SIGGRAPH 2012 - Los Angeles

This August I jumped on a plane and headed back to the west coast for a convention that I have wanted to attend for the last 10 years, but never could justify the expense. Of course I'm talking about the National Unicorns Are Real But You Just Can't See Them Expo, or NUARBYJCSTE for short.

I landed in LAX for the very first time, although I made many trips there back when I lived in Los Angeles, picking up friends and relatives. It never failed the first thing they all wanted to do was see Hollywood. I always tried to convince them to join me on a unicorn hunt, but never got any takers.

Well I learned rather quickly that NUARBYJCSTE is as elusive as the unicorns themselves. I asked at every corner where the convention was being held, but to no avail.

Instead I decided to go to SIGGRAPH since I was in town, and because my boss paid for my flight and told me to help him run the AnimSchool booth. So all wasn't lost.

I remembered just how hard it was to park in Los Angeles rather quickly. But I found a great way around that problem. Apparently, if you are a police officer you can park anywhere you want!

This police car is NOT stopped at the stop sign waiting for traffic. They pulled up right in front of me while I was speaking to my lovely wife on the phone. Initially I thought they were going to ticket me for being so good looking, but nope, they just hopped out and proceeded to the taco stand across the street. Fortunately the smell of tacos distracted them from how amazing I looked that day. It also distracted them so much they parked 2 feet away from the curb. Driving around L.A. really works up an appetite.

The fun started the next day when we built our entire exhibit, from scratch. Me, Dave, and Isaac tackled this booth with the vigor and grace of three panda bears.

If something didn't bow to my whim I punched it in the face. I made an example of the sofa and everything else did as told. Here's a few progression pictures of our booth. This was taken just after I laid out the insolent sofa.

Eventually the sofa came to, and apologized for it's misconduct. It even offered to take me out for drinks after we were finished that night. I found under its rebellious facade, it was a softy. Good thing I didn't make that pun near those L.A. cops. I would have been ticketed for sure.

 Finally we finished and were ready for my adoring fans to flood the building for autographs.

We were there for 3 days. I had so many fans clamoring to meet me, I actually lost my voice the first two days. It was the hardest fun I have ever had. Here's a little video of the AnimSchool guys in action.

If you missed your opportunity to see me in person, don't worry! I'll be back in L.A. in November for CTN. Maybe next time I'll even catch a unicorn!