My proposal for a crowd animation course at SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 in December in Yokohama, Japan has been approved! I’m really looking forward to organizing this course and attending the conference. We’ve got some stellar talent presenting at this course representing work from Pixar, ImageMovers Digtial, Digital Frontier, Massive Software and OLM Digital. More info to come!
My friend Callum pointed me to this article that was posted last year about my visit to South East Asia.
Last night I had a chance to try out that corn juice beverage. Yup. Tastes like corn. Sweet corn, with maybe a hint of salt. Not bad really.
Yesterday afternoon G. Scott Owen and myself gave presentations to the students and faculty at Shanghai Normal University. The talk was attended by a group of students as well as various Deans and Chairs of the univeristy such as Wan Qinghua and Lu Jianfei. We were inducted into the 2009 International Scholars Forum and presented with chops containing the Chinses characters for our names. Afterwards we went out with the faculty of the univerisy and publishers of Fantasy Art Magazine, Mr. Wang Wei and Ms. Ying Zhang for a wonderful dinner. Mr. Wang is an amazing artist in his own right and helps run an animation seminar for Chinese youth called the Asian Youth Animation and Comics Contest or AYACC.
I didn’t realize that Chinese kids were just as in to Cosplay at their Japanese counterparts. It’s a little different than the Harajuku scene, maybe a little less punk rock and more anime but still cool to see.
Rambo Game at Cartoon and Game Expo
Am I the only one who is amused watching Chinese video game players in Shanghai play a Rambo video game where the object is to kill Communists?
Dead Men Tell No Tales
This amusement attraction on display at the Cartoon and Game expo lets the player take out what appears to be an animatronic Somali pirate with a rocket launcher on a moving boat. Extra points for a head shot!
What's up Doc?
My parents always said they wanted me to be a Doctor. It took a while, but I think they finally got their wish. Mr. Wang Wei is in the forground while G. Scott Owen, Dani Weinstein and some of our hosts at Shanghai Normal University receed into the background.
Click on the picture for a hi-rez panorama
This afternoon I spoke at a forum on the future of animation in China with Scott Owen. I met a lot of interesting folks including the bureau chief of the Agence France-Presse Asia Pacific Shangai division D’Arcy Doran, originally from Toronto. After the forum we went to the Bund for a few Tsing Tao draft beers and I took a few moments to shoot this panorama of the waterfront. The file is big, so be prepped for a download.
While at the Ding Cong museum in Fengjing the other day I noticed these trash and recycling containers with weird english translations on them.
I think the one on the left which says “yet recovery” is for recyclables while the one on the right which says “should not recover” is for trash.
I’m not certain if  “old and useless cell” refers to batteries, cell phones or dandruff flakes.
