Loou is Lost

Snowy Day, Edinburgh, Scotland

photo via lori

literally walked past this building at student res everyday.

we did not have snow however.

(via owlbearz)

doctorpuppet:

After London, Alisa and I traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland. It’s one of the most beautiful cities in the Universe! I almost lost track of the TARDIS there because they still have blue police boxes on the street in Old Town. It was so quaint.

I have been to there.

Just got back from the National Museum of Scotland.

I’d actually gone just a few days before, but neglected to take pictures because 1. way to busy in there, 2. way to lazy, and 3. No pictures in the mummy exhibit. But I went back to take pics for your benefit. (And anyways, it turns out I’d missed a few things)

It’s like a giant and fantastic pile of cool junk was just dumped all in one place, and loosely organized into a semblance of order.

Museum, let me show you it:

It’s got taxidermy and skeletons up the wazoo.

Heck, they even have Dolly…

on a rotating plinth, with flashing lights.

It’s got scale models of everything from boats to well… other kinds of boats.

Lots of boats. They go on forever.

They’ve got an orgasmic collection of fine dinning implements from the 1700s and 1800s. These things, made by Louis-François Roubilliac were particularly interesting:

I mean, who would even want to eat from these?

Oh hey, remember your first desktop computer? It’s officially a museum piece.

And Macs weren’t the only desktop set-ups they had on display, they had Dell PCs too.

Remember that Ski-Doo-with-sled-attached you used to ride when you were five? (for you Canadian country bumpkins) Well apparently that makes you culturally significant, and Inuit.

I’m not kidding, this was in with the traditional cultural life-style artifacts from North-America. It was the only piece of modern equipment in the room. And that’s not even like, a really, really old model either. I originally thought it to be around 30 years, but my mom says they’re more around 40-45. Either way, I do remember ski-doos (or Yamahas, or whatever other make) similar to this one being in perfectly usable shape when I was a kid. Hardly an ancient and traditional piece of technology.

Moving on…

There was all sorts of creepy stuff in jars, displays on developments in communication, transport, and medicine (thank a Scotsman for you penicillin, and your cool bionic prosthetic). They also had a special mummy display on, but we weren’t permitted to take photographs of these.

They had some legitimately cool stuff at the gift shops (there are 3 in the museum) unlike the Edinburgh Zoo, who’s range and selection of merchandise frankly sucks.

I think I nearly died though when I saw this on the bookshelf:

When I got home and pulled it out of the shopping-bag, I was giggling like a mad art-nerd.

I haven’t had the chance to read much of it, but so far it’s good.

I’ll bet you super jelly.

So, it has been yet another frustrating, productive, yet uneventful week.

Frustrating: We were given an assignment this week which involves coming up with a short animation idea, then letting someone else work on it whilst you yourself are of course work on another’s.

Which, in-and-of-itself, isn’t that bad. We however, only have a week-and-a half to work on it, 2 days of which will be spent in a mandatory unrelated workshop which no-one asked for, much less at the end of the semester, (making it, on the whole rather ineffectual) during finals.

Productive: I punched-out a decent animatic for our text interpretation assignment in 3 days, which can be viewed here. I also finished some drawings from my trip to the Edinburgh Zoo.

Uneventful: Because I was being a responsible student and working diligently at my laptop all week, I missed the opportunity to be held hostage on Thursday in the animation lab by Stephen Fry, who was filming just outside in the corridor, and was not to be disturbed during that time. Apparently it was for some Edinburgh historical documentary or something?

It’s not like I’d been debating whether or not I should stop-off at school that morning, or having the most random thoughts mid-day about how it would be interesting if I were to randomly come across Stephen Fry. (No seriously, I was actually thinking that on Thursday)

Meh, whatevs. Not the first time this sort of thing has happened to me, and it won’t be the last.

Well, at least I got to see the Avengers yesterday, so I suppose my week wasn’t entirely without interest.

And as I mentioned in yesterday’s gloat post, Black Widow is my new favorite Avenger. No  question, for reasons you will have to discover on your own time.

Sooooo…

Yesterday I went to the Edinburgh Zoo. Because I’m a huge derp when it comes to understanding bus-routes, I figured my safest bet was to walk.

1:30 later, I finally make it. I have to say, what felt a 15-minute drive certainly took a lot longer on foot.

As some of you may be aware, the Edinburgh Zoo is currently hosting Pandas. Naturally, these are a hot item. And of course you have to pre-schedule a time-slot to visit. Needless to say, I did not have the opportunity to see Pandas.

