Saved

With the help of my advisor, the brilliant (and helpful) Ashley Hoffman, I've learned that I can key out the blue (er, purple) screen! Here's a still from the zoo gate scene with a temp background. Amazing, no?

Whew. I was afraid I was going to have reshoot the scene due to my improperly-lit blue screen. Thank you so much, Ashley, for salvaging an otherwise failed-shoot. I promise to pay more attention to lighting in shoots to follow!

Special Needs

After Effects, why do you hate me so? Trying to figure out how to best remove and replace my blue screen with something fabulous. Struggling. *le sigh*

Move It, Move It

My ass is getting huge. Chubby brides are frowned-upon. So I hear. Bought new sneakers a week ago. (My first new pair in 8 years!) These florescent pink beauties are cub-approved.

Must. Start. Running. Beans, you're coming with me.

Taxes are Taxing

But... I'M DONE!!!

Home Sweet Home

Seymour is a homebody.

Gimme a Break

Caught a stand-up show at The Comedy Store late last night. Alexis' friend, Justin McClure had a bit, and it was HILARIOUS! It really was. I'm not just being nice. My face hurt when I left the establishment because I was laughing and smiling so much. OUCH.

Set-building all day. This involves a whole lot of cutting, carving, gluing, painting... This film better get made on time. *gulp*

Registry. Le cub and I haven't gotten around to creating one, but we had better do so soon! I wonder if le cub will approve of the three "must-have" above. Cornishware tea cups (don't they look like the sky?), a chunk of pyrite (why not) and a pig dish (just because). Okay. There goes my five-minute break. Back to the garage...

Happy Monday!!!

It's Monday. I have been awake since 4am. Enjoyed a hazelnut soy latte at 6am, and have been jittery ever since. Read on. You'll see what I mean. I'm making no sense this morning. Wahaha. And I refuse to edit myself. Muah-haha. Enjoy the rest of this verbal diarrhea.

Monique and her hairy legs were in town this past week. No, not Monique Lhuillier, but Monique of "Precious" fame. My pal Alexis got her hands on cheap tickets to see greatness performing LIVE this past Friday. Le cub was in town, so I had to turn down the invite. Sadness! Luckily, I'll be meeting up with Lil' Miss Block (Alexis) later today. Can't wait to hear all about Monique's fabulously hairy legs, which, apparently were on mega-display with the help of a mini dress and jumbotron.

Speaking of hairy legs, mine, along with my pits and hoo-hah are now bald and beautiful. I heart lasers. Bew-bew!

Pictured: A crazy-cute baby giraffe by Sharon Montrose to off-set all this gross talk about body hair. Hehe. He will be arriving in Burbank really soon, and I plan to hang him next to a photo of Beans. Battle of cuteness!

I've Got Sunshine

on a cloudy day...

Isn't this photo homage to Rothko bloody brilliant? Check out Richard Ehrlich's work HERE.

It was raining this morning when I drove le cub to LAX.
Birthday boy is traveling to Chicago for work this week.
No pity here, because his next stop (over the weekend) is New York!
Wish I could join him, but I've got a film to shoot.
How tragic.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CUB!!!

"If I tell you I love you, do I get to keep you?"

The merriest of birthday's to my macho-macho man.

See More

...of Seymour. An extra in my zoo scene.

Choco-Bun

Wasn't brought up religious. Never found religion... but gosh, I do love Easter. Any religious holiday that condones chocolate consumption and the hugging of cutie patootie animals is for me.

Get a look at these choco-buns by Vosges. OMG. Almost too cute to east. ALMOST.

Happy Easter, folks.

Dear God

Dear God, it's me, Debra.

Gravity causing my armatures to topple is caca.
Hot lights that heat up my garage are caca.
Hot glue guns that scorch my fingers are caca.

I'm having a bad animation day. A little help from you, or the Universe, for that matter, would be nice.

ARRRRRRRRRRGH!!! *me pulling out my eyelashes* (I do that when I'm stressed.)

View from the Top

Testing camera angles... (Zoo set remains unfinished.)

Mortimer

Ethel's Komondor pup, temporarily named "Mortimer", is nearly finished. He just needs a tail...

Leafy Greens

Tah-dah! Foliage test. The "trees" (fern leaves I pierced into tall styrofoam cone things) and bushes still need a little help, but ooh-lah-lah... GREEN! Shot under poor lighting-conditions (only my garage bulb) and without a blue-screen behind the set (am waiting for the cloth's arrival), this piece of the set is nearly-finished. Woo-hoo! Now onto the zoo interior! Yup, the work is never finished.

Gaga Aftermath

The evening was EPIC. This photo (of Alexis) says it all. AND the fact that this evening forced me and le cub to clean the home is a good thing. A very good thing. Check out what our place looked like BEFORE the lil' monsters arrived.

Professor Solomon

Alongside my two animating gal pals, Alexis and Natalie, I will be a teaching assistant for Charles Solomon starting Monday. For those of you not in the know *pssssh* Professor Solomon is an internationally respected historian and critic of animation. *mmm-hmm* He's "besties" with Pete Doctor and some of the other mad-geniuses at Pixar, and that makes him one super cool cat.

