In just over a month, we're moving to Singapore.
On January 21st, I begin my new job as Training Program Director for Lucasfilm Animation's Jedi Masters Program. It's a big deal and as I've been saying for the past month or so, I'm comically well suited to the position. Plus...Singapore!
Yes, It means back into the heart of Star Wars for good or ill with no "vacations" to go work on Star Trek or Hulk or Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull or...anything. It's pretty much all Star Wars all the time at Lucasfilm Animation Singapore. But...Singapore!
Plus, I'm not working on the stuff, I'm shaping and moulding (note I'm already using British English) the artists who will be making the stuff. I'll be building the program, curriculum and assessment tools as well as setting requirements for incoming students and grooming and onboarding faculty from the ranks of ILM, Lucasfilm Animation and LucasArts. Plus I get to work with both old friends and new. There are some amazing folks at the new studio and everyone wants it to be a success.
Also, it's a two year contract. The position (Jedi Headmaster, I've just decided to call it) is funded until March of 2010 (The Year We Make Contact), after that, who knows what will happen. There are certainly opportunities for me in the larger Lucas company, and we'll still own a house in Savannah, so teaching at SCAD is also a possibility.
How amazingly lucky am I to have a wife who will not only say "Yes" to uprooting and moving to Savannah, but who will say an even more enthusiastic "Yes" to a move to Singapore? That's a rhetorical question folks, but I appreciate the chorus of "Very lucky, dude!" from the back of the room. By the way, her willingness to say "Yes" to relocation is just one of a huge list of reason's I'm lucky to have found Rebecca.
It took us a long time to see Ночной дозор (Night Watch). We finally did a month or so ago and we loved it. I got Beca a copy of the new English translation of the novel for Christmas...and promptly started reading it myself.
It's fantastic! There are a few burps in the translation, but those are easily forgiven and didn't keep me from enjoying the book. The book has much more of a police procedural feel to it than the movie did. In fact, the book feels like it would lend itself really well to an expensive television series: Law and Order: Special Magic Unit or CSI: Moscow. Because of this, there is lots of great detail about the organization and operation of the Night Watch (and the Day Watch).
I also was delighted when I realized that I had covered the entire story arc covered in the movie by the book's half-way mark. That meant another few hundred pages of new stuff!
Some other nice bits from the book:
I must admit that reading Night Watch is making me miss the large contingent of Russian co-workers I had in San Francisco. It's also making me want to visit Moscow.
- No mention of God or Satan, just Light and Dark. It's all about free will and humans' personal choices.
- Anton is a programmer with a desk job who gets thrown into "field work."
- More backstory on Anton's "owl" partner.
- Lots of great detail about Anton's fellow Night Watch agents.
- More explaination of the Twilight.
So, if you're looking to expand on your enjoyment of the movie, or if you found it interesting but superficial, the book should satisfy you. Or, if you're looking for something in a Russian, Buffy meets Harry Potter meets Barney Miller kind of novel.
Actually, there's a mostly successful "magic meets espionage" book called Operation Chaos by Poul Anderson that's about fighting WWII with magic. It's a bit dated, but there's some good stuff in there.
OK, I still have a few hundred pages of Night Watch to finish...and then off to Amazon UK to get Day Watch!
