So I'm in bed, settling in to go to sleep, when I hear this rhythmic banging noise. At first, I assume a hobo is amusing himself; they do that from time to time. But it's too steady for some drunk guy with a bucket, and it keeps getting louder, and pretty soon there are other noises going along with it. So I get up and go out on the balcony to see what on earth is going on.

Turns out there's a parade going down my street. At 4 in the morning.

They've got a statue of the Virgin Mary (the traditional one you see, with the big halo around her...usually Our Lady of insert-name-of-place-where-Mary-has-supposedly-appeared-here, I think) in the back of a pickup truck leading the procession. She looks very majestic, I can tell you. There's a guy banging QUITE loudly on a big drum while another guy drags the drum along on wheels, a group of women dancers wearing some kind of robes and I think maybe playing little chimes or bells (the bells might have been on their jewelry), and another group of dancers in what I can only describe as country line dancing costumes...shiny pants with fringe down the sides, shirts with fringe, cowboy hats, etc. Bringing up the rear is a pickup truck with some kind of loudspeaker in the back playing distorted music I can't even begin to identify in terms of title, genre, or instrument. All I know for sure is that it is very loud. Several other cars trail behind, hazard lights dutifully blinking. There's a traffic cop overseeing things; apparently these folks did their paperwork and got a permit. Groups of people gather on the sidewalks to follow this little procession; some have flowers, others have candles, most look cold and not real thrilled. Some of my neighbors are out on their balconies and porches as well, bemusedly watching the show go by. All I can think is how I wish I hadn't taken the batteries out of my camera (although the wireless Guitar Hero controller was clearly the priority at the time) and how I wish my roommates were awake to reassure me that I'm not hallucinating.

The parade keeps going, and I eventually am cold and go back inside. I look up "hispanic holidays" in Wikipedia and sure enough, under "Public Holidays in Mexico," I find my answer. Apparently December 12 is Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, "the day that Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared on Tepeyac hill to the native Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin." Extra credit to anyone who calls me and can correctly pronounce Cuauhtlatoatzin. Wikipedia goes on to note that this is not an official holiday, which I guess means the post office is still open.

So there you go. A little slice of life living in a hispanic neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. We may not know what the hell to do with Christmas, but we've got Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe ALL FIGURED OUT.

So yesterday, we (Interactive Media) had a game day. A nice break from classes/finals/work/projects/stress so we could all just hang out and play video games. It ended up being a 12-hour marathon with at least 40 participants, all of the next-gen consoles and tons of games, a LAN for first-person-shootering, alcohol, food, and hijinks. HOLY CRAP it was fun! Lots of IMD kids in attendance, as well as several roommates, significant others, and Animation students who came along to see what the fuss was all about (and probably to see where all the noise was coming from). Some highlights:

Wii Tennis! Now, I had never so much as held a Wii-mote before yesterday, but this game was extremely easy to learn. My doubles partner and I won 7 best-of-three matches in a row! Lots of fun, and despite what you see in the picture, nobody got hurt. Also, hooking a Wii up to a projector is probably the best idea ever. Having a wall-sized screen made playing the sports games a lot more fun, and easier than trying to play them on a regular-sized television.

Wii Bowling Tournament! Yep. $5 buy-in, winner takes all. Again, lots of fun, even for people who'd never played before. I was pretty excited to take 5th. Stiff competition from those bastards who've had their Wiis for a couple weeks now.Guitar Hero 2! Also Guitar Hero 1! Despite the competition from the Wii, I think Guitar Hero was still the most popular game in the room. People would patiently line up and wait until their turn to rock out and impress the crowd. Multiplayer mode is DEFINITELY the best way to play this game, especially when you have an appreciative audience egging you on. The new version sets it up so that one partner is on lead guitar and the other on bass...really great, especially if you've got one person who's more skilled than the other. We had some people who'd never played before, some who had played but not in a setting like this, and others (see above) who were...seasoned pros. Gold stars and many accolades to Al Yang for his enthusiastic showmanship, Mike Rossmassler for not getting killed while playing with Al Yang, Dave Horowitz for knowing when to bow out gracefully, and Renae Radford for picking up mad skillz on her first Guitar Hero outing.

Well, that's all for this post. I feel like I should be posting more, but I suspect you would all quickly grow bored with different variations on the theme of "classes, finals, projects, stress", so I'm trying to post when I've got something interesting to report. Check back in a few days for a rehash of all the finals, including descriptions of just what I'm working on when I'd rather be sleeping or doing my laundry (that second one is a lie...I never want to do laundry).

Oh man, I can't wait for tomorrow! Flying is a pain, but then I get to be at HOME for an entire week. A bit of a breath before the storm, as it were, since the finals push will be in full swing when I get back. At any rate, if any of you are going to be in Pekin/Peoria this week, give me a call. I would love to see you.

In other news, I finally got my hands on a copy of Guitar Hero, thanks to my dear friend RJ. He wasn't all that dear before he loaned me GH, of course ;-) I had played it before, but never for any length of time, so I was never any good. I'm still not any good, but I'm having SO MUCH FUN with it. For those of you who've never seen it (I'm assuming most of the aunts, uncles, grandparents, and parents fit in this category), here is a picture:


The guitar there is the controller. So you're mimicking (poorly) the real motions of playing a guitar. Guitar Hero is to playing a real guitar what Dance Dance Revolution is to real dance: not all that close the real thing, but it resembles it enough to be entertaining anyway. Seriously, if you've never played GH, give it a try. It's hilarious. I'm hoping to be at least not terrible at it by the time Thanksgiving break is over...there's a Guitar Hero 2, you see, and I would very much like to have it.

