Pasithea

Horrible 1950's educational films loaded with bullshitology! Also some rather homo-erotic aristotle stuff.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xDE0MFDpnCA

Doctor Science Man has all the answers in 1950's world.

The human brain contains tiny men with lots of levers.

Being a zombie was interesting. There were a number of aspects to it that I feel like writing about.

First off, I think the concept of this mob was great because you didn't have to neccisarily bring anything. If you were someone that easily suffers from Stage Fright, all you really needed to do was wait until you saw the mob and flash them the sign and they did the rest. After that, you're all covered in gore and in the mob so what's to lose? Mob mentality takes over and you aren't afraid to crawl weirdly up the stairs in the Apple store.

Second, being dead really does give you a new outlook on life in many different ways. There were a lot of people that were like, 'Woah! What's that! Zombies! OMFG ZOMBIES!!!!' and there were a lot of people that were like, 'AWSOME!!!!' grabbed a camera. So many photos. Then, much like Shaun of the Dead there were a lot of people that were even more zombified than the zombies. They didn't notice the zombies until they were surrounded by a shuffling mob of moaning undead. Then there were the digified people who tried not to notice, and last and least, the few whingy late teen boys that were like, 'Du. that's so stupid! These people are so lame.' Though they were a small but vocal minority, they gave me the most pause for thought. 1) As a member of a group that I had no emotional attachment to whatsoever, I was able to look at their responses with complete detachment and not feel defensive or angry at them but instead feel completely sorry for them that they couldn't enjoy what literally thousands of other people (not even counting the zombies) were getting such a total charge out of. 2) I felt a bit sorry for my younger self because I recognize a time in my life when I might have been one of them. Particularly towards people like queenofstripes and xydexx. The last thing I learned about people is that even in character as a zombie I seem to be a lot more alert than most of the mainstream. Being a zombie gave me some insights into what it must be like to be 'normal'. Just shuffling along with the flow and never really doing anything else. I may never make anything of myself but I spend every day on fire. ( Some additional slurs towards the 'average american' here. )

The last few interesting things about being a zombie really came after being a zombie. The weird looks I got in the women's room were hilarious. When people stared I just said, "Tragic Lipstick Accident." (I was covered in red) And finally, after I put on normal clothes again (haha! Jon and I stripped in a parking garage! There's something I'd not have done 5 years ago) I was walking around for about half an hour expecting surprised expressions on people's faces when they looked at me because I'd gotten used to being something people slackjawed at.

Anyhow.. Zombiness was good. Chinese food was good. Hanging out with Jon without our whole entourage was the best.

Now I'm going to take that nap.

So. Peggy was gone when I got home last night, just like that. Poof. I didn't really say goodbye. I guess I thought she'd still be there when I got home last night. So I guess my last words were um, 'I think I'm going to go take a shower.' Although when I was headed to bed, I was singing that song that goes 'We'll meet again, don't know how, don't know when, but sometime we'll meet again..' It'd played on one of the 40's music programs I've been listening to and stuck in my head (likely for obvious reasons) I guess it's as good a way as any to exit. Sort of odd though, to just fade like a radio station as you drive out of range.

Things are trudging along. The house is cluttered badly. So much left to do.

Last night I made thai curry and invited Ashy and Jeff over (Dascha and Julia are gone for the weekend so Jeff was alone) Seemed very quiet. Odd. Peggy never really made much noise but she was always around. Psycho sematic, I guess.

So. That's all on that. I haven't heard from Jon so I may skip the zombie thing. Who wants to have their brains eaten alone? Besides, I really should be packing and working and such. *sigh* Howcome fun stuff always has to happen when I'm broke and in crisis? I swear that I'm not like that all the time.

Wowsa. You know... I saw some of these when Crissa and I went to see 'The Matrix' but I didn't make the connection.

http://www.juergenspecht.com/truestories/matrixreloaded/

I now know what the Matrix REALLY is! It's a secret plot to trick impressionable young men into wearing suits and ties! This, Men in Black, it's all a plot! A sneaky insidious social engineering going on right under our noses!

Ohwell. I like dressed-up guys. :)

Did I mention I kissed a monkey yesterday? Er. Well. Okay. Not a whole monkey. Just some monkey lips. :) Our instructor brought several of the replacement mouths for MonkeyBone to class last night. They were so cool! Resin casts! I wanted to steal one but I didn't. Anyhow, there was a kissy face one and just being the wingnut I am I went, "OOOOH! *SMOOCH*" Ista lucky thing that animation students are all weirdos and people just thought it was funny. Various people were also trying the mouths on their ears and such like.

