Thursday, July 31, 2003

LA (San Diego ComicCon) : Part Five Next day, I missed the WETA guys, and I had to do an interview while posing for a caricature drawing. After I finished, I was free to go. I walked around looking for the LOTR guys. We ended up in one of the Green Rooms ( celebrity hideout.) While Joyce was talking, I looked around the room and saw a shaved head and short body. I walked up to him and said “Elijah?” To my surprise, he responded. I introduced myself. “You’re in American Splendor?” he asked, his famous blue eyes widening. “Yeah, I’m a comic book character, artist, and actress!” I said. “Wow!” he replied. Joyce came over and they talked. To make a long encounter short, Elijah and I exchanged e-mails and are now buddies. Just then, Dominic Monaghan came in the room and with my new-found confidence, I introduced myself and we chatted for a little bit. I got some good pictures and had a wonderful time. I went to the LOTR panel. After, I helped Ben Hawker and Daniel Falconer clean up the WETA area. I got to hold and wear some elven armor. I also saw and touched the Hobbit feet, which rock my socks. Wait! Hobbits don’t wear socks, their feet are too beautiful to cover up! That night I found myself sitting in a row of WETA guys and LOTR actors. The costume masquerade was….interesting. Our favorite was the LOTR dancing line called “One Ring Circus” brilliant work!! Our whole row stood up and gave a standing ovation! Finally, it was time to go back to the hotel, and I said my goodbyes. I got hugs and encouragement from the whole team. Everyone I met was fantastic and creative in one way or another. I got loads of names, numbers, and several new e-buds . I like this new life I am living. I am a very lucky young lady, and a future employee of WETA workshops in New Zealand. 9:57:03 AM

Wednesday, July 30, 2003

San Diego: Part Four After a day of press, autographs, hugs, and panels, I arrived at the party in a pink dress and black high shoes. At once, I could tell I was the youngest person there. I quickly spotted Richard Taylor and became very nervous. It took me 5 minutes of pondering until I finally went up to him and said “Great job on the film.” I showed him one of my Gollum drawings. At the end of this sorry encounter, I said bye and went back to my seat miserably. Joyce intervened and sent him over to my little table. Richard and I got on very well. He told me about himself and the story behind WETA (www.wetafx.co.nz ) Richard told me that he was bitten by the bug when he was young, and his parents didn’t understand what he wanted to do with his ability, to see things in a different and artistic way. We chatted a little more, and were interrupted when a crowd of guys came in. Richard introduced me to his crew. I talked to most of them, but got on particularly well with Ben Hawker and Daniel Falconer. I met Sean Astin and his brother Mac. Sean played Samwise Gamgee in the film. He and his brother are very nice. They both look out for others. They invited me to their costume and props demonstration the next day. Sean and Joyce talked about her activist comics. She is going to send them to him by way of snail mail. 11:20:21 AM

Tuesday, July 29, 2003

San Diego: Part Three AWESOME HOTEL. Everything is going really well. I went to the convention with a camera crew behind me, and a grin in place. (I couldn’t help it. Besides, I’m a cheerful person.) As our odd procession walked inside the convention center my jaw dropped: a place filled from top to bottom with geeks, geeks, and more geeks, and a few nerds scattered here and there. I was just a little bit overwhelmed because I have never been to a convention that big before. There were people dressed as "Lord of the Rings" characters, anime characters, traditional comic book characters, some sluttish people and a helluva lotta guys in glasses and furry costumes, which can be very scary and disturbing to look at. I was very eager to find that all the WETA*guys would be there as well as some hobbits and Andy Serkis (Gollum). I was officially and instantly the luckiest 15 year old there. I couldn’t wait for the New Line/Fine Line dinner. I did about 3 hours of home school early the next morning. Rather long, but Joyce said that if I didn’t do it, then I would not be allowed to go to the dinner later that evening. [*LOTR special effects company founded by Richard Taylor www.wetafx.co.nz] 9:44:06 AM

