I realized a week ago that it's been over a month since I've posted to LJ (although I still read it daily, so I know what all you are up to. :-) ). So I come bringing a gift:



Kate-senpai was visiting this past weekend, and in between other geekery (between the two of us, we spent over $400 on manga in a single afternoon. Good lord!), we did some YouTubing, and came up with this. It's irritating to have the subtitles there, but aside from that, it's a fine piece of work.

So life has been progressing apace. If I haven't posted, it's mostly because nothing terribly noteworthy has been happening for me. Kate-senpai being here was fantastic, because aside from being incredibly cool and smart, she and I are in very similar points in our lives at the moment (work-wise, and friend/relationship-wise), and it's great to talk to her about stuff. Work has been fine, and it shows how jaded I am that the latest stream of people quitting (we're in one of those periods where it's basically one a week, including our VP of Production) barely even phases me anymore. Although this latest round may *finally* be registering with Upper Management that our turnover rate is a problem, and steps towards positive change may finally be taken. Fingers crossed. Of course, the last time I thought we were in for positive change, I ended up spectacularly, massively disappointed and jaded. Yeah. However, we've got a new guy to do film/tv development, and I've been talking to him quite a bit. He's cool, and hopefully that doesn't mean that he'll end up getting fired too soon (as often happens with people who are cool).

In other news, while I've got a billion series in progress already, a good portion of them are on volume 3, and in the production side of things, rather than development, and while I probably should be yelling at my artists more to turn their pages in, instead, I've been working pretty heavily on developing new material. I've got six pitches in various stages of progress (two just need Stu approval, one needs Greenlight and then Stu approval, and the other three are putting together art samples and whatnot for pre-pitch). Also, my HarperCollins co-published project, the Warriors manga, hit shelves in early May, to great commercial success (in spite of stupid technical problems on the Harper side--the readers will never know, but I sure do), which basically meant that I got a pat on the back, and then orders for sequel series. :-) Success tends to breed more work, and it certainly did in this case. However, my Harper counterparts are very sweet, and while the pressure is on to get the books out in a timely way, people are trusting my judgment so far on how exactly we do that. Which is nice. But, if anyone out there is interested in drawing comics about fighting cats, let me know. I will need at least one new artist for this, and I'll need them fairly fast.

I saw "Paprika," the new film from Satoshi Kon ("Millennium Actress," "Perfect Blue," "Paranoia Agent," etc.), a few weeks ago, too. It was a "press screening," so you'll get to read my review on the TP website next week, I think (in short: I loved it), but the extra cool part was that the screening was held on the Sony Pictures lot. That marks the first time I've been on a movie lot, even though I live walking distance from both CBS and Paramount, and it was very exciting. The building where the screening was held had a bunch of Oscar trophies in the lobby (for, like, "On the Waterfront," and seriously classic stuff), and I got to wander around the closed sound stages a bit after the film, since there wasn't anyone around to tell me not to. :-) Pretty neat. Living in Los Angeles certainly has its perks!

I've been going to ninja class more regularly, although still only once a week, but since it gets dark late now, I've been walking to and from work a lot more, and I've been going to Tuesday yoga class when I'm too lazy to drive down to Manhattan Beach to punch things. And I finally bought a bo staff, so when the zombies come, I'll have a six-foot wooden pole with which to whack them. Awesome.

I've been watching a lot of TV, too, as a continued effort to study serialized storytelling. Doctor Who season 3 has been a bit hit or miss, but the laaaaaame episode three weeks ago was redeemed by a fantastic, gripping, heart-wrenching two-parter over the past two weeks, which hit my British private school buttons like burning. Yes! I was somewhat disappointed with the Heroes finale, I enjoyed the Supernatural finale, and I was upset by the Veronica Mars finale (which is apparently the series one) because it was everything that I wanted Season 3 to be that it wasn't. Argh! Although way to go out on a high point, show.

And I've been watching Life on Mars, which is a British cop show, about a man from 2007 who is hit by a car and wakes up in 1973. Doesn't sound all that great in concept, but the execution is smart, funny, occasionally very spooky, and a great bit of social commentary (the sexism and racism in the police department is *astonishing*). I don't know if it's showing anywhere on BBC America or anything, but it's totally worth watching if you get a chance. And since it's British, it's low commitment. Two seasons, 16 eps total, or something.

My dad visited in May, and my mom is visiting next week. I've still got quite a bit of angst about that situation (it's hard to see my father so happy when my mother is so miserable), but I'm working on that. I'm probably going to start seeing a therapist once con season is over, since I think I'm still not entirely coping with a lot of this, and I really need to sooner rather than later. We'll see. I'm continuing to date my very nice fellow, at least. We went kayaking off Catalina Island on Memorial Day, and generally have been having fun doing outdoorsy stuff, eating good food, and watching interesting media.

And I turn 25 next week. Not that it makes me old, or anything, since I certainly don't think that, but it has triggered a lot of thoughts about life and career and whatnot. If you'd asked me three years ago when I graduated college what I'd be up to right now, I definitely wouldn't have thought I'd still be in Los Angeles, let alone still at TP (I figured I'd be in grad school, or Japan). I'm glad I am, because as frustrating as it is at times, it's still an amazing job where I've learned a lot and had a lot of fun doing so (for the most part). But it does make a girl think.

But yeah, any of you folks who are in the LA area, you're welcome to attend my very informal birthday gathering. I haven't sent out the Evite yet, but my plan is to just get together for drinks at Luna Park after work next Thursday. No present required, just show up, maybe buy an appetizer for everyone to share, and have fun! :-)