A fine breakfast.  May the carbs and saturated fat be with you!

The boundless energy and enthusiasm I brought to Singapore Monday morning has dissipated somewhat now this fine Wednesday evening, done in by the heat, humidity and non-stop pace of our media tour.  It’s late and still quite hot, a sticky hot that’s like summer in Texas, without the pickup trucks or shotguns.  Our hosts and organizers have done a terrific job, herding us from one site visit to the next as we journey back and forth across Singapore visiting many of the main animation, vfx, gaming and educational organizations on the island.  Much has been learned, gleaned from what’s been said and what’s not been said. The pleasant formalities of company presentations disrupted now and then by a barrage of pointed questions by the attending journalists. Mostly, we sound pretty intelligent, though as I listen to some of my tapes sometimes I think I sound like a 5 year old.

It will take a bit of time to properly synthesize, plus there are still 2 more full days of meetings to go.  So my coverage here actually begins with a pictorial spread of the first couple days, which includes visits to Lucasfilm Animation, Sunwoo, Southern Star, EON Reality, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Digipen and LASALLE College, as well Contact Singapore and the Singapore Economic Development Board.  Picture-smithing is much easier than word-smithing at 2 in the morning after an evening of spicy Indian food and a number of adult beverages.

My awesome new Lucasfilm data stick. Sitting atop my 220 volt converter, which sometimes works when it's not buzzing, I'm sure Darth Vadar truly feels every disruption in the force.

Lucasfilm Animation lobby

Lucasfilm Animation's current location. Studio expansion will include moving to a new building, soon to break ground, in Singapore's planned Mediapolis media business park hub.

Lucasfilm Animation's future home, part of the planned expansion for the Mediapolis business park.

Future home of Lucasfilm's Asia-Pacific Star Wars Fan Site Tracking Center.

Southern Star's Bananas in Pyajamas dolls.  Best toys yet on the tour. The show, set to air soon in Australia, is pretty amusing.

I want her to handle my business development. Or make me an omelette.

Pictures don't do justice to the new LASALLE College campus. The buildings are spectacular. Their animation program looks pretty good as well.

An innocent looking chewing gum and candy display. Suspicious that the individual packages were connected to motion sensors that triggered alarms, we kept a safe distance and quickly moved on.

Now under construction, this is the future home of the Pan-Asian TV Animation Demo Reel Disposal Depot.  Basically, this is where bad animation studio demo reels will go to die, alone, afraid and ashamed. 

A poor showing by business development at MIPCOM doesn't just cause concern with senior studio management.

 

 

In Singapore, Crazy Cats don't refer to bohemian artists. At least not yet.