Jeez.. Wedndesday already. I forget how the week flies by when you work 9 - 5. Or, conversely, how slowly it can crawl by... Luckily that hasn't been an issue yet. This week has kept me pretty busy, with new FX orders piling up on my desk by the day. When I started, there was already nearly a full episode's backlog, and more and more just keeps being added. The admin seem to think that since I'm working a month longer than the animators, there'll be plenty of time to catch up. I'm skeptical. There seems to be an attitude that the post-production department is a quick and easy way to relieve some stress on the animators. I swear, if I hear them say, "Don't worry, we can fix it in post!", I will sit all the animators down and make them watch how it takes me two hours to fix something that ten minutes work on their end would have solved...

Not that I'm complaining. It's still a kick-ass job.

But, enough about work! This blog needs more LARP-talk like America needs more cowbell. WL hosted a Shakespearean LARP over the weekend, and I enjoyed myself immensely. It was mostly free-form, with a very simple challenge resolution system that actually made me look forward to getting into conflicts. When challenged, you had a choice of several improv-style word games to pick from, and the first to stumble over their words or give up lost. Simple, straightforward, and I think it really added to the feel of the game, because, let's face it, all of us drama freaks had the majority of our exposure to Shakespeare in high school drama classes. Plus, the look on Beaker's face when I revealed myself as Titania made then entire game for me. So, woot.

This weekend is Inheritance. We'll have visitors from Edmonton again, as well as another rush of new players, so things should be rocking heartily. Hopefully the rest of this week continues to go quickly, because waiting to find out what has happened with the Deistical is keeping me in suspense quite nicely.

We had a film crew from APTN come through the studio this morning. They are doing a spotlight for the entertainment section of one of their shows. Don't ask me which one, I barely found out who they were before they started setting up cameras by my desk. They interviewed the directors and some of the animators, and got a bunch of footage of people working, which is why they ended up in my office. Luckily, I'd worn a good shirt today, mostly because all of my usual t-shirts were dirty.

The production was also nominated for a made-in-Saskatchewan film awards ceremony. The categories we're up for are writing and best children's picture, which got me wondering: How many children's programs are being produced in Saskatchewan? One? Two? Bueler?

On an entirely different note: If you ever needed an ironic theme-song for your zombie game, Jonathan Coulton has the anthem for you. Re: Your Brain. Go listen. I'm going to be singing this all week.

Is it just me, or was this Easter exceptionally boring? Everyone I talked to at either didn't do anything, or were too busy with exams too even think about it. I fell into both categories, because after my exam on Saturday, I actually forgot it was Easter. The only thing that reminded me was an Easter-themed webcomic, and even then, I shrugged, briefly contemplated discount chocolate eggs, and then promptly forgot again.

Not that Easter has ever really been a big deal for me. I think the most my family ever did for Easter was the one year we went to my grandma's house for a big dinner, and that was only because one of my distant cousins was in town. Easter's one of those wierd holidays that you either subscribe to for religious reasons or out of habit. I suppose I might have gone down to Regina to visit my family, but my siblings were with their dad for the break, and my mom was busy marking exams. Either way, I was perfectly content to just veg out on the couch and work on my comic. I mean, why waste a perfectly good 4-day weekend? (Especially after a week of studying!)

Just out of curiosity, did anyone do anything of interest over the break?

Shiney, shiney computer....

Third day on the job. Things are going pretty well, even though I haven't even touched any VFX shots yet. My first two days wre spent overhauling their 'filing' system. Shots weren't even all in one folder, let alone sorted into their proper episodes. I did a lot of searching around, trying to find lost scenes spread between 10 computers and 8 external drives.

But, did I mention the sweet set-up I've got?

I am currently writing this post from a 23" widescreen monitor. It's freaking huge! It's literally an effort to drag something from one side of the screen to the other. I love it!! The lovely, lovely flastscreen monitor is hooked to an equally lovely Mac G5, with some ungodly amount of processing power. That, in turn, is connected up to a shiney Wacom tablet and an array of 8 hard drives, 320 GB each, that contain all of the raw scene files for the show.

