still a geek

OH! It's been too long and I appologize so very much. The past few days have been just a constant running from here to there, with very little time to really sit down and blog. Where did I leave off? Ah, yes, Pixar...
So two Saturdays ago was, again, my figure drawing class in SF. I didn't draw as well as I would have liked, but I couldn't let anything bother me that day because I knew that after class my mom, me and another student taking the class with me were going straight to Emeryville. We found the Bay Bridge and got over to the Pixar place, but it was too early, only about 4. They were going to open the gates at 5:30, so we had to find something to do.
First we parked on the street and walked around. It didn't take long for use to decide, because it was quite chilly, that we would stop in at the Can't Fail Cafe, right across the street from the Pixar campus. We each got a hot drink there and then headed around the block to see what we could see. We finally found a place that was a little sheltered from the cool breese and I sat down to sketch. We ended up going in at 5:15, basically because we couldn't wait any longer, and re-parked in the Pixar parking lot.
This was my third trip there. It's kind of hard to believe; a long time ago I thought it would be impossible to even peek in a window (once you're inside, it is a little hard to peek around...very tight security...) but somehow I've tripped over the right rocks and fell into a lucky streak of Pixar wonderfulness. And of course my parents were willing to pay for my ticket - and very good friends have connections. And though I had been there a couple of times before it was no less exciting this time.
When we first went in through the doors made of thick glass and steel, I saw Brian Kolm of the Atomic Bear Press welcoming the visitors. The volunteers from the Cartoon Art Museum were a little surprised to see us in so soon, but accepted us none the less and gave us our "Stranger From the Outside!" badges. From there my mom and I went over to the racecar they have in the corner of the first floor of the atrium, decorated with Father and Dory and many advertisements for other racecar-related things. From there my mom and I headed up the staircase that headed to the right of the entrance. Probably the east side if I have my mental compass calibrated correctly. Up there is still the Incredibles gallery with all the amazing artwork up on the walls. I could just walk up and down that hall all freakin' day, I'm serious. There is one artist that stands out to me in particular, and I have only seen two or three of his pieces of work, two in the Art of The Incredibles and one or two at Pixar. His name is Ricardo Delgado. I really like his stuff, really comicbook-esque with simple, clean lines and great simple color schemes in each of his pieces.
After drooling over all of that artwork I crossed over to the west side and hung around the Story Corner for a while. There's a bunch of storyboard stuff up there, including a board from Nemo.
Next I thought I'd grab some grub from the delicious Cafe Luxo. They have top-notch food there, but I ended up not tasting it this time because I ran into Charles Kiyasu, whom I had met at Wondercon as well. He mentioned that Ronnie was there, and I was like, "No way!" So we found Ronnie and hung out with him and Jim Cappobianco for the rest of the first half of the evening. It was great, every second of it. I'm always learning new things about people and I love that. I had known about Jim Cappobianco, a storyboard artist there, but I had never seen him. It's such a neat feeling when you meet someone whom you know but don't really know... because now you know them, you know?
After the first half of the evening was over we all filed into the huge theatre. The chairs are made of wood and red velvet and the walls are jet-black. The screen had red curtains I think, but at the moment they were pulled back and there was a red screen being projected there instead. A year and a half ago I sat in that very same theatre and had my Art of Finding Nemo book signed by Andrew Stanton. I also met sound designer Gary Rydstrom during my first visit (and he helped lead my tour in the second visit) as I was spelling out my name for Andrew Stanton. He said, "Are you Amelia...?" and I was shocked. Then I remembered that our friends knew Gary and that they had told him I was coming...but still, it was quite a thrill to have Gary Rydstrom say that. He's a really nice guy and has some cool stuff going on at the moment, though I don't know much about it.
The lecture this time was mostly by Dr. Michael Johnson, a technical head at Pixar and a Cartoon Art Museum person as well. He spoke really well and had a great presentation on how the company got on its feet, how it evolved and what it is going to turn out next. The presentation lasted about an hour, so I won't get too detailed. However, Harry McCracken went to the same event and wrote about it here. I actually saw his nametag when I was there, stared at it for a second, then decided I didn't know him. I discovered him at the Cartoon Brew a few days later and was like, HEY, I was there!!
After Dr. Johnson sat down Mark Andrews and Angus MacLane came up and talked about their latest short, One Man Band. They showed it to us and everyone loved it. The little girl is hilarious in it, and the music is so cool. When the first screening was over they talked about all the technical stuff, like making the music sound live and not recorded, and figuring out how to fit ten violins into one backpack and stuff like that, and how an animator would actually do all of that and make it look convincing. There's one part where Tippy is completely mesmerized by this little puppet-like thing and her expression is just priceless. I love it. Then, if that wasn't enough, they showed us the short again, so that we could take in all those extra little things like the sound, and how it was animated. I love it so much and am really disappointed it didn't get the Oscar. (Wallace and Gromit DID grab best animated feature though!!!)
After the hour and a half of glorious presentation it was out into the atrium again to talk with Ronnie and Jim, and to get my Art of The Incredibles book signed by Angus MacLane and Mark Andrews. A girl there was standing next to me and saw my Wallace and Gromit shirt and commented on it. We got to talking and realized we both had come to the Incredibles event the year before too, and that we both had some things in common. She had an awesome Iron Giant shirt and I asked her where she got it, but she had made it. There's using the noggin. They don't make IG shirts, as far as I know. If anyone knows where I can buy one, shoot me a comment...
Well, we ended up keeping the poor tired Pixar folks there awake until 10:30. Then they started easing everyone out of the building. Ahhh...I didn't want to leave (of course), but alas, reality exists. We eventually got home around midnight. I had to work the next day, but I didn't mind. Mom had bought me a shirt with Luxo and the little ball on it.
Work was not so bad because of that shirt.