Okay, that's all I've got for now. For serious, folks, if you're going to be around next week, give me a shout. If I don't talk to you beforehand, I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

If you're still confused about what it is we try to do in Interactive Media at USC, NPR just did an interview with a couple profs in our program. Have a look:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6484624

I don't think we watch this clip nearly enough:

::whining:: Is it Christmas yet?

Okay, two major projects this week and then school will be CALMER for yours truly. Everyone cross your fingers that the film shoot tomorrow and the machinima shoot on Sunday go well!

Oh my, what a week. Highlights:

-Midterms are over! A thousand huzzahs! This doesn't mean I'm free and clear, of course, but at least things are moving at a much more manageable pace.

-The thesis space is almost done! I have to get someone to install a cabinet, have the plumber finish installing the kitchen sink, and do some inventory, and the project will be complete. Thank goodness...I was getting very, very tired of getting up at 7:30 everyday to go let the electrician in.

-Narcolepsy! Just kidding. I have been sleeping a lot, and it's not usually my idea, but it's not like I'm falling out of my chair in class or anything. I simply have developed the ability to stay asleep well into the afternoon on days when I don't have class until evening (sleeping through multiple alarms, and sometimes even phone calls, in the process), a habit I feel I need to reverse. Perhaps a new alarm clock? Or a monkey trained to tell time and poke me when it's getting late? Ooo, that would be cool...

-New projects! A couple more student films (one all me, one as part of a crew) that I think will be very fun. Both are in the planning stages, and will be in production in the weeks ahead. We're also starting a new scripting language (Processing, if that means anything to anyone) in my survey class. As much as I dislike scripting, I'm glad to be getting back into it. We're going to be playing with Arduinos, which as I understand it, are primitive little boards with processors and a tiny bit of RAM. Not sure what we'll do with them, but I suppose that's part of the fun.

-Halloween! Oh my, Halloween. People in LA don't fuck around when it comes to celebrating Samhain in style. My friend Al and I went costume shopping yesterday afternoon, and after visiting at least 7 places (all practically out of stock of EVERYTHING) we reached the conclusion that Halloween is not to be taken lightly around here. A bunch of us piled into Al's car later that evening and drove over to a friend's place, from there to walk what I swear must've been two miles, to get to West Hollywood. For those who are not familiar with the event, Halloween in West Hollywood is huge...locals were telling me that it's typical for about 500,000 (yes, half a million) people to show up, and from what we saw, that seems about right. I have never seen so many half naked people, elaborate wigs, applications of body glitter, or fake wounds in my entire life. It was so freaking great! We were down on Santa Monica Boulevard, which was blocked off for a stretch of about ten blocks. There were stages with sound systems and DJ's about every two blocks, and tents with food and drinks (no alcohol, which was kind of surprising), and most importantly, there were people EVERYWHERE. The pictures are amazing...I will post them to my Flickr once I get them uploaded.

All right, that's all for now. I have class in twenty minutes and my hair is still wet, so I should probably get on that. Hope you all had a great Halloween, and that life in general is good.

Normally I think the whole "take a picture of yourself while looking in a mirror" thing is silly and overdone, but the technique does have its uses. That said:

California-friendly haircut!

It feels good to wear my hair down and not die of the heat. Also, getting your hair cut at the cheapo salon is nervous business. Now I know why I always shelled out the bucks to get it done at the nice places at home. Oh well.

He-Man + She-Ra = incest (boo!)

SQUEEEEEE!!!

HUZZAH FOR T3H BASESB@LL!!!!!!!11!!!!ONE!!!

Sorry for the lack of upates around here, folks. Midterm season is in full swing and that means most of my energies are focused on school. A quick update on what I'm up to:

-Vagabond/GWH shoot: Did a four-hour shoot in a hotel room today as a class excercise...yeah, I don't know. Basically, every crew got the same scene and the same basic setup (hotel room), but otherwise we were free to do as we liked. As producer/assistant director, I've been much busy getting things ready for the shoot...arranging props, auditioning actors, paperwork, paperwork, also some paperwork (you'd think the USC cinema school was actually all about supporting the paper industry). Now that the shoot is successfully completed, I basically just have to collate all that paperwork and turn it in. This has been roughly a three-week prep process, so I'm glad to see it go off basically without a hitch.

-Interactive Media Design Midterm: We're supposed to "experience an interactive presentation"...which basically means anything from going into Second Life to visiting a particular website to attending a gallery show with interactive pieces on display. I'm going to a japanese arcade. Then I write a paper about the characteristics of the arcade, and remix the experience using some other experience as a model. Have I started this one yet? No. When is it due? Monday. I am amazing.

-507 Film #2: In addition to the Vagabond project, I'm supposed to be in production on my second short film. And by supposed to be, I mean I have the camera, I have a concept, and I haven't shot anything. Essentially, I am trying to come up with a way to pare down this project, because the concept I have would be much better served by filming it NOT during midterms. Anyone have an idea for a short film that can be shot in an afternoon or two? Send it my way.