(the above is very representative, as it rained twice while I was there)

But that’s alright, I didn’t see everything at the zoo (this was mostly because it’s off-season, and some of the species were temporarily moved to other zoos for pen maintenance, or kept indoors because it’s still too cold out) and I may have the chance to go back and see everything I missed.

And you know what? Malayan sun bears are way cooler than pandas. Look ‘em up.

While I was there, I also discovered a new interest in exotic birds. Some of them are ridiculously handsome, and others are down-right WEIRD. I’ve got drawings of the more interesting animals I saw at the zoo, which I’ll be posting on my art blog. I’ve already posted some of the birds here.

And finally, I have to say that the most interesting mammal at the zoo yesterday was Sofus, the patagonian sea-lion.

let me tell you why:

He’s the first animal when you step into the zoo. When I got there, I was so interested by his squashed faced that I tried to draw it, but the huge crowd around his little pond was making him shy, and I just couldn’t get a good look at him.

But on my way to leave, it was significantly quieter, and Sofus was spending more time at the surface, So I busted-out my sketchbook and took another shot at drawing him.

I eventually noticed that every time he’d pop-up for air, he’d glance at me in a really suspicious way, as if hoping I wouldn’t notice that he was watching me.

I think he recognized me from earlier, and was really freaked-out by how much I was staring him. I can’t help but imagine him saying “Don’t look at me I’m naked!” or “What? is it because I’m fat?” in a little girly voice.

Well hello there, its been a while!

I’ve been super busy working for VeeMee (some non-revealing results of which I’ve posted here, for those of you who have yet to see it)

Finally handed that in today, Bruce seemed to approve.

Rouxi did pretty well too, wrangling with the dynamics of animating a jellyfish.

Then Craig ( the manager who we hadn’t seen since we were first introduced to the company) started asking us those obnoxious questions about what we thought we had learned/taken-away from the experience, and what we had brought to the company.

It was awkward.

In other news: Crazy things that happened to the outside world while I was locked away in my room feverishly working towards a deadline…

1. Someone apparently committed suicide off the Salisbury crags (i.e. the park outside my window)

2. There was a huge marathon over the week-end (which is why the found the body in the first place), with a marathon concert in the other park just outside my window, mocking me.

3. It rained and hailed intermittently for the last 3 days, making sure to do so with extra vigor when I emerged from my cave for food.

4. Wimbledon season started while I wasn’t looking.

All-in-all, good reasons not to step outside, especially that last one.

At least I now have three days to relax, go out, and eat real meals again…

… before going back to work for the next month. *sob*

Well, good night folks, and good luck with your review panels!

So my computer has just pulled the second hissy-fit in about a month, in a similar set of circumstances. I’m going to assume that the programs I’ve been running and the hack-maneuvering are to blame, as well as the heavier (than usual) video usage, all at the same time.

But still, this is a brand new machine, with significantly better specs than the old one. I am disappoint.

Then again, Apple programming is generally not tolerant of any kind of tweaking, so I suppose I should expect nothing else.

I spent my Easter weekend at my grandparents, and was fed tea and biscuits to the point of bursting, and given a half-ton of Easter chocolate, particularly after I mentioned that catering services at Camp Pollock were not offered during the the fortnight of Easter holidays, as staff also had the 2 weeks off.

We are apparently expected to ether eat-out for every meal, or make our own food using the house kitchenette (which smells FOUL btw, something like cleaning products and ancient cooking grease, a film of witch covers everything in the entire room, aggravated by a lack of ventilation)

So I was sent home with corned-beef and cheese sandwiches courtesy of my grandmother. I felt a bit like Ron, except I happen to love corned-beef. And that cheese is ridiculously good.

And to all the naysayers in the world who say that a cheese and corned-beef sandwich will only last 24 hours or less without a fridge, I have proven you wrong.

Though I did have to pick the penicillin spots off this morning’s breakfast.

It was still delicious.

3 sandwiches over 2 and a half days, with some chocolate, apples, oranges, and half a can of Pringles. I shall have to consider restocking soon.

This is going to be a LLLLOOOONNNGGG Easter break.

At least my heating problem is more-or-less sorted.

(Do not, however, ask me to talk about the declining hygiene status of our washrooms, seeing as even the cleaning staff is on break)

Karla, I really miss living in our frankly luxurious basement with such tidy and clean roommates such as yourself and Cassandra.

Having said that, I probably do not want to know what the apartment looks like at the moment.

Weird thing I am noticing about Edinburgh:

Guys = Just guys

Girls = Eerily precise pictures of femininity.

Let me explain: I am used to (and this is probably caused by art school in Vancouver) girls who dress in a generally gender-neutral to casually female way. Even those folks back-home who dress in a typically (as is decreed by mainstream fashion) feminine manner generally do not exude overwhelming (borderline nauseating) waves of female personality.