Alexis is building the class website, and well, I'll be providing some doodles to spice up the otherwise business-as-usual site. See my interpretation of Professor Solomon going "Oh hey guys!" and ourselves staring back at him intently. *teehee*

Pull My Finger

Bidding on this painting in an online thrift auction. In 3 days and 9 hours, I'll find out whether or not this woman who's pulling her finger will be mine. That's right. I love this painting because she's pulling her finger. (That and the fact that I find the colors and composition of the piece to be beautiful.)

Have a lovely weekend, folks.

Feel the Need to Feed

I'm not preggers like Joanna or Madge, but it's nearly that time of the month, and I'm totally feeling the need to feed.

Mint Oreo Fudge Cremes (a new product available at Target) have got the Girl Scouts beat. Trust me. They're amazing. I'm not a junk food fiend by any means, but these cookies... oh my. I literally salivate when I walk towards the cabinet that houses them. Yes, I'm no better than my dog, Beans. Pathetic, really.

Hmm. I should probably go give him a cookie (of the doggy variety) now. The power of empathy.

Pictured: Baby Beans feeding. Doodles to come... I promise.

Ma-Ma-Ma-MAH!

Bubbles Gaga Outfit DONE. Sunday night is going to be so much fun.

P.S. I'm not a blonde. That's a wig...

We Will Rock You

My very best friend, Pammy, of "Hammy Days" (check out her blog HERE) is fabulous. She names her tiny kick-me yorkies after rap artists (Snoop and Shady), plucks her pits (as apparently Kimberlina does and I did - prior to laser treatment), bakes a mad-delicious rum cake, and ooh, collected stamps and rocks as a child (as did I).

I chat with her almost every single evening about nothing, really, and it makes me so very happy. One of our most recent discussions centered around the topic of ROCKS. OMG. We "heart" rocks. As a child growing up in the Valley (San Fernando, not Silicon), I could often be found throwing rocks onto the pavement in our backyard in hopes of smashing them open only to discover a beautiful geode. I never actually found a geode in my backyard (BOO), but I did manage to convince my kind mother to purchase a few for me from the mall at shops like Natural Wonders and Imaginarium. Children of the 80s, do you know what I'm talking about?

Anyhoo, check out what I found on the web earlier today. Click HERE. Wahahahaha, you can break your own geodes!!!

OMG, OMG, OMG. I am going to be a good girl this year. Perhaps Santa will get me some of THESE.

P.S. No, that's not me. That's some random uber-lucky kid with an uncut geode.

Come and Knock on Our Door

"We'll be waiting for you..."
Gate finished! Now for some foliage...

ZzzzZZzzZzzz

I've created my own time zone that involves hitting the sheets at 4am in the morning and waking up at 9am. Beans has been operating on this same schedule. Look at him. He's trying so hard to stay awake...

Bald and Bold

BALD PITS.

All my life, I've dreamt of being fuzz-free. As a tween, I admired my mom's hairless arms and legs. Seriously. I BEGGED for Nair. It's not that I'm hairy like a Yeti. But my skin is light... and my hair is dark...

Well, my days as a furry woman are coming to an end. This morning, I went to see a dermatologist. No, I did not go just to get rates for laser hair treatment. I went to see the good doctor about my the recent break-outs on my back. *collective EEW* Don't know if it's stressed-induced, diet-induced or what, but no bride wants to walk down the aisle on her big day in a strapless gown only to reveal a back covered with unwanted spots. Anyhooo, after discussing my back, we discussed my body hair, and then, with the help of totally-rad Dr. Benest, I got rid of some! TMI? Then don't read on!

I'm not a total hair ball. But what little body hair that I do have drives me absolutely insane. I wax my arms monthly, shave my arms and pits daily, and even then, they're still not stubble and bump-free. Taking matters in my own hands, I invested in a totally awesome laser hair removal package. Come August, my body is going to bald and beautiful. Pits, arms, legs, and the area where the sun don't shine...

Mood: ECSTATIC.

P.S. My doctor showed me her treated pits. Hahaha. I was shocked as well. But yes, they were totally bald. And beautiful!!!

Holy Holly!

How lucky am I?

VERY.

Rebecca (the best wedding planner ever of {Duet} Weddings) and I met up at the rad Culver City studio of Holly Flora today. For those of you whose minds aren't cluttered with wedding blog and magazine content, Holly Flora is more than just your average florist. Owners Holly Vesecky and Rebecca Uchtman are floral sculptors who produce unconventional yet drop-dead-gorgeous floral arrangements that will surely steal the show. (Totally fine with me and le cub as we dislike being at the center of attention!) The girls were fun and thoughtful. We totally clicked, and I could not have had a better time brainstorming possible concepts for le cub and cougar wedding. Am really looking forward to our "sample viewing" two months from now when all the flowers we'll likely be using will be in season. It'll be epic.

Check out Holly Flora's work HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.
Hmm. Holly Flora even has a Facebook page. I'm think I'm going to go join now.