-Critical Studies Midterm: This one's easy. I just have to write a paper addressing and exploring one of the concepts we've talked about in class. As I am the queen of BSing, especially faux-scholarly BS, this will be a snap.

-Thesis Space Setup: Aaaaalmost there...trying to coordinate the plumber and the electrician so that everything gets installed in the order it needs to go in. Working on finding a source for rubber flooring that would be ridiculously expensive, and tracking down a locksmith who can install a more secure lock system (ie. no more keys that anyone can copy at their leisure).

In other news, my film class sucks. You'll notice it got two major project mentions in the above breakdown, and that's not including the 8 hours of lecture a week. I don't mind taking a film production class, I really don't, but I'm getting a little tired of the time commitment involved. There is no reason for a class that is only loosely tied to my major to be taking up 15-20 hours a week of my time. I guess it would be different if I hadn't already done all this before. The film students get all excited about location shoots, learning how to work in crews, ::gasp:: editing on the compyooter, etc, but this is pretty much old hat for anyone who's survived Bradley Multimedia. In short, I want this class to either A) take less time, or B) not be required for game students. Okay, rant over. Hope all is well with all of you, and I will check in again once things settle down a bit.

I went home this weekend! It was amazing! More on this later, but quite frankly, last week/weekend took a toll on the state of my bedroom, my clean clothes supply, and my workload. Suffice it to say everyone who should have been surprised was, I got to see everyone I wanted to see, and I successfully got my fill of autumn. See you all later.

Best. Shirt. Ever.

Who loves her mommy and daddy? That would be this girl. These both arrived at my house within a half hour of each other yesterday afternoon:

Birthday cake, yaaaaay! This one is particularly delicious. White cake, lemon filling stripes, raspberry filling stripes, white chocolate shavings on the outside. I'm going to go into diabetic shock, as I plan to eat nothing but this excellent cake for the next week or so.

DS Lite yaaaay! This shiny new toy means I am no longer the loser kid in class who doesn't get to participate in nerd time between lectures. I think I'm going to do something obnoxious like bejewel it, since it doesn't come in fun colors.

In other news, in case anyone didn't get the memo, it's my birthday! Translation: people have to be nice to me and pay for my drinks. Huzzah! On tap for the day: Redondo Beach, Spinto Band show (I have never even heard of these guys, so this'll be fun), and party at Paul's. If you're reading this and you haven't called me today, you should. I like hearing from you. I'll even be good and refrain from rubbing it in if you call while I'm lounging seaside.

All right, I'm off to begin the pre-beach sunscreen ritual. If I remember, I'll try to post pictures and video from our karaoke outing last night. Incredibly priceless stuff.

For anyone who may have missed this last spring, someone put one of my senior projects up on YouTube. This little gem features former Bradley classmates Renae Radford, Chris Free, Dave Rogers, and Joel Raabe, as well as professor Jim Ferolo and myself, all basically acting like idiots in order to promote Bradley's multimedia program. I'm pretty proud of it, and had a lot of fun working on it.

Seriously, someone buy me this.

Hello, all.

Sorry for the paucity of posts around here...I've been occupied with school and all that. It's getting interesting, I have to say. Projects are taking shape, both at work and in class; it's definitely not the first week of school anymore. So, since I stayed in today (as opposed to another beach outing) to get work done, I'll dedicate this post to filling you all in on what I've been working on when I'm NOT on the beach (which, really, is most of the time).

A--->B
This is the game I've been working on for prototyping class with my friends Mike and Al. A--->B is a map-based strategy game where players try to get from one point to another before their opponents do. They combine direction and modes of transportation to their advantage, and throw obstacles in the paths of opponents. Think "Rat Race" meets Risk. Right now, we sort of have two versions of it: a board game that we use for play testing and rule development, and a digital version that we're defining but will never actually build (hence prototyping class). The idea behind the digital version is that it would be driven by (and played within) Google Earth. So real distances, real access (or not) to different modes of transportation (like airports), etc. During gameplay, the player periodically receives information about his current location from Wikipedia, which he can choose to ignore or use. The idea is that, with a little tweaking, this could be an educational game of the ilk of Carmen Sandiego...you're learning, but it's fun enough that you don't notice it. I'm pretty happy with what we have so far. We do our final presentations on Monday, so I'll try to remember to report how that goes.

Chain Gang
Chain Gang is the working title for my first film for production class. Essentially, it's a stop-motion animation (thank you Jim Ferolo!) of a bike chain that comes to life and fixes its bike (which has a flat tire). I'm pre-producing it this weekend (tweaking the script, taking photos of my location, storyboarding how I want the shots to go, etc) and will be shooting starting next weekend. It's going to be a MASSIVE load of work, but it'll be fun to be animating again. Stopmotion was my favorite style that we did in animation class at Bradley, AND it means I don't have to deal with actors yet, so I think it'll be worth doing. Chances are, if you were to ask me again in a week if I thought this was the right idea, I would tell you no, this was the dumbest idea ever. Oh well.