They were very cool. Basically just a registered resin cast of an original sculpture. I'm not sure though if they were two-part mould and detailed with a dremmel tool or if they were a 1-part using a lost wax cast type of thing. I guess they must have been 2 part moulds now that I think about it, but they were way way way above my skill level. O_O

To wrap up animation news for the day, I got a lot done on the cat yesterday afternoon and I read a book on working with clay so I'm feeling more armed on that. Especially for sets and lip-synch.

Oh! 'n' Stacey bought me a 14ft Firewire cable so now I can move the camera around my work area and get much better shots and lighting. Yay! I'm gonna try to do a couple different animations this weekend. Wirehead skating around and shouting, "WHEEE!!!!! WHEEEE!!!!! LOOK AT ME!!!! I'M FRICKIN' GUMBY!!!!" and then plowing headlong into a Physics book. I think I'm also gonna try doing some Strata Clay. I have a semi-ambitious idea for an FCTV thing. I may wait a week on that though.

Err. right. Did I mention that Film Finals submission deadlines are next Thursday O_O No problem. I only have about 3 minutes of cat to animate. (Witness my dillusion) Oh... And I ran into my digital video instructor from the fall quarter and he strongly hinted that I should clean up and submit my 'Sam Antha: Private Director' movie. O_O... Eeee. Well. I think I can only submit stuff from winter and spring quarters so I may be off the hook on that one but he definetely expects me to submit something, so I'd better get back to work on that darn cat.

Every Action Has a Consequence

or

(Why I was late to work Today)

Everything we do has some set of consequences attached to it whether we realize it or not. Usually these chains are transparent, it's only rare that we get to see them. Such a case caused me to be late to work today and I shall now explore it in detail.

Two weekends ago, I stayed up late goofing off because I was avoiding working on the bunny animation. the next morning I almost forgot to film roon at Santana Row and hurried off to do so at the last minute. Because of this, I forgot to water my plants which I'd planned to plant that afternoon. When i got home,t he plants were too wilty to be planted, I didn't want to shock them any further, so I watered them and delayed a week.

A week later (last Sunday) I did in fact get back to my garden to plant the plants. I kept bumping a Juniper bush which was filled with dead undergrowth and dead tree bits kept raining down in my hair, so I decided to clean the debris out of the shrub by shaking it and making all the loose debris fall down at once, which I did, and cleaned up afterwards.

After all that yard work, I wanted steaks that night and Stacey (centauress) made them for me but neither of us cooked steaks often and she turned the first set into charcoal and had to buy another. While cooking the second set, she heard a squeaking up in the tree and shined a light up into it, to discover that in my shaking, I'd dislodged a nest of tree rats (not squirrels but not those icky kinds of rats that get in houses either).

Between my wrecking their nest and her shinng a light on them and identifying their nest, the rats apparently decided to move. Yesterday morning, there was a half-eaten rat on my front walk, apparently killed by one of the neighborhood cats.

This tastey rat morsel started a territory dispute between two of the neighborhood cats and they had a HUGE fight in my front yard, which made my cat go berserk and try to get at them through the venitian blind and window glass. She got tangled up and bent up the blind and cut Stacey (centauress) to shreds in her beserker rage.

Last night Stacey wasn't able to sleep so well due to her lacerations and my fawning over her, so she got up with me this morning... and noticed one of the cats from the night before laying in the yard, looking pretty beat up. (The beast looks like Dragon from the Secret of NIMH. Huge, battle-scared, and blind in one eye) I went outside and found that it was still alive (though very very defensive). Its hindquarters seem to be paralyzed and when it tried to drag itself away from me, it knocked over my soda and made a mess, which delayed me a bit more. Then I gave it some food and water (which it almost ripped out of my hands, it was so thirsty) At this point, I left for work, (already 9:30) and remembered I still had to get fuel. Oy. I think Stacey called animal control because she had no idea what to do for the beastie. Much too dangerous to try touching/caging him.

So there you go. Slacking at animation leads to a whole food-chain of mayhem. Plants, rats, and cats. Plus a badly injured spouse, a wrecked blind, and late to work. O_O