Yes, Whateley, EA does suck.

So what happened? Well, it turns out that EA doesn't really take animation interns. They rarely hire animators straight out of school. In fact, they are only looking for interns in modelling, texturing, environmental art, and lighting.

BUT... did they tell us that? Nooooooooooooooo.

Instead, I stayed up all night to make a stupid DVD of my reel that they wouldn't even look at because it wasn't rendered! The guy told me to use non-generic models, texture them, light them, and basically come up with a finished production piece... to showcase my freakin' animation skills. Because, of course, my modelling and texturing abilities determine how well I can animate.

So it sucks that about half the people interviewing were either animators or concept artists (another position that they rarely hire recent grads for), so we all ended up wasting our efforts for this interview! I mean, sure they gave us feedback, but pretty much, the unspoken suggestion was that we instead become modellers or texture artists, and if you can animate too... well, that's just hunky-dory and maybe they'll have a project for you years later... if they haven't fired you by that point.

My biggest beef with them (besides the f-ed up way they evaluate the reels) is that the least they could do was be honest with us. I'd much rather hear, "Well, we rarely hire animation interns unless you're a genius" rather than, "Well, please submit your animation reels and by the way, we don't really have animation interns, but we don't want to discourage you."

Full production pieces.... I swear. EA's got the rep (that most game companies have anyway) that they just work you to death and spit you out, so I didn't really want to work for them anyway. But I really wanted to have the learning opportunity, or at least the professional experience on my resume, and it looks like I won't be able to really try for it until I finish my final project in December.

So yes, EA sucks.

So according to some people at church, the price we ended up paying for the car was... well, reasonable. So perhaps we didn't get ripped off... more like just missed an opportunity for a deal. Oh well.

Interview for an interview with EA tomorrow! I better visit all the doctors I need to just in case I have to put in a leave of absence at work. Just signed up for the Stock Investment Plan. Dude, if I had signed up the first chance I coulda last year, those stocks would be worth double now. Dang.

So Tivo cut out the last five seconds of the Episode III trailer from "The O.C." so I'm trying to download it right now. Well, more like I'm trying to download a bit torrent of what someone who Tivo'ed then digitized it. But the d/l is taking forever.

As for my car, overall, what's done is done and for the most part I'm very happy with it. And yes, it's like the most stolen car in America. And it's the most stolen color in America. Which most likely just means that it's the most popular car with the most popular color. Unique.

Okay, off for more animation.

Awww... comments! (sheds a tear of joy)

Of course, it was so nice of you to talk about my various bodily emissions. Huzzah.

So for the serious question, the reason why I think my parents got ripped off on my car is that they paid about list price for it, which is what the dealers used to begin their bargaining. So if they had negotiated, then they most likely coulda gotten it for $500 to $2000 cheaper. Well, that's what my brother says, anyway.

[o][o][o][o][o][o][o][o][o][o][o][o][o][o]

I slept all day, I've been procrastinating the rest, and I have to be at work in 5 hours and I haven't done any more animations. Argh!

Before I go on, I want to give a special shout-out to Bleusky cuz it's her birthday tomorrow. Happy Birthday! (Hey, she's the only one that comments regularly, so if you did, too, I would give a shout-out to you, too!)

So how am I today? In a word? Cruddy. I've been battling a fever, cough, headache, and runny nose the past two days. Fortunately, I didn't have to work today. But I had to use up 8 hours of vacation time today just to make sure I got enough hours to keep my benefits.

As I'm writing this, I'm scanning a huge stack of animation drawings so I can put it in my reel. I'm on drawing #171. It's a little under half way. Of course, I still have to tweak 'em a little in Photoshop. Ugh. But this is all for the best. There's an internship opportunity at EA at stake here. (EA being Electronic Arts)

Last Thursday night, I went to an event thrown by Alias at The House of Moves. Now, what do you think this was? A couple that was sitting at our table thought that it meant it was some sort of party thrown by the people of the TV show "Alias." (She was wondering where Jennifer Gardner was.) So they were obviously lost when the presentation was for how Alias' Maya 3D program can be used in video game development. The House of Moves wasn't a club (though it would be a cool name for one) but a motion-capture studio. Anyway, it was a good event, didn't win anything, but there was an open bar and free In-N-Out hamburgers. Suffice it to say, I took full advantage of the open bar. This schmoozing stuff is hard work. ;)

So before I go on, my classes this semester will be:

3D Texturing, Lighting & Rendering
Color Theory
3D Animation Project 1

I dropped the Digital 2D Animation Production class because the class was... frustrating. The only people that could animate was me and this other girl who dropped it after the first week. It was too hodge-podge of a class. I mean, if you want to learn Flash, or storyboarding, then you should take those classes. Basically, I would've had to come up with a project for this class, and with my final project starting this semester, as well as the Animation Club, I figured it was just unneccesary headache that would not help me in the long run. But I did learn that the multi-feed scanner would not help me in this case, so therefore I will have to individually scan each drawing... as I'm doing now. (I'm on #191 right now, as I type.)

I'm feeling cruddy again, I think it's time I got drugged up.