Vagabond Shoot
The Vagabond project is another project for my production class. Essentially, we're divided into production crews (producer, director, cinematographer, etc) and an excerpt from a script, and we basically have to pre-produce the scene (get props, audition actors, rehearse, etc), shoot it (in four hours, eep!), and then edit it together. We were allowed to volunteer for the roles we wanted, which was nice. Naturally, I asked for either producer/assistant director or editor/props manager. Those are the roles I have the most experience with (again, props to Jim Ferolo) from shoots at Bradley, so those are the roles I'd feel most comfortable getting my feet wet with here. For our second project, I think I'll branch out and try something else, but for this first one, I'm perfectly content to take something I know I have successfully done before. We found out our crew assignments on Tuesday, and the process will continue from there.

Critical Studies Presentation
On Thursday, I have to give a ten minute presentation that addresses issues related to gender in gaming. I think this'll be an interesting topic to delve into, especially since half of our critical studies class is film students, not interactive. I will of course address the treatment of the female body in game characters (did you know that sometimes, designers have to build custom skeletons for female characters, because natural ones wouldn't be able to support the...er...enhancements that the designers put on them?). That would be enough to fill ten minutes, but I think we're all aware that there are issues with objectification of women in the media. So, I think I also want to talk about the practice of gender-switching in games...by that, I mean the practice where a male player chooses to play as a female character, or vice versa. It happens pretty regularly, and for lots of different reasons, and I think it'll be a good phenomenon to expose the non-gamers to.

555 (thesis space) Setup
For those who don't know, one of my jobs at work has been furnishing a facility for thesis students in my program to use to work on their projects. So far, the furniture and big screen TV are in, the plumber and electrician have put in bids and been approved, and we're pricing flooring and kitchen accessories. I expect that this will be wrapped up well before semester's end. Woo hoo!

ZML Projector/Touch Panel Redo
The other project I have at work is helping with the installation of new projectors in our main lab. My role hasn't been so much the actual installation as reprogramming the touch panel/remote control that coordinates and synchronizes all the devices in the lab. It's been...well, slow going. We've had trouble with not having the right cables and adaptors, having a body of code but no reference as to what language it's in or what any of it means, and thinking we have the code right but getting no response from the equipment. I'm afraid I'm out of my league on this one...it's a good thing there's another guy working on this with me, because otherwise I'd just throw my hands in the air and suggest we hire the guy who originally set up our system to come in and fix it.

Thesis Projects
At seminar on Wednesday night, the thesis students all gave presentations about their projects so that the younger students could see what they were working on and, most importantly, volunteer to crew for projects they were interested in. I think this is going to be an excellent experience, both in the process of doing a thesis and just in the fact that the projects I'm crewing for are really interesting. Warning: describing these projects will require talking about technical details of video games and sound equipment. If that kind of thing bores you, no worries, just skip a couple paragraphs down and keep reading :-)

One is a game that uses a DDR-like floor panel as a controller, and dance as a mechanism, to play through a strategy/shooter game. For those who don't know, DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) is a game that uses a floor panel with several "hot spots" that the player hits with their feet in time to instructions on the screen; getting the dance steps right is the goal of the game. With this project, the dance steps are not the goal, but rather the means of reaching your goal. As I understand it, the premise is that you're a revolutionary in a totalitarian country. Your goal is to overthrow the government. You do this by engaging in guerilla warfare, getting others to join you in your revolution (quite literally, they join you on the floor panel and dance along with you), and eventually staging a coup. All of this is accomplished using your feet, not unlike controller-based games where certain button combinations allow you to do special moves. I think this'll be really interesting to put together; I'll be helping to design, build, and play test the floor panel.

The other project I'm crewing for is dealing with aspects of sound design, specifically mixing sound for surround-sound and 3D/immersive environments. Basically, the way it works now is that if you want to mix sound, even in a high-tech piece of software, you're working with the sound board metaphor. You turn knobs to indicate how far to the "right" or "left" a particular sound source (like a siren, crowd noise, music, etc) is. You move sliders to indicate the volume (and therefore relative "closeness") a sound source has. It's a bit more complicated than that, but that's the basic idea. What we're trying to do is come up with a better interface than the sound board (which, really, was not designed for surround sound or 3D manipulation). We're looking at several possibilities, including a tablet PC that you use as a "palette" to place sound sources within a 3D space in relation to where your audience is. Another possibility would be a combination of either the tablet PC or VR gloves and a VR headset with surround sound speakers, where the sound designer could literally pick up, place, and move sound sources in relation to himself ("pick up" a crowd noise and smear it in an arc to his left, indicating that a crowd is massing to his left, or "toss" and "scatter" birdsong above him to indicate that a tree above him is filled with birds). The thesis student driving the project hasn't committed to an interface yet, because there are so many possibilities to explore, but he is definite that the end result will be a tool (software, a physical interface, etc) that sound designers can use (as opposed to turning all this into a game or something).

I have to say, I'm pretty excited to work on these projects, and really on the thesis show in general. There are a lot of interesting and experimental things coming out of the thesis class this year, and it'll be really cool to see where they go.


So there you have it. This is what I work on when I'm not at the beach, doing geeky things like putting Linux on my iPod, or playing video games. I'll check back in in a few days, and I promise I won't be so long-winded ;-)

Decent-sized entry coming tomorrow, folks. For now, it's time to crash. Thursdays wipe me out.

Man, I love beach day. And it seems others do as well. Our numbers are steadily growing. The total count for today was 13 people, $100 worth of food and beer, 4 cars, and 7 lovely hours spent hanging out oceanside. I think at least half the animation program first years were there today, including three adorable girls who were clearly just off the boat from Asia. Al and I picked them up, making me definitely the only white person in the car. It was funny. They seemed to really enjoy the beach as well, and were completely taken aback (I think in a good way...we'll just assume it was good) when I stripped down to my suit and ran into the water and starting diving head-on into oncoming waves. They didn't seem to want to do much more than splash in the shallows and toss the frisbee about, but they had a lot of fun, so whatev. I've decided that next time, I'm making them come in with me. Al, Mike, Renae and I cavorted in the waves for awhile before lunch, and then returned after eating as well. The waves and riptide were stronger than they've been at the other places we've been, but it was a blast. Fun fact: upon being hit in the face with a wave, rising sputtering and coughing, getting hit mid-cough with another wave, and emerging coughing, vomiting, and lung-filled, Mike's first instinct is to laugh so hard his already damaged lungs can't handle it and then shout "That was AWESOME!!" Another fun fact: a single bagel tossed into a crowd of seagulls is enough to incite a full-on seagull riot with at least fifteen participants. Final fun fact: Diana requires an application of SPF50 sunscreen approximatly every two hours in order to prevent sunburn. Anyway, by popular request, pictures:

We had SO MUCH FOOD! Burgers, several kinds of beer and soda, chips, salsa, guacamole (which I learned to make for this excursion...seems to have been a successful experiment), cookies, vegetables...the list goes on and on.

Hooray for sun safety! This was sunscreen application number 2042341236132315163.

Our brilliant cooking solution. See, we thought there would be grills at this beach...turns out they were just firepits. The solution? Lots of wood, lighter fluid, and burgers wrapped in aluminum foil. MMMMMMM SANITARY!!

Random crowd shot. Whee!

We make fire. We provide for tribe. Meat+fire=delicious. ::manly grunt::

Al models my sarong. Yeah, I don't know.

Diana's Recipe for Beachside Burgers:

Ingredients
6 lbs of hamburger, raw
1 bottle of worcestishire sauce (don't worry if you can't pronounce it. just call it "that brown stuff)
24 hamburger buns
cheese slices

Preparation:
1. Build a fire! Be sure to use plenty of wood and lighter fluid and several matches. Fire is a dangerous thing, so this step should be handled by a professional. If a professional cannot be found, someone who "used to be in scouts" will do.
2. Go swim in the ocean for a couple hours. You'll want to be nice and hungry for maximum effect (and tolerance).
3. Oh no! You just swam in the dirty ocean! You certainly can't handle raw meat in that state. Wipe your hands with paper towels and douse with hand sanitizer. Good enough! Let's get cooking! Note: this same method of sanitation should be used after you're done handling the meat. Any residual germs will definitely die when you start sticking your hands in the fire.
4. Dig into the hamburger. For each gooey handful, add approximately two shakes of the bottle of worcestishire sauce. Form into hamburger patty and lay aside. Tip: boogie boards make excellent counter space in a pinch, but cover them with plastic or aluminum foil to minimize sand contamination.
5. Wrap burgers in aluminum foil, three to a pack or so.
6. Place foil bundles on fire. Turn frequently, and open periodically to check meat for done-ness. Turning can be accomplished using tongs or a largish stick. Bare hands can be used, but this will probably result in your feeling a sudden urge to swear and scramble for the beer bucket to put your hand on ice.
7. When you run out of foil (and you will), an emptied cinnamon roll pan (grocery store style) can be placed on the fire and used to cook up to eight burgers at a time. Watch out, as the pan will be prone to ripping, allowing burger juices to catch fire.
8. When burgers are no longer pink in the middle (ish...a little pink probably won't kill you), remove from flame and place on buns. Got a little ash in your burger? No worries! You're a carbon-based life form, after all.
9. Put cheese on burgers if so desired. It might melt, it might not. Quit complaining, at least we remembered to get cheese!
10. Distribute to the hungry masses and enjoy!

Yield: approximately 15 burgers of varying sizes and 9 buns to use as seagull food, kindling, projectiles, etc.

At some point, I promise I will write about something other than how much I love beach day. I'll even include pictures! It'll be awesome, I bet. In the meantime, at least I have good stories (now with recipes!) for you all to enjoy. Keep the emails and blog comments coming, people. I love hearing from you all.

In other news, Meez are immensely entertaining, if totally useless:



I have no idea why she's twitching like that...when I set her up she was like, swinging the sword around and stuff. Oh well.

Hello, all.

No extremely major developments to report, but I thought I'd check in as responses seem to indicate a lot more of you are reading this than I thought! Classes and work went well this week; our game project is coming along nicely, and is due to be translated into Flash this weekend (and we all know how much Diana loves coding in Flash :-P). Should have a better (illustrated!) post tomorrow, as we're heading back to Manhattan Beach for a cookout and some surf and sun time. The outing will be a lot of fun...we've got 11 coming, as opposed to the usual 4 or 5. I'll be sure to put batteries in the camera this time.

That's all for now. Gotta go make guacamole and salsa for 11. I know, you're insanely jealous of my Friday night plans. It's okay, I would be if I were you too.

What a lovely day yesterday was. Went to Manhattan Beach with Renae (the roommate), Al, and Mike (IMD classmates). We had a blast, AND I didn't get sunburned. Woo hoo! We hung out, goofed off (see pictures...we're extremely cool) and even were moderately, vaguely productive (the guys and I worked out some particulars for our game class assignment). A couple pictures, then. I should point out for the record that my camera batteries died, so these were all taken by Renae:

Huzzah for clean ocean water! Manhattan was further away than we usually go, but the fact that it was so clean made it well worth it.

From left to right, Renae, Mike, Al, and me. We buried Al in the sand, because...well, it seemed like an appropriate thing to do. At least we gave him some shade!

After we returned from the beach, Renae and I washed the ocean off and settled in for quiet evenings at home. This was not to be. We got a call from Brian, an animation friend, who wanted us to accompany a group to semi-crash a house party off campus. I never got the straight of how we were semi-crashing, except that someone in our group knew someone who was going to be there, but not necessarily someone who was throwing the party. Whatever, we went anyway. After a harrowing drive up narrow and winding streets to the top of a hill, we discovered possibly the mellowest kegger I've ever seen. It was kind of nice, though, because we could just chat and enjoy the view, which was fantastic from that high up.

Our usual weekend crew, minus Renae (who was taking the picture): Brian, me, John's girlfriend (whose name escapes me, but she's really sweet), John (you know, his name might not be John...we don't hang out with him as much, so I haven't gotten his name down yet...whoops), and Anthony.

And so there you have it. Another lovely day in my LA existence. On tap for tomorrow: production class and a meeting involving a lot of coding. Wheeeeeeee. Peace out, kids.

Well, I'm two days into my four-day weekend, and I am loving life. So far I've gotten done things I've been putting off (read: laundry and cleaning), played a lot of PS2, and gotten about 20 hours' sleep. I'm starting to wonder how on earth I survived undergrad; I never had leisure time like this. It was always class, work, work for class, or partying. Even in the summer and on winter breaks, I was always working or taking extra classes or something. I think I may have been insane. I'm going to enjoy this for all it's worth, because I have a feeling it won't last long.

In other news, my PLUS loan finally went through, so I get to stay in school. Huzzah! I've never filled out so much paperwork in my life!

On tap for tomorrow: Redondo Beach (and lots of sunscreen). I'll try to take better pictures this time.

You'll notice that, once again, the look of the blog has changed. The main impetus? I created a theme for my last.fm top ten thingie and it didn't go with my blog. I was going to just use the last.fm object with my IMD blog, but frankly, that stylesheet is beyond my ability to comprehend what is going on, so you guys now have the benefit of seeing what I'm listening to (as opposed to my classmates, who will forever live in ignorance of what music I like, unless they find their way here). And yes, the person in the background of the last.fm object is me. Tyler Clark, I have to thank you for taking that picture. I have used it so many times in so many different ways that I feel I should pay you for it or something. I won't actually be paying you, of course, but you can feel the love.

Incidentally, if anyone out there is looking for a tool to find new music, last.fm is a good one. Pandora is as well, but in different ways.

Went to an absolutely amazing discussion tonight with Danah Boyd, a big name in researching social networking (like MySpace, Facebook, etc). Her thoughts about how social networks like MySpace developed, and how people are really using them (despite what the press will tell you) were very insightful and, from my experience, at least, right on. Social networks are not dangerous or evil, and they certainly aren't the predator playground the media tells us they are. They're just an outgrowth of people (especially young people) trying to find/establish their identities and socialize in a world full of over-protective parents. That's not to say that ALL parents overprotect, but some of the stories that get circulated (and the technologies that get created) indicate that there are certainly a lot who do. Danah told us tonight about parents who use software that mines the family computer and sends every IM, every MySpace profile change, every email, to the parent so that they can keep tabs on everything their kids do online. That's going a bit far, in my opinion. And as far as predators go...hell, every kid I know who's online has been contacted by someone creepy at some point. The difference between those instances and the ones you see on Dateline? We're smart enough to IGNORE people like that. The majority of young people, I think you'll find, are more savvy than their parents give them credit for (and often, more savvy than their parents period), especially when it comes to social networking. Anyway, before I rant on for days, it was a very interesting discussion. It's nice to hear a voice of reason piping up amongst all the freaking out that's been happening about social networks lately. I hope we get to meet with experts of this calibur, and in such interesting topics, at every weekly seminar. Just one more reason why USC is awesome and I'm glad I came!

Let's see, where to start...

Went to Santa Monica with Renae and the boys yesterday. It was so much fun! I just love the ocean...I could live without the much that's IN the ocean, but just playing in the waves and hanging out on the beach is a blast. The sun, however, is not my friend. I believe we knew this, but let us revisit a concept: white girls should not go outside, because that is just tempting the sun. White girls belong inside, or neck-to-ankles clothed while outdoors, at all times. If they do not follow this principle, they end up like me: sunburned on the back of each leg and on one shoulder blade. How did this happen? I have no idea. Moving on. We also built sand castles...er...sand...um...art. Yeah, art. Suffice it to say it wasn't entirely appropriate and I will not be posting pictures, because I have all kinds of relatives who read this. Oh, but I wasn't involved in the inappropriateness. Nope. I was sitting about a hundred yards away doing...uh...cross stitch. Of puppies. Ahem. Yes.

