JPL likes to share its discoