Sigh.

Had a disappointing day yesterday, but I suppose bad luck was due.
I wasn't crying. It was just raining on my face.

Greasy Chinese food at Hop Li with le cub made me feel a tad better.
As did the raspberry fruit "leather" (fruit-roll) from Trader Joe's.
Beans thought I was eating one of his Beggin' Strips. No, Beans. I wasn't.

Uber-cool Naomi posted THIS awesome piano-cello rendition of Taylor Swift's "Love Story" and Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" a couple days ago. Watch it and hear Jon (I think he's the pianist) rave about his 7 year-old daughter to whom this song is dedicated. So very cute.

Okay. Back to editing.

New Zealand Rocks!

As a Valentine's gift to le cub earlier this year, I had purchased tickets to a Flight of the Conchords concert at the Greek Theater (near Griffith Park Observatory) which he wouldn't be able to redeem until May.

Well, it's finally May, and last night, we finally went. It was le cub's first concert ever, and boy was it fun!

Highlights:
1) Opening acts featuring Arj Barker (Dave) and Eugene Mirman
2) "Too Many Dicks" as their first song. Wahahahahaha!
2) South American, Spanish-singing versions of Bret and Jemaine
3) Their "I'm Not Crying" act that Jemaine preceded with lighting suggestions, "Like we're inside a teardrop!"
4) One of le cub's favs, "Carol Brown"
5) Jemaine's "Sugarlump" dance moves.
6) An emotional performance of "Hurt Feelings"...
7) The classic, "Business Time"...
8) And one of MY favorites, "Albi the Racist Dragon"!


They didn't play "If That's What You're Into", but I'll live.
Bret and Jemaine, you two are AWESOME!!!!!!!

Action-Packed

I've been in Los Angeles for nearly two years now, yet I don't think I've covered as many touristy activities during all my time here as I did over this one weekend. Minnesotan sweetie, Mai (or "My Mai", as I like to call her), was in town, so le cub tried his very best to play tour guide.

Santa Monica was a must-see:
1) The Pier (Mai wanted to trapeze, but le cub wouldn't join her...)
2) The Promenade
3) Farmer's Market (I bought a bag of THE sweetest grapefruit I've ever tasted)

All of the West Side became a must-eat:
1) Bar Pinxto for tapas (white shrimp & bacon wrapped dates... yum)
2) Joan's on Third for brunch (breakfast tart, yay!)
3) Huckleberry for more brunch (Maple Bacon Biscuit!)
4) Park's for authentic Korean BBQ (marinated kalbi & seafood pancake)
5) Sprinkles for delightful cupcakes (RVC, baby. "RVC" = red velvet cake)
6) Anisette for dessert (lavender ice-cream with meringue and berries)
7) Pinkberry for what else? Pinkberry!

We even made time for extra-curriculars:
1) A drive down Rodeo and Sunset - "Look, Mai! That's the Pretty Woman hotel! Ooh, Mai! That's where Lohan gets wasted")
2) Dancing at Air Conditioned
3) Hiking at Runyon Canyon with Beans (Mai wanted to scope out the Hollywood sign).
4) Strolling along the Hollywood Walk of Fame (home all sub-par street performers and celebrity imitators)

A fun-filled weekend spent with fantastic company. I probably should've been spent working on my film, but... Could've, would've, should've. This coming week is going to be all-nighter-filled. Oh boy.

Safe trip back to Ohio, Mai. And ooh, Beans misses you already. He really does.

A Reunion You Don't Want to Miss

Tonight ASIFA-Hollywood is proudly presenting "The Little Mermaid Twentieth Anniversary Reunion" at Woodbury University. Details here:
Fletcher Jones Foundation Auditorium
Woodbury University
7500 Glenoaks Bl, Burbank, California
Thursday, May 21, 2009 7-10 PM

I've got class, so I won't be making this awesome gathering of talented writers and animators. BOO.

Do You Believe In Magic?

Last night, a trip to the supermarket to pick up milk for "lactarded" lil' me turned into an evening of delightful entertainment. Accompanied by le cub and his visiting sister, I stepped into Ralphs, only to encounter a tall, old gentleman dressed in a flashy blazer covered in purple sequins. His black slacks, though denied sequin treatment, sported a sparkly outline of one famous Hello Kitty. Unable to ignore the pink elephant in the room, er, grocery store, I complimented him on his pants - "Nice pants!" And boy oh boy, would we (le cub, his sis, and me), be in for a big surprise.