Got a random phone call from one Jim Ferolo today, saying he was in LA and would Renae and I like to join him for a drink. I swear, that man is everywhere and knows everyone. He tried to get us a tour at EA, but settled for hooking us up with a contact over there who would be willing to give us a tour some other time. I'm happy with that, and besides, it was fun to see Jim. AND he bought dinner. So, you know. We love Jim.

In other news, Ed (Ed of multimedia at Bradley...it's like I never left) is teaching a really interesting seminar in the winter that I'm going to try to take. It's a course taught entirely within Second Life, the online virtual world. I think the concept is just so cool...now all I have to do is convince my USC profs to let me have credit for doing it. I think they'll be down, though. It can be an elective or something.

I'm going to pick up my PS2 tomorrow, possibly Wednesday, and I already set up a GameFly account so I can catch up on all the games I missed while I was slaving away at the GCC. My list is like, 45 games long. I have a great deal of catching up to do. Ah well. Chalk it up to research for my major or something.

Not much else to report for the moment, but I am sure more will come as the days go by. That is, after all, the purpose of this blog. G'night, melon doves (only Meg will recognize that, and she doesn't read this...oh well).

First official all-nighter of grad school: complete.

Maybe I should have come up with a concept that didn't involve shooting at night...

WOW I spent a lot of time at IKEA today. My boss and I went to the one in Costa Mesa (about an hour away) to get stuff for this new thesis space we're putting together. Nine hours later, we have more IKEA stuff than should ever be in one location outside the store, I got a sunburn from spending so much time in the car, and most of the stuff we bought won't even be delivered utnil next week, but at least the majority of what we needed has been purchased.

The first version of our game for our prototyping class is done, and I have to say, it's really fun. My partners and I have been playing it whenever we get a chance, both because we need several trials for testing purposes and because we just like playing (and because Mike hasn't won yet, haha). It's just a simple grid-based game at this point, but I think the next iteration will be more complex. Anyone out there want to help test? I can post instructions, rules, pieces to print out, etc. if anyone's feeling dorky.

I'd intended for this post to be longer, but frankly, I'm tired. Also, I have to shoot my first film production assignment tonight, and I have NO idea what it's going to be about, so I should probably get on that. Buenas noches, comrades.

So I finally have the scoop on what my new job is going to entail, and oh boy, is it a doozie (doozy...doozee...I don't know). I have two major projects, and then several things I'm just supposed to know how to do in case it comes up. First is working with a programmer to write new software for our touch-screen controller in the main lab. Essentially, there's a touch screen remote control that activates everything from DVD players to lights to projectors in this lab, and the software on it sucks, so we're going to write a new program for when the new equipment gets here. And by write, I think I mean the programmer will code and I will design the interface...I hope that's what it means.

My other project is the big one: building a new research/work space for Interactive Media thesis students to use while doing their thesis work. As far as I can tell, we have a raw space (read: warehouse) and a budget, and as soon as humanly possible, I'm supposed to make that into a nice space with carpets and a fridge and computers and soundproof floors. That should be interesting, since I don't know my way around and don't have a car. Regardless, if I can actually pull it off, this is killer experience. I'll have to work with vendors, do most of the purchasing, work with the thesis students to make sure they get what they want, work with the dean (or the provost, or somebody) to make sure this all fits in the approved budget, and just in general crack the whip and get things done. Because I clearly do not have enough to do as, you know, a student. Ah well, at least I know my paychecks will be healthy.

In other news, I had my first film production class today. This should be...interesting. I have very little technical skill with a camera, yet am expected to write, shoot, direct, etc. my first three projects. Thankfully, I'm in the group whose first project is due last (make sense of that), so I'll be able to see how others approach it and hopefully work from that. I have to shoot a camera excercise this weekend...I figure my dusty attic or my walled-in garden will work just fine as material for that.

I find it entertaining that I'm getting into the habit of posting more regularly on this thing, mostly because I know that very shortly, it'll probably go weeks at a time without being touched. Ah well. Most of you aren't reading it anyway ;-)

Report: First Day of Class

Granted, I only had one class today, but I'm SO EXCITED about it! Today was CTIN541: Design for Interactive Media. The prof talked at us for awhile about general program information (electives, what research is being done, etc.), we took a break to get Jack in the Box for dinner, and then we came back and did some game prototyping. My group actually has two game concepts we're working on. One is a 3D board game that's part Jenga and part Marble Works, with some Risk thrown in for shits and giggles. Very cool. We'll probably work on it in our spare time, if only because it's the kind of game we would want to play. The other, which we'll actually be developing for class, is a web-based travel game called A--->B, that's essentially a way to make Google Earth playable and educational. As near as I can tell, we'll never do more than prototype it in class (make paper models or very simple digital versions), but I think it's something that could get very fun if we actually built it later on.

In other news, some pics of my room, now that it's getting closer to being settled in:



::happy sigh :: My computer finally arrived today! She's all plugged in and appears to be working normally. Note the ultra-cool whiteboard that's part of my desk...I predict that I will use it twice and then go back to Post-Its and forgetting important things.


Look, Ma! All my laundry is in my hamper, and all my stuff has a home on a shelf!