Inspired

My favorite 2nd year film shown last year was that of classmate Sijia Luo. Her film, "Kidnap" was created in Flash. Strange and adorable. Watch it here :)

Gentle Giant

My veggie lovin' lion. He could use a puff of hair on his tail and possibly some brows. Test brows in shot below. Enclosure still in the works.

Work Hard and Be Kind

A Coco fan's take on the popular "Keep Calm and Carry On" posters. I want one.

Source: Clay Larsen via my friend Larry's blog.

Rock You

After napping for four hours, I carved rock work out of foam. They're for the lion enclosure :)

MuhmuhmuhMUH!

My outfit for the Lady Gaga party (click HERE to read more about it) has been decided. Will work towards making it a reality next week.

Speaking of Lady Gaga, Alexis and I stalked Ticketmaster this past Saturday and managed to snag tickets for her August 12th show. WOO-HOO!!!

Nailed It

I have not gotten a manicure in months. My hands and feet are not naturally. In fact, I'm highly-gifted in the cuticle-growth department. Anyhow, as much as I'd love to dash out and have the manipedi ladies save them, my fingers and toes are going to remain ugly (they look like ginseng) until I'm done building my set. EEEW. I miss pretty red nails. But the ones pictured above are pretty groovy as well. SPACE NAILS! Fierce.

Photo by Fiorella

Oh The Places We'll Go

Le cub and I have yet to choose a honeymoon destination. And we're taking suggestions! Santorini, Greece is looking pretty sweet.

Photo taken by Marcel Germain

Feels Good

That hit by Tony! Toni! Tone! croons through my head as I post this image because it just feels so damn good to be working on my film again. (Last quarter was a whirlwind.) My deadline remains May 28th. It's non-negotiable, and there's no friggin' time to waste. I'm on it.

I'm currently working on building the zoo set. I posted photos of the work-in-progress gate a while back. See HERE. And as of tonight, I've got the sign that goes above it! See photo above.

Also being worked on is the enclosure for the vegetarian lion :)

Hurricane of Fabulousness

Our engagement shoot photos are in. See them on Max Wanger's blog HERE. A "hurricane of fabulousness"! Realizing that the two of us were uncomfortable in front of the camera, Max had us stand at certain marks and would then "disappear." Le cub and I would hear Max or Margaux instructing us to kiss from some spot that we couldn't see, and then the magic would happen. There wasn't a single moment when Max counted down and asked us to smile. This probably explains why all the photos are so candid and voyeuristic. Max was our lil' stalker. Somewhere in our deck of 75 processed photos (we haven't seen them all yet) will be 5 shots for my parents. Shots of us smiling and looking straight into the camera. But le cub and I love the shots taken through the strange crevices that Max found. We also love that all the kissing shots mask my cub's blinking eyes and my flat face. And boy, does Beans look handsome! Those shots were taken right outside our apartment in Burbank :) You'd never guess. Max is just brilliant like that.

Music to My Ears

My friend, Isaac, is a member of indie-rock band, The Lincoln Bedroom. They are frickin' awesome. Isaac is frickin' awesome (he's their guitarist). Info about The Lincoln Bedroom and their most recent release, Broken Record is available HERE. Better yet, relive what I lived on Saturday. (Le cub and I went to see Isaac and the band perform at Molly Malone's.) Click HERE to listen to their live performance.

Though Isaac isn't usually heard on mic (he's not the lead singer), stalker-me found THIS on YouTube. I have such talented friends.

Gaga for Gaga

My better-half (not le cub) in the animation program is an equally (actually more-so) feelingless chica named Alexis Block. Stalk her HERE. Together we are throwing a Lady Gaga-themed party come end-March. Pants optional! Gaga would have it no other way. The Evite lil' Miss Block created for our event is UBER-dope. To quote "The September Issue" critics, it is "a hurricane of fabulousness." Click HERE to see what I'm talking about.

Even the menu is Gaga-inspired!

Appetizers
Alejandro Dip
Little Monsters in a Blanket
The Fame Salad
Poker Face Pizzas

Entrees
Let's Make a Sandwich Station
Monster Stuffed Turkey
Bad Romance Lasagna Rolls
Money Honey Veggie Dish

Dessert
So Happy I Could Die Cupcakes
Gaga Cookies

Beverages
Diet Coke
Star Struck Shirley Temple
Dance in the Dark Cocktail

Yes, this party is going to be epic.

Which Gaga should I be?!? (I kinda' love Bubbles Gaga - photo above.)

LOVE

reform furniture. check out their inventory here. so beautiful. so expensive. *sniffle*

rebecca taylor. i love everything you design and wore both a dress and cardigan by you at my engagement shoot. i wish you were my friend.

forage in silverlake. your p belly (p for pork) sandwiches are amazeballs. they make my tummy smile.

sugar paper. le cub and i had save-the-date letterpress cards made, and drumroll, please, they've arrived. curry envelopes. yummeh.

walt disney imagineering. resumes for summer internships due this friday. i haven't wanted anything this bad since le cub. *teehee*