UK 2.0: UWE Graduation Ceremony

On the 13th of November, a very wet and windy afternoon (with gale force wind to follow), we had our graduation ceremony in the Bristol Cathedral, a site of worship that was a millennium old. The fact that the ceremony, a conclusion of another chapter in my life was held in 'my Father's House' made it all the more meaningful for me.

The ceremony was swift and over in less than 2 hours and many faces whom I've not seen since our classes ended dispersed all too soon. It was a real joy to see them again and a thank you to all who made my 20 months in UK so special. All the best, dear friends.

And to my beloved tutors, I would love to be able to contribute back to another generation as you have made a difference in ours.

And above all, a big thank you to my parents who made all these possible in the very first place. This is a real gift and may the path I take from here on bless your hearts.

And so ends this adventure while a new one begins.

With recent news on the incredible amount of over-stayer and the possibility or being even harder to enter UK in the future, I will always treasure this. I certainly wish to see many of you again, especially at a time when we will have much good news and stories to share with each other.

If I may use Naria as an analogy, my 20 months there would be 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe', just perhaps minus the witch and all the chapters of the book, save for the last, which is the golden age of Narnia. Things has gone very well, and I can say with confidence that I have done what I can and made the most of that opportunity. I have no regrets if I will not return, though I would dearly love to. Now, I have made my 'Prince Caspian' trip. If I will return on Aslan's leave to that enchanted land will largely depends on which of the Friends or Pevensies I am. For now, my purpose is in another land and place. But always and forever, Bristol (and to an extend, UK as a whole) will always have a special place in my heart.

God bless you, everyone whom I have had the good fortune to cross path with, and made a mark in my tale - God bless you all!

Thanks, Vivian for the pictures! :)

Exhibition: UWE Degree Show 2009

This is another super long overdue entry.

Our graduation degree show was held back in mid June.
Private view on 19 June 18.00-21.00
Open view from Saturday 20 June to Thursday 25 June.

Here are some photographs I took wandering Bower Ashton's corridor during my final days as an undergrad there. As I did not trot along with my camera on most days, I only have a few pictures of the many interesting work on exhibit.

From the Drawing and Applied Arts

Part of an intricate jumble on a caravan with a stuffed fox next to it.

Chair with hair.

A band depicting scenes in Bristol. The suspension bridge can be clearly seen, twice here.

A paper engineered house

A series of cute yet disturbing acanines by Sarah Elizabeth Malton (an apology as I didn't manage to note down the names of the other artists). Despite the surreality of these these white life-size creature, I find them quite emotive. They felt to me so fragile and non-threatening yet off-putting at once.

An overview from one of the corners of the Illustration exhibition.

And finally a few more our very own Animation department.
Besides 2 other screening rooms and a corridor on the 4th floor, we have this waiting space we named 'the New Retro Lounge' (the 'old' Retro Lounge' being our tutor's staff room in the old building before we move last fall).

A big thanks to Dom Pitt, for completing the room with his family's pinball machine, themed with 'the Creature from the Black Lagoon'. (Simon and Theo on the couch.)

The old records that end up as very destructive Frisbee by the end of the exhibition.

The 'Full Cast' poster, featuring everyone's final film character that I did with markers on Amrit's board.

And our Degree Show, 'Reanimated' poster, drawn by Des, colored by me.

The 'Guest Wall', adorned with quite a few lewd things to less.

I manage to put a life size mounted Bear head on one of the boards as well.

For the stop-motion filmmakers, there is an exhibition cabinet for them.
This is the dragon from Mandy's epic.

The cyclist from Maria's charming film.

Sophie's child.

Mark's village.

and Ed's elephant.

I also manage to smuggle my paper toys inside. However, someone had arranged my Bear's body the wrong way round. 'That' was suppose to be his tail and not his '...' Anyway, it just reaffirmed his masculinity I suppose.

And a farewell to the familiar staircase on which I have skipped and ran and pranced about countless of times.

A sunset over the Ashton Court to conclude a very fun and enriching season of my life.

See you soon!

ITFS - Festival of Animated Film Stuttgart 2009

Date: 5th to 10th May

It has been a while now, but the school trip was a very memorable one. This was my first visit to fly into another country to attend a film festival, and hopefully will be the first of many more.

In those fully packed days of mostly in and out of cinemas and screenings, I hardly took any photographs, but here are a few of the lovely city.

The city by night.

The cinemas that we spent a substantial amount of time in. (The same cinema sign that we saw hit by lightning one of the afternoons.)

Some other interesting sights abound in the city, particularly with street performers. Alas I failed to capture any decent pictures to share. Although nothing special, I just like this stag.

Spiderman! I saw him when I was sleeping on a comfortable sofa in a bookshop between screening (can't remember if it is Borders).

Two of my lively friends from UWE, first year animation with a 'pony'.

One of the things I do enjoy very much about Stuttgart is the summer grass where you can lazed around with friends under the sun, that wasn't too hot.

And share watermelons too.

I enjoy looking at the celestial bodies when I'm outdoors. Our nearest star, the sun.

And the moon.

And the Doppelgänger of the moon.

Although I skipped Coraline's German premier, where Henry Selick was present and presenting, I did manage to get some good look at the film's puppets when it wasn't too crowded. The workmanship of these puppets were marvelous. To paint away the seams around Coraline's eyes would be quite as labor intensive.

Other highlights for the festival was to be able to attend the Disney lectures on Bolt, one of the recent Disney offerings I'm fond of. What's not to like about a big white wolf-looking dog?

Before our departure from Germany, it was time for a group shot in the airport.

Animators are animated people!

Simply meeting passionate people about what they do, something as consuming as film making and animation, from across the globe is the very inspiring! I would certainly like to return to Stuttgart again and maybe visit other festivals like Annecy or Ottawa too.