-03-05T23:40:43Z

My friend was telling me about the mysterious phenomenon of the rat king, a ball of rats joined at the tail. (The mystery is whether this actually happens in nature or if unscrupulous persons just tie a bunch of live or dead rats together.)
I wanted to draw it right away. I just updated my blog so I put it here instead.

moroturkey @ 2009-03-02T12:56:00

2009-03-02T20:58:13Z

I got towels, a black one and a red one (so I can tell them apart easily) and a new shower curtain. I even got the slightly more expensive bronzy curtain rings BECAUSE I LIKED THE WAY THEY LOOKED.

...Take that, recession.

Fight against the sadness, Artax!

2009-03-01T22:09:11Z

I watched THE NEVERENDING STORY last night. It was kind of peculiar because, you know, I had the entire movie memorized, but not the ineptitude of the compositing and stuff like that. I think I never realized that the little scientist gnome guy was supposed to be a whole lot smaller than Atreyu.
Also it never bothered me that we get introduced to all these characters at the beginning of the movie and they don't have anything to do with the plot.
This is not to say that the movie is completely lousy. The 'meta' qualities of the plot are pretty neat, as is the giant jaded turtle. So maybe a remake wouldn't be such a bad idea.
But it would have to be, you know, good. I can easily imagine a remake that would fall flat in an early 21st century sort of way.
On Friday night Devin took me out to a sushi place in San Fernando. It is apparently the only sushi place for miles and it is run by Mexicans. It's called Courthouse Sushi. Home of the Defense Roll, the Prosecutor Roll, and the Judge Roll. The Prosecutor has salmon, tuna, and some crunchy vegetable, plus a coating of tempura. It's pretty good. The place was kind of a zoo, though. There was only one waitress and at one point a small kid jumped up on our table.
Devin came over and made it known that I need to buy some towels.* I don't currently own any. I believe I haven't owned a towel since I moved into my place over a year ago. After a shower I'd always just put my clothes on and trust So Cal's semi-arid climate to dry me off. And once I was dry I didn't give towels another thought.
This is what happens when you have people over, you realize how inadequate your lodgings are. Just when I thought my house was clean enough for other people to see, I find out that more is needed. It could be seen as a metaphor for the soul. However, I will emerge a richer (figuratively) and happier (literally) person for it.

*This makes it sound like he just walked in the door and told me I needed towels. The actual visit was a lot more entertaining than that.

moroturkey @ 2009-02-26T09:20:00

2009-02-26T17:28:07Z

A remake of THE NEVERENDING STORY...uhhhhh.
I really liked the movie as a little kid, but I haven't seen it for a long time. I suppose I should revisit it. I was recently surprised to find out that I liked DARK CRYSTAL better than LABYRINTH, so I'm really not sure how I'd react to NS now.
The dragon always bugged me, though. His body is kinda nifty, but his head just looks like a cocker spaniel's head. Also his orgasmic moaning when Atreyu scratches his back. Even at the age of four I sensed something wasn't right.