short update | 5:10 PM >

I love walking into a CD shop, having a conversation about esoteric bands and albums like The Glove, then walking out with a copy of Christina Aguilera's Mi Reflejo. It really fucks with people's minds.

Speaking of The Glove, their Blue Sunshine, while not even remotely new, came as a nice surprise to me this week and I highly recommend picking it up. Other recent acquisitions are: In Rainbows by Radiohead (easily their best release to date), Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D by Nine Inch Nails (many of the tracks are better than their album counterparts -- the Ladytron mix even works in the theme from The Downward Spiral), More Shine by Si*Sé (a delight; falls somewhere between trip-hop, salsa, and something else I can't put my finger on, with a singer like Sadé), and Machina / The Machines of God by Smashing Pumpkins (a total letdown).

I've started classes at Animation Mentor, and the first week was great. I already have about fifteen pages of notes and we haven't even started any assignments yet. The website is at once daunting and a marvel of technology. I'm amazed -- daily -- that they've managed to pack the functionality they have into it, and that Flash is actually working so well as a middleman. As far as the animation stuff goes it looks like the first class is pretty light in comparison to what's done afterwards, so I'm easing into things.

What's really killer is the international makeup of the student body: lots of people from India, Brazil, Spain, and so on, all taking classes at the same time. There's one woman in my 9pm Tuesday class who lives in India, and when class starts it's 7:30am for her.

I did quite a bit of work this week on a project for a friend, and if all goes well it'll get posted this coming week, so I'll post a link then.

I also had a very productive writing session with a group of folks I fell in with a few months back. This was our fifth or sixth meeting, and so far I've enjoyed every one. This last one, the group offered me some very interesting takes and ideas on a half-finished story I've had languishing on my hard drive for about two or three years, one that I'd like to finish but have never been able to find the main driving plot points. I might have them now, and that's exciting.

What else... I guess nothing. Between school, the job search, and a few freelance things, life is getting pretty full. But I figure I have to post more. I am seriously behind in posts, when you compare me to a certain zombie princess I know.