Turns out the strange old man dressed in the sparkly suit was a magician! And right then and there, right next to the baked-goods displays, the "Fantastic Fig" (that's his stage name), or "Paul" if you prefer his actual name, began to run through a bevy of sleight of hand maneuvers!

Super cool. Super unexpected.

Oh, Wow.

Watch THIS :)

Leggo My Eggo

Oldie but goodie. "I Love Eggs" video. HERE.

Midget Arnold

Little Woman. That's what my Morning Crunch bootcamp instructor, Nandor calls me. I wish he'd address me as Midget Arnold. I'll explain why some other time...

Pictured is me and le cub at his business school "Prom". I'm rocking the LOD (little orange dress), and le cub's rocking his skinny tie. Yay. We like the top photo because it resembles a tabloid paparazzi shot. Neither of us can be bothered to look at the camera. Yay. We like the bottom photo because we both look very classy. Flexing at a formal. Who does that? I had, at this point, completed two sessions of bootcamp. Yes, the sessions have been doing me wonders.

Animation Show of Shows

Haven't been posting very many doodles as of late because my C-film's been keeping me busy. However, yesterday afternoon, I was able to take a breather and catch The 10th Annual "Animation Show of Shows", a program of the best in new animation curated by Ron Diamond and presented by Animation World Network and Acme Filmworks. An hour and a half very well-spent :)

The line-up:
1) Skhizein by Jeremy Clapin
2) KJFG #5 by Alexei Alexeev
3) Glago's Guest by Chris WIlliams
4) Kudan by Taku Kimura
5) Franz Kafka's A Country Doctor by Koji Yamamura
6) La Maison en Petits Cubes by Kunio Kato
7) Hot Seat by Janete Perlman
8) Presto by Doug Sweetland
9) A Mouse's Tale by Benjamin Renner
10) Keith Reynolds Can't Make It Tonight by Felix Massie

My favorites were "Skhizein" and "A Mouse's Tale". And then there's "KJFG #5" ... Cracked me up. Watch it HERE.

Birdlike Men

The following is a list of my "Top Five Celebrity Crushes" I filled out and shared on Facebook (in no particular order):
1) Conan O'Brien
2) Paul Bettany
3) Patrick Dempsey
4) Andy Samberg
5) Michael Cera)
Apparently I have a type. "Geeky Dreamboats" and "Birdlike Men."
Hmm. Should le cub be worried?

Old School

I like THIS.

Mamamia!

Happy Mother's Day to my Mommy (and all other mommies).
I "heart" my Mommy lots.
Really. I do.

I've Got the Power

Who would've thunk that Adobe CS4 could enable a person to create something as delightful as THIS?

Pearls

Day 1 of Morning Crunch Boot-Camp conquered! Feelin' good, but I've got to get a move on with my day. That said, I leave you with this: "If you aren't cheatin', you aren't tryin'!!!" Pearls of wisdom bestowed upon me and my boot-camp-mates by my instructor, Nandor, as we performed a lap of challenging lunges in the children's sand box at Cheviot Hills Park.

And ooh. "Dead Bug." It's an ab-exercise. I had no idea.

P.S. No time for new doodles this week, so I'm leaving y'all with an old doodle of me just doing (or dough-ing) it.

Silly Really

I'm behind schedule for my C-film because I've been over-dosing on fun. What can I say? The stuff's addictive. This past weekend, I enjoyed a midnight showing of X-Men Origins: Wolverine (nice booty, Hugh!), made a spontaneous visit to the Magical Kingdom (after all of these years, it's still surprisingly magical), and ooh... dined on sushi and pie with classmates (raw fish and banana cream pie go together better than you think). *tsk-tsk=tsk* Must show more restraint this week. Or else!!!

Old Soul

When I grow up, I want to be like THESE TWO.

Until then, I'd like to be like the above two. Pictured: Me and the kid brother at Disneyland decades ago. Notice my brother's hand-me-down mouse ears. He's wearing a bow :)

Happiest Place on Earth

Did you know that Disneyland offers THE best churros in the whole freakin' world? Will be there with some of my animation classmates tomorrow and am really looking forward to handing over five buckaroos in exchange for some cinnamon-sugar goodness.

Will bring the Holga and see what happens. I'm thinking "magic"!