D.D.A.T.W.C.U.N. on Pagina 164 of T.I.A.F. 2007 Catalog

So, I got a package this morning from Taiwan, I wasn't expecting one. It was from the people at the Taiwanese International Animation Festival returning the copy of my film as well as sending me the Festival's catalog. It was more book than catalog, being it was like 300 pages long. Of course I started to look to see if I was included in anyway asides from mention of my name or something in it. To my surprise I found that I was on the title page for my category and the first entry (non-alphabetical order). I actually hadn't known what category I had been placed in, it ended up being Docu-Anim, documentary animation. I had never really thought of the piece as such but in actuallity I think it fits that category, I had never before heard of such a category of animation prior. So, on that page there's a 1/4 of a page of "Death, Destruction, and the Weather Coming Up Next" and I couldn't be happier.

Colin & Other News

First off, I want to pay some respects to Colin McRae (1968-2007). For those of you who don't know who Colin McRae is, he's a Scottish rally driver. He won the World Rally Championship in 1995 for Subaru. He was runner up in 1996, 1997, and 2001. Known for being quite a fearless driver which resulted numerous times in offs, crashes, and the like due to pushing just a little to hard. Always haven driven flat out there was no toning down his tenacity. I had the chance to see him in 2006 at the X-Games, the first year they held a rally event. He was well out front of the competition, however he landed wrong after the final jump and rolled his car. He landed wheels down and took off as soon as they hit the ground and finished only a tenth of a second shy of 1st place. I was utterly shocked and amazed that he could pull off almost winning even after rolling his car. Here is a video from that day.



It's been a very rapid ascent this fall semester. right off the bat during the first week and continuing on I've had on minimum 150-200 pages of reading. Now this ain't your light reading it's all freakin' dense as hell. A lot of modernity, postmodernity, globalization, hybridity, economics, cultural relations, and the list goes on. I had two presentations this week and a paper due on top of that so I'm pretty spent. The paper and conjoining presentation was rather interesting material. It was a response to chapter by Flusser on the camera as an apparatus. Talked a lot about power relationships, medium, the "program" or design, and the entrapment of apparatuses. One of the examples I threw out during my presentation was the fallacy of power afforded by the Web 2.0 phenomina. Some people had some ardent arguements about that. My teacher backed me up on it, but it was definitely interesting discussion. However, all this left me very tired. I do have to say it's all very interesting reading and I enjoy it even if it's utterly draining sometimes. I find it will probably come in handy during thesis time this coming semester.

I am still coveting the blasted iPod Touch, but seriously, I need to know if it can be jailbaited before I buy one. I'm telling myself I want it for the N.N.W., but another part is I just want it. Really it's just trying to justify the means. Oi! Maybe I should take up a collection for "The Buy Emery an iPod Touch Foundation." I've also begun to eye the Logitech Revolution MX mouse, it feels so good, nice and heavy, and really nice ergonomic fit in the hand. It's got a place for your thumb. It feels real nice. I have to see if I will need it for the amount of time I'll be on the comp. We'll see. That one is a lot more in reach than the Touch.

On the 14th, "Death, Destruction, and the Weather Coming Up Next" screened in Milan, Italy at the Milano Film Festival. It was part of the "Different American Cinema" program. I'm still really shocked that it made it there. Sometime in this week or next week it will be getting shown in Taipei, Taiwan, at the Taiwanese International Animation Festival. I guess it has a hint at having legs.

Anyways I got more reading to do, so I'm gonna head back to that. but before I go here's a few little random tidbits. The first from the military industrial complex, of Russia. The other from the G-Train stations. Enjoy.


Amazing jet the Russian SU35.



"Me and Pookie put something special in the 'Special Sauce.'"