Monday, July 28, 2003

LA: Part Two We landed and got our baggage in the LA airport, I have one word for it: madhouse. Completely crazy there!! Baggage was flying everywhere, and people were using very foul language. We got out and into the car and I received celebrity ass warmth. Apparently, Ringo Starr sat exactly where I was sitting earlier that morning. I got so excited and asked our driver who else he drove. It was cool because I recognized the names he was dropping. It was there that Joyce and I created the “Celebrity ass warmth” contest. We made rules and everything. We got to the hotel and waited 30 minutes for our room to be ready. While we were in the lobby, management played the crappiest of crappy music. After a wonderful meal of pizza, we were in bed and getting ready for our photo shoot with Venice Magazine the next morning. Our photographer was awesome. (http://www.portfolios.com/close-ups/grovepashley/) He had the coolest pet rats. Two had fur, and the third was in the nude. The very nice photographer said that I am a natural model!! (I am just so talented; I don’t know what to do! J) At the end of the shoot, he gave me a very cool picture of Shia LeBouf, who can be seen on the Disney show “Even Stephens” and the movie “Holes”) He also took a picture of Harvey holding a huge prop pencil which was taller than any of us! 9:36:56 AM

Thursday, July 24, 2003

LA: Part One We woke up early on Tuesday morning and got picked up by our regular driver, “Hollywood Bob.” We arrived at the airport and had to go through security and, as usual, Harvey always gets stopped. That’s because Harvey has an artificial hip from his first bout of cancer. Finally we got on the airplane, everything was going smoothly until they served breakfast. I wrote this poem while I was on my break from my home school independent study program. The poem kept me from feeling sick, because it made me laugh so much. Air Plane Food By Danielle I couldn’t eat. I had breakfast. So… I didn’t need another I ordered it just to be polite But it really is a disgusting sight First course was a fruit plate White pineapple freshly defrosted A strawberry with a chunk of ice in the center Soggy grapefruit I hate grapefruit. Soggy orange slices But the grapes were good I had a stale biscuit Pretty good for a stale piece of flour & butter, fat and grease. “Is that all you want, Miss?” “Uh…yeah.” I said feeling a little sick Second course on this trip to Los Angeles Is eggs Ham eggs and a cut, processed potato piece. Looking at my plate, then at my water. I drank the water. Looking at the plate again… Oh my god, the potato jiggled!!! I speared the tater triangle, and then hacked it to bits. The stewardess looked at me and asked, “Want some salt, Sweetie?” “No thanks, I’m mashing my taters so they will stop dancing.” She walked off, and I giggled. Watching the clouds & listening to CD’s I look back at my plate… The ham is curling up and crusting over. “Poor piggy!!” I wanna cry. Damn. I would hate to be a plate of airplane food. Damn But… It would be cool to be the tiny salt and peppershakers… Those things rock. 10:48:40 AM

Thursday, June 26, 2003

Since we shot “American Splendor,” my life has changed. Though I had not told any students at my school, toward the end of last year, my teachers blabbed to them about it, and a lot of students treated me differently. I felt kind of popular, but I didn’t want to be… At least not with kids who used to spread rumors about me and who were now all trying to be my “best friend.” Another thing that is weird is how, when I see “American Splendor” and see the actress who plays me, I remember how I lent her my Sailor Moon hair elastic. So now, anytime I see it I am like “ Hey! That’s my Sailor Moon hair thingy!!” It’s very interesting, because I still have it! This summer I start filmmaking classes. I quit my photography class because they no longer give students access to the darkroom for reasons I do not understand. What’s the point of having a photography class if you can’t develop and print your own film? I’m switching back to computer animation where I’m currently working on my own characters to animate. I will work on my own, using the new book by John Kuramoto and Gary Leib, the Twinkle brothers. The Twinkle Brothers did the animation for the “American Splendor” movie. John sent me the book. It is called “The Art of Cartooning With Flash: The Twinkle Guide to Flash Character Animation.” (http://www.twinkleland.com/) As everyone who has been to this website knows, “American Splendor” went to Cannes along with another HBO movie directed by Gus Van Sant called “Elephant.” There’s an expression people use: “There is a 5 ton elephant in the living room.” The Elephant is the big problem that everyone avoids and doesn’t talk about. The movie is based on a Columbine-style shooting by two infuriated students who were picked on and did not fit in with their peer groups. I enjoyed it. Sometimes a movie needs to be a little extreme to get a point across, but it has to be poetic and truthful as well, to keep it from being a Hollywood action drama. “Elephant” has a lot of poetic qualities but it keeps a level head and sticks to the facts, including facts from the actors’ personal, private experiences. For me it’s really hard to find people my age, who are not ignorant. After meeting the "Elephant boys", a group of kids just like me who had no previous screen credits, but were in a movie that won the grand prize at a film festival, I was extremely happy to make friends with them. I got to talk to them as a friend and they told me how they handle press. They said if they get political questions, they say "We are just kids and we don’t have all the answers." They have no problem talking to certain people that they trust, but with press you’re talking to a bunch of strangers. There are some things that come up in our movie that I don’t want to give any more details about than I need to get my point across. When the Elephant boys are asked personal questions, they say, “That’s my private business." (Not in a rude way-- just honestly. They are very polite and down to earth guys.) 5:44:36 PM

