Monday, March 7, 2016

Collaborations and Complications


A quick doodle of me, Raul and Tito. 

My part on Kubo and The Two Strings is now complete. What started as a three month temp position stretched into a year's worth of crazy fun times - wrapping up with my department's Academy Award win! I have now rolled directly onto the next film.

I had to take a week off though right at the end of January due to sciatica. For those of you not familiar with it...please continue avoiding it if you can. Take care of your body. Hydrate with water. Be mindful of what you eat. Don't skimp on stretch breaks. Stand as much as you sit and sit with good posture. Yoga and hiking are awesome. You do have time for these kinds of things. This might sound a little lecture-y, but seriously SCIATICA IS EVIL. 

Post-CTN I was approached by fellow Oatley Academy students to participate in a unique collaboration opportunity. Jessie Kate Patterson, Maria Kercher, Blythe Russo, and Gwyn Conaway Bennison are my partners in crime for this crazy costume adventure! I look forward to sharing more about that project later. ;)

Another thing greatly occupying my mind of late is a different kind of collaboration. Last year Raul Ramos proposed on my birthday and of course I said yes. After debating it we've set our ideal date a year from now and are in planning mode. My dress has been purchased. Venues are narrowed down for tours and will be hopefully booked by the end of the month. And the invite list is more or less finished...provided people stop dying. :(

We have also been discussing the issue of "co-branding." This would obviously apply to the big event, but include other events where we display or attend as a unit - such as our shared table at CTN. With our different areas of interest and specialty, it would visually make sense of us together as a unit. If we showing separately then we wouldn't need to pack everything along - we'd still have our own self-branded things. Raul's been working especially hard to streamline his presentation lately. But mine is another matter entirely.

This upcoming status change brings the chance to really do some necessary tweaking - starting with my name. For as long as I could write, my name has been a problem. When small I never dreamed of the various details involved with fancy weddings and such...I dreamed of ditching my needlessly complicated name for something simple or at least less likely to be butchered by everyone and their "standardized" software. But now that I've gotten traction - my first movie credit for one - should I change it? The arguments for and against are sometimes heated and I'm not looking externally for answers - this is definitely a personal decision I trust others to respect once I've made it - but it is certainly something I've been struggling with more than I thought I ever would.

Can we just fast forward to the part when I get to leave for the honeymoon please??