Of course, part of my perception is almost certainly caused by the local fashion, with seemingly everyone in Edinburgh wearing short skirts, girly shoes, pea coats with sash, and hair up and/or deadly straight.

But it’s more than that, everyone is being not just feminine: but the exact same kind of feminine. The way they move, what they’re eating, the other girls they hang-out with, and the kind of guys they hang-out with as well.

Once again, I may be receiving a biased view due to living and studying in a university environment, though I am seeing a lot of this outside university as well. Now, don’t get me wrong: I am seeing things like “nerdy” girls, “geeky girls”, But these are few and far between.

I’m simply really disturbed by the minimal variation/variety in the feminine definition here, even in the university environment.

And here I am in my plaid blouses, jeans, t-shirt, and boots feeling extremely out of place and more than a little bit odd, when in Vancouver, you could park me in a train full off yoga-panted yuppies and I’d feel just fine.

I think the worst part is all the looks I am (most definitely) getting as I wander about my daily business.

ANYWAYS…

Friday was excellent: I went to the cinema with Ruoxi and watched Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists (which was as always an excellent film from Aardman Studios, even if the posters are extremely misleading) and we went to Illegal Jack’s for some vaguely Tex-Mex tacos.

Now, when I say vaguely, I mean “these guys apparently do not know the difference between Mexican, Tex-Mex, and South-western”

But whatever it was supposed to be, it was good. Though the strongest of their salsa sauces needs some work. Even the liberal amounts of “Arizona Hot Sauce” all over the place barely made it spicy.

In other news:

I get two weeks off this Easter (in-lieu of spring break) first order of which is to visit my Grandparents for Easter week-end.

And then it’s exam season until the end of May…

So, we went off to VeeMee for another progress report.

Crit was given, executive decisions were made, unnecessary components were ‘nixed. I also got to play some minigames on PlayStation home.

All around a good visit.

Yesterday:

Living in the same building as hundreds of NORMAL college/university students is quite an education.

Apparently they actually do like to sing to obnoxious whiny pop songs from Katie Perry. Sing at the top of their lungs. At 11:30 pm.

The guys are no better.

And screaming and running up-and down the halls is also preformed at the most ungodly hours of the evening/morning.

The list of annoyances goes-on, and extends to such things as “Who is that dumb bastard who never changes the TP roll?” and other noises that a person would rather not be thinking about when writing an essay.

But I digress. Just take my word for it when say: Student accommodation living is not fun (unless you happen to be a stereotypical student apparently), and should only be done on the short-term.

*Deep breath*

Moving on:

I had a very productive weekend, have a look-see at some of the the results here.

And the weather has been glorious, 20 degrees and, from the way everyone is dressed, you’d think it was forty.

Have a lovely day, night, or whatever-time-it-happens-to-be-when-you-see-this.

Tah-tah!

Well hello wonderful people.

A lot of interesting things happened today, specifically. Of-course, it doesn’t help that, for the last four days, I’ve been locked-up in my room and writing a rather long essay about Scott Pilgrim, Kill Bill, and animation culture.

Side-effects of which include the urge to watch all the retro anime until I drop.

But hey, it’s done, and I can now get on with my life. Heck, even the class i wrote it for is official over, and it’s only half-way till the end of the semester (may 30). WHAT IS THIS STRANGE BRITISH ACADEMIC TRICKERY?

Next thing that happened of the day:

I’ve started drawing again, and animation is in my immediate future, woooo! Some of today’s prep-work here

Did I mention the weather was absolutely fabulous today? 15 celsius people, it was like a SAUNA out-there! (well, relatively speaking) And as bright as a bald guy’s freshly-polished cranium!

Which of-course lead to the next eventful event of the day:

People do like to play soccer in nice weather. Makes perfect sense. Also makes sense that they would choose to use the garden space just outside my window, as it is the only stretch of lawn at the Halls (because apparently walking that little extra to get to Queens Park is too much)

So here are 3 guys, kicking a soccer ball as hard as they can, because that’s what typical British college boys do apparently.

Here I am thinking to myself: “Well, looks like they’re getting pretty close to the building. Oh my, look at that manly contest of kicking power they’re having. I wonder what would happen if—

*CRASH*

*tinkle, tinkle*

“Ha! Who’s window did they get? … Oh god, they got the Warden’s?!”

“That’s not going to be goo—

*ARRRGHHH*

“Oooo… that sounded like the warden’s wife.”

And that is the story of what happens when a building has old, single-pane, un-laminated windows.

Though in this case, it may not have made much of a difference.