are a few projects I'd love to get started on if it weren't for the fact that every spare hour of the remainder of this semester has to be spent working on my 220 film.

And some of them are projects that would help me practice a lot - maybe I'd be able to put them into my reel one of these days.

Project 1: Making a sort of logo-animation for myself, accompanied by some kind of 10-20 second cute character animation. I'd want whatever it is to reflect who I am as an artist and animator. Perhaps something involving a squirrel. =3 And this would make a perfect title sequence for my reel.

Project 2: I want to take a sound clip from my favorite anime of all time, Fullmetal Alchemist, and re-animate the scene using NOT limited animation. What would Fullmetal Alchemist look like if it were animated on a Disney feature film budget? That's my goal, at least. It would give me great practice in acting. I hope I'd be able to put it in a reel, too, but I'm not sure whether or not it'd be appropriate, since I don't own the FMA sound clips or character designs.

Oh yes, and to any of you who read this journal, I'd love to get some suggestions as to what scene to take from FMA to reanimate! Not a whole scene, mind you, just a few lines of dialogue. What moment from the series would you want to see me try?

Project 3: Probably not reel-worthy, but I'd like to storyboard a music video for KH:AS - like an opening FMV or something like that. =3 That or a short animation. Something to pay tribute to the RP site that I haven't had the creative energy to participate in for the past months (so sorry, guys.. Blame it on my 220).

Project 4: Detective Conan Lucky Star opening. I started planning this in the beginning of summer, but didn't have the proper programs... but with the computers here at school with Flash and Animate Pro, it'd be as simple as a trace-over with a few modifications. Unfortunately, I'm sensing that this will never get done since I've got so many other possibly career-influencing side projects I could be using my time for.

Project 5: Get together a cool story for my thesis project. Nice an' early. Me and ~melovedogboy are at work on this.

And of course, the Pikatrainer comic. I've been slowly getting the second page done bit by bit during my shifts here in the graphic arts computer lab. Slowly, but surely.

So yeah, I wish I could do all of these awesome projects of mine. But my 220 film is killin meh. KILLIN' MEH. Especially when I've got two 30-minute group presentations and a paper due for my other core classes!! Whyyeeeeeeeee...

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And now for something completely different. I happened across this book called "The Kingdom Keepers." My animation friend lent it to me since he didn't have any time to read it. It's got a cool premise to it - a story about kids getting magically transported into Disney World after hours and fight off t3h evil Disney villains and such. I'd heard about this book around the interwebs before, and lots of people have said it was a cute, fun read for a Disney fan, so I decided 'why not? I'll give it a try.'

I don't think I've ever read a published book before and thought, "Yaknow, I could've written this better." Until Kingdom Keepers. I've only gotten about fifty pages in, but I've already found myself working out exactly how I'd change the writing to make it better. Seriously. It's not so much that the plot is iffy, but the writing style makes it seem so clunky and awkward. Sentences are plopped into places where they don't make much sense. Characterization is flat. Sequences of events and characters' thought processes don't make much logical sense. It's hard to visualize what's going on - in order for the scene to play out in my imagination, I have to keep checking back a few paragraphs to remind myself what's going on. Not good.

My review? I've read much better fanfictions. Why read a published book with a fanfic-like premise when it's only as well-written as the decent stuff on FF.net? There are plenty of fics with similar premises out there on the intarwebs. I think I'll go find those instead.

Phooey. I'm disappointed. I suppose this is what happens when the Disney Empire tries to be a publishing company.. >_> Please, guys.. Stick to what you're good at, will ya?


But I don't mind Disney when they get into videogames. Don't mind it at all. >D

And I don't just mean Kingdom Hearts, either. Have you all heard about Epic Mickey? I've been SO excited about this one!! I'm so glad it's coming out for the Wii (the only current-gen system I own) instead of PS3 or something like that. I can't wait!! *fanspasm!* <3<3


On Sunday, ~melovedogboy and I went to Disneyland for the annual Harry Potter unofficial meet. We got dressed in our best Hogwarts uniforms and went to the.. er.. somewhat different Magic Kingdom for an awesome day of trivia-game scavenger-hunting. We failed at the trivia (we're bad students! ) but it was still really fun. We met some cool people. We played some cool games. We got to confuse every other guest in the park by being a part of a huge group of 150 people all in Harry Potter costumes wandering around.

We also got to see John Lasseter. xD They were having a brand-new musical show on the Mark Twain to promote The Princess and the Frog, and we decided to stop by and watch. There were a few guests that got to ride on the boat and dance along during the show. When we looked at the bottom level of the boat, there he was - waving the little flag around and looking as excited as a little kid. x3 Gosh that guy's got a big inner child! Gotta love him. I managed to snap a couple pictures, but we didn't end up stopping and saying hello when he got off after the show, which would've been cool. Oh well - I doubt that it's the last time we'll see him.


That's all for now. G'night!



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