Friday, June 06, 2003

How I Met Harvey Pekar Yeah, childhood has its ups and downs. So far, mine was down, and kept going down more every day. From mom to dad, from grandparents to aunts and uncles, then back with dad again. My dad had always loved comics, and could draw very well. We would go to comic book shops and try to get him an art job, and then one day my dad struck gold. He picked up an American Splendor comic book and dangled it in front of my face while I was looking at a “Ranma ½” manga book. “Hey, man! You’re blocking my view!!!” I said. “Awe, come on! Danielle, we have to go to visit Harvey Pekar!” he said, trying to get me to put the book down. Not looking up, I said vaguely, “Who’s Harvey Pekar?” He just looked at me like I was crazy and said, “Come on slowpoke…” I looked up at him and said, “Danielle goes where the manga book goes, you gotta choose 1. Be a childless daddy. 2. Have a happy QUIET child.” I did the sad puppy face and he gave in. We drove to where (the famous) Harvey Pekar resided. It was raining. We passed several houses, big houses, like family-of-12-size houses. We finally got to the address and walked up on the porch. An old scary looking man answered the door and said in a raspy voice “You’re the guy who called?” “Yeah, this is my daughter, Danielle.” I walked into the house and my jaw dropped, beads, bottles of sequins, wires, hammers, paint, and gold and silver clay. My immediate thought was to run over to the coffee table where these new wonderful art supplies sat. It was like a new magical world like if I picked up the clay and made something, it would be magnificent. If there is a real life Harry Potter, then I’m the kid, going from the mundane regular routine of black and white, to the color and shine of discovery and adventure. Since I was in another new environment, I got a little excited and had the sudden urge to relieve my 9-year-old self. I tugged on the sleeve of my dad’s leather jacket and said, “I gotta go to the bathroom.” He asked Harvey where it was and we went to the second floor. “Hey, listen the toilet on this floor is broken, follow me up the steps.” Harvey said. So we went up another flight of stairs, I looked to the left and saw the most annoyingly organized room of more art supplies. I wanted to go through them, but I had to go to the bathroom, so I took it one step at a time. While I was gone, Harvey told Joyce that a kid came over with a dad who was extremely interested in R. Crumb, and that I was pretty artistic. (That’s what my dad told him.) Joyce came out and smiled at me, “What’s your name?” she asked. “Danielle” I said shyly. (Understand, that I was only 9 years old and I had moved around to more different places than I was old, so meeting new people made me tense because I thought that I would be ripped from a family member that I was fond of.) Joyce asked me more about myself, and told me to pick something from the room “A TOY!!” I said. “That’s too easy” she replied “Animal, Vegetable, or mineral?” she asked. ”Mineral!” I said. She asked me when my birthday was so she could figure out what my birthstone was. She gave me some leather, a needle and thread and an amethyst. I made a little bag, while Joyce did computer work. When it was time to go, I said, “I would like to see you again!” Joyce said that they would love to see me again too. I asked her if she would be “my mother substitute”-- kind of like Equal or Sweet And Low. We gave each other a hug. When my dad revved up the car I ran back up the steps and hugged her again. As my dad and me drove back home, I forgot about my “Ranma ½” book and bragged about my little leather bag. That night I slept with my little bag close to me (under my pillow) and was anxious to go to Joyce and Harvey’s house the next weekend. Later, I moved in with Harvey and Joyce and they became my legal guardians. Being a recycled kid isn’t so bad. People who recycle find a good place for something that belonged to someone else. They know they’ve found the right stuff and the stuff stays with them, as “a real treasure.” 9:21:45 AM