Which explains why it was so hard to get all the files in one place. Only three of them should theoretically be in use, one for each of the first two episodes, which are nearly fully shot, and one for the remaining three episodes, which ony have scattered shots done. All eight of them were in use, and it took some wrangling to sort through the mess that was scattered across them. But, all my shots are now accounted for, which means I may actually be able to do some VFX work today. Here's hoping!!

Gaming and Ego

Over the past couple of nights, I have been witness to the delicate interplay of ego and gaming. Now, it's not something new to me, and it's definately not a surprise, but it sickens me none the less.

What is it with gamers? Why do people identify so closely with their characters that they feel that if their character looses, they are losing as well? Not only is this frustrating for the player who believes this, since the very nature of LARP makes it difficult if not outright impossible for anyone to 'win', but it makes it near impossible for other players to interact with them. How do you create an interesting animosity between two characters without having it spill over to the players involved, when those said players equate their character with themselves?

Worse yet, this mentality sets up a situation in which the emphasis of the game is no longer on creating interesting and compelling stories for the characters, but on gaining the upper hand and maintaining it through the oppression and persecution of other characters, with no thought given to how this might impact the enjoyment of others. It should be easy to see how this effect cascades when the players involved are all of the same mentality. I'm sure that anyone who has gamed for any length of time has seen how ugly things get when so-and-so's character has screwed with whatshisface, and now the two players won't talk to one another.

I have always been very careful about keeping a strong distinction between my character and myself, and a firm believer that if someone is incapable of doing so, they should not be playing these games. One is welcome to screw with my character. One is not welcome to screw with me. Don't get the two confused.

I start work on Monday. I'm worried.

First of all, I was supposed to start back on March 20th, but the equipment I needed to do my job was delayed, and so they promised me they'd get back to me as soon as they knew when it would be in. I was willing to believe them. So, I waited, and waited... Checked in from time to time, and got only their answering machines, and the rumor that their admin staff hadn't been in that week. Finally, I told them that if I didn't start within a week, I would simply find another job. That got a response from them. The admin guy got back to me almost immediately, and set up a meeting for today, at 1:30.

Today, at 1:30, I was at their office. Their administrator wasn't. Apparently, he hadn't felt like coming in that day. No one could get ahold of him. So, I sat down with his assistants, and tried to fill out my paperwork. Not an easy task, when you have to argue about wages with people who aren't really authorized to do so.

They were trying to pay me a flat rate per day. It would have worked out to more money than I would have earned on an hourly wage, if I was only working 8 hour shifts. But, since I know full-well that this job will require lots of overtime as the production gets closer to the deadline (as film projects always need lots of last minute work, and this one is especially behind), I would like to actually be -making- that overtime. Besides, if they have to pay me extra to work crazy hours, they'll be far less likely to ask me to work seven 15-hour shifts in a row.

After a long argument with their accountant, they agreed to pay me hourly, with overtime as per usual. But I swear, if they weren't paying as well as they do, and if it wasn't a job in my industry, I would have dropped it and ran as fast as I could away from it...

We'll see what Monday brings.

Cooking with Alina!

So, it's the end of the month, and you have a really bad hankering for some sushi, but your cupboard is bare. What are you to do?!? Well, never fear! Good ol' Allie is here with her stunning culinary creations to tantalize your tastebuds! They are 100% guaranteed to be wierder than a chupaqueso! Today's feature is:

Sushi Sandwich

2 pieces of bread or rice cakes
1 can of tuna (in water works best)
cucumber
nori (dried seaweed), or lettuce if you prefer
mayo
wasabe paste

I first mixed the tuna and mayo together as though I were making your everyday tuna salad. Then, I added the soy sauce and wasabe paste. Feel free to season to taste, as not everyone enjoys the sensation of their sinuses melting. Personally, I added just enough to turn the fish mixture a slight shade of green.*

Once the paste was mixed, I spread it on one of the peices of bread, slightly toasted so it wouldn't droop. On the other, I placed the lettuce and sliced cucumber, then put a band of sliced nori around the bread, like an oversized nigiri role.

Conclusion: It's sure something. The canned taste really takes away any illusions that it's actual sushi, but the soy & wasabi sauce is pretty fan-burning-tastic! Next time, I might try it with a little rice, as the bread really jarred with the flavor.

* Warning! Chef takes no responsibility for melted sinuses. That's why it says season to taste!!!