This summer I participated in the FJORG! Iron Animator event at the SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group Graphics) convention in San Diego. The event was really fun, I met alot of really fantastic animators and I managed to create an animation I am happy with (with, of course, the aid of my two amazing teammates: Jacob Gardner and Jim Levasseur).

Our animation actually ended up winning 1st place. My team was really surprised, and the onslaught of questions and semi-publicity was not something we were used to. Some publicity I found endearing, but some attention was odd to me- for instance, we were asked “How do you feel?”, “Did you think you would win?”, “What is it like to win stuff?”. I find these questions, on the whole, a waste of breath. We worked hard AND we were damn lucky. And I’d say 98% of “winners” fall into a similar category. How did I feel to win? I felt LUCKY and maybe a bit tired. Disappointment in their blood-shot eyes… What did they expect? Should I have beat my chest and yelled “I’m ooooowwwaaaaaaAAA-SOME!”?

Any accomplishment can be found enjoying a cigarette in bed intertwined with lady luck- with that in mind I think winners should rejoice, but also remember who they slept with in order to get where they are. Or, if my analogy has run amuck: be humble, we are not so powerful that we completely control our successes and failures. This is not to say we shouldn’t work hard to take advantage of what luck swings our way, but when someones asks “Did you know you would win?” it’s hard not to just smile sadly and say “My friend, I am a very long way from knowing anything at all.”

Unfortunately, what I actually did was grin stupidly, squint and say “Uhhhh… I… know?”

If you want to read some interviews with interesting questions, try the following links:

Andrew Gordon, Spline Doctors interview

and

Keith Lango interview

Oh yeah, if you want to watch our animation it’s here.

And a neat documentary of FJORG! here.

-Tom

I’m starting my senior year at Bowling Green State University. I thought I’d actually start trying to organize my thoughts into a semi-coherent format. Let’s hope I keep it up.