Gealimh an Daoinn (Gallivanting)

Here I am in Belfast, alive and well, though I question my sanity when after only a few days in Ireland I turn up my nose at a castle if it is merely Victorian. Everything is so much more fantastically amazing than I thought it would be. This place is seriously awesome. And I have a renewed desire to learn Gaelic if only to figure out the mad spellings.

Today I listened to Radio 4 LIVE and IN THE CORRECT TIME ZONE.

Not enough time to sketch! Have lost all my pencils and must use pen! Many many photos! Have some more exclamation points!!!!

The First Letter of Tealin to the Vancouverites

And lo it was a Wednesday, and I was labouring upon my animation, and my desk was within earshot of the chamber of editing/compositing. Upon a late hour in the afternoon, there commenced a Meeting in which the Lords of Colour and the Lords of AfterEffects did converse and dispute as to why the company that did the trailer for Enchanted got the colour so wrong. It did continue for a goodly time and in fact well into the evening. And at no point was anything pronounced by the conversants which could be interpreted as "Aah, 's good enough, the kids won't notice, just ship it." Verily I say unto you, I have heard no such utterance in all my time here. The good citizens of James Baxter Animation have deadlines like unto the Vancouverites, yet behold their passion and commitment! THIS IS THE SOUND OF PEOPLE CARING. Love it.

More Photos

	It's the magical door ... and I go in it every morning! Magical! I think there might be a forcefield of drawing power at the top of the stairs because it's just ridiculous in there. Here's a detail of the sign, with the world's best logo.
	The Mendenhall Sobieski Gallery is next door, and it has this sign in its window which I found amusing.
	This is a fixture in the local grocery store ... as far as I can tell, you put money in and you get movies out. No word on how they hold you to returning it ... maybe you have to use your store's loyalty card or something so they have your address and can send out their movie thugs to get it back.
	This is the view from my bus stop in the afternoon. One of these days I will investigate that church or whatever it is; it looks pretty cool.

Adventures in Pasadena

First day of 'work'!

Five Things About California that are Not Like BC:
1. There is not a Starbucks on every corner of a busy, touristy shopping/business district. I walked for ten minutes to find a café, a length of time that would have taken me past three Starbuckses and an independent café in a comparable area back home.
2. The commuter bus is a coach, with no rails to hold while standing up, and with a button in the seat's console to signal your stop rather than a cord to pull on. FANCEY.
3. Jasmine-scented sidewalks that nobody uses vs. urine/pot-scented sidewalks that everyone uses.
4. People who talk to complete strangers on the bus and are not crazy.
5. No $5.95 18-piece sushi combos at liberally scattered hole-in-the-wall takeaways.

Photo Time!
Hey look! It's Robson! With palm trees and no pedestrians! (It was 8:30 am so no walking commuters and no business traffic yet.)
Further proof of Robsonicity: they're digging it up.
You know those trees people keep in big pots as houseplants? This is what they look like when not housetrained.
Oleander bushes that line the Buena Vista side of the Disney lot ... look out, they're toxic. Yes, that's right, Disney has a POISON WALL. Don't tell the kiddies.
The door I go in, in the morning, is the one in the side of the alcove that has the double red doors. It's magical. McCormick would have been my last name if it were not for my great-grandfather and, the story goes, his raising the ire of the IRA. It was meant to be, obviously! We'll conveniently ignore the fact there are thousands of McCormicks...

As for the life inside, well ... this is going to be an awesome two months.

Safe and Sound

Made it here in one piece, luggage intact (as far as I know), plus arms legs minus scales fins. All good. Now back to lunch and the Mabinogion!

P.S. Ken Duncan has a studio in Pasadena too. To which I say: AAAH. Mayhap I will meet him and pick his brain on his brilliant yet incomprehensible line style.