That bed has been made precisely twice, both times by my mother. It will probably never be made again. It's also big, old, and squeaky. I miss my old bed :-(

About the only thing I'm lacking is stuff for my walls. I have art prints on the way, as soon as Mumsy and Daddums are kind enough to mail them. Then I have to talk the maintenance guy into hanging them for me, because I am apparently not allowed to hang my own posters, as per my lease. Wooooo.

On Saturday, we spent the afternoon at Venice Beach. Very nice, very chill. We're going to try and make a weekly field trip of it, just to unwind and blow off steam. I took several pictures while I was there, but then Picasa ate them because I didn't know how to use it. The lone survivor (an image taken with my cell phone to spite Mom) is here:


We went partying in Hollywood Saturday night, and it was so much fun! We went in a couple of clubs, walked up and down Hollywood Blvd., and took touristy pictures at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. For example, here is me at Johnny Depp's square at Grauman's:


I feel like I have more to share, but I don't know what it would be. I'm on such overload these days; so much new information to process. Faces, places, experiences...I don't think I'll ever manage to document it all. At any rate, I will join you all again when I have something new and/or exciting to report.

Oh my, where to begin...

For those who didn't get the memo, Mom and I arrived safely in LA on Tuesday morning. The house, as I believe we discussed in the last post, is gorgeous. It's also ENORMOUS. It'll probably take me the next three years just to figure out what all is there. I especially love the garden...there's an avocado tree I can harvest whenever I feel like climbing. I'm going to have to get my hands on some guacamole recipes. Also the correct spelling of guacamole.

I dropped about two grand in the last three days paying tuition, buying furniture for my room, acquiring a bicycle (a nerdy retro Schwinn...hooray!), getting a cheapo digital camera so I can document this little adventure, and replacing a bunch of things that I didn't bring with me from IL and needed right away. I've also become intimately familiar with the financial aid/student fees/cashier's/credit union offices on campus, as paying for grad school is much more complicated than paying for undergrad was. A great deal of walking and filling out forms is involved. A job is also involved. A job that will require lots of learning, I think. More on that some other time.

I started orientation for my program (Interactive Media, in the school of Cinema-Television) today, and will complete it this afternoon. I have to say...I don't know what I was expecting as far as the quality and history of Cinema-Television, but holy freaking crap. I mean, I knew the school was good and extremely respected, but George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks...this is quite the august little alum squad they have going here. I'm a little surprised they let me in this place. And by a little, I mean what on earth were they thinking when they accepted me? I mean, I'm not one to downplay my abilities, but jesus. I remember a chat I had at one point with my advisor/professor/mentor/fearless leader, Jim. He told me (while sipping at a glass of tequila...Jim's like that, I don't know) that I would need to bring my A game here. He was so right it hurts. I hate it when he's right.

I really, really like it here. There are fruit trees in my back yard, I have my own bathroom, I can get sushi from the sushi bar in the student center for lunch whenever I want it, there's an original Star Wars poster signed by George Lucas hanging outside one of my classrooms, and a PS2 is considered standard equipment in the lab where my theory class is held. HOWEVER, I miss you all terribly, and that will not get any better with time. Call me. Write me. Email me. Text me. You could try smoke signals, but I don't think I'd see them. Homing pigeons maybe, if they are particularly intelligent.

In other news...does anyone know how to put a bike chain back on when it's come off? Because my shiny new Schwinn is just going to sit in the garden house until I figure out how to get the chain back where it was before we crammed the bike in the back of a Dodge Stratus and drove it home from Alhambra. I have wrenches and pliers and things, I just need to know what to do with them. Thanks.

I think that'll be all for now. Once my computer arrives and I am no longer at the mercy of the library, I'll hook up the new camera and post pics of the new place, the campus, the landlord's dog...whatever I happen to snap as I'm strolling around trying to not look like a tourist. In the meantime, I'm going to take a nap and attend a "safety seminar" that I expect will be a big lesson in "how to not get raped". Whee!

With the move to LA fast approaching, I thought it might be a good idea to start a journal to document the process. I have a regular journal, of course, but at some point I will want to collate all of my grad school adventures, and this seems like an easy way to do it. So, to kick things off, some pictures of the new place:













The front of 1006 W. 23rd St, my soon-to-be humble abode.













My bedroom. It's very...frilly. I intend to take steps upon arrival.














The kitchen. Fully stocked with someone else's dishes (which means I don't have to ship mine). I'm looking forward to not having to wonder where all my kitchen stuff is all the time.













The garden. Apparently a regular back yard was just not an option, so we get this marvel of botanical opulence instead. I can't say I mind.

Pretty swanky digs, eh? I was initially pretty worried about it, mostly because of the price tag (a grand a month is hard to ignore), but I've had some questions answered and got myself a job, so things should work out nicely. It won't be the Moss House by any stretch of the imagination, but that's probably a good thing. Moss was...distracting. Fun, wonderful, but definitely distracting.

In other news, I found this while I was surfing USC's Interactive Media program website: fl0w
It's a game, and the master's thesis of someone coming out of my program. I find it fascinating. The game itself is beautiful and addictive as hell, but what I'm more interested in is that it's his master's thesis. Well, it's not the ENTIRE thesis, but the idea that a master's thesis from IM could include an application of theory like this is encouraging. I'm not really looking forward to the idea of writing a novel about ActionScript.

I think that will do for now. More to come, once the preliminaries are out of the way and I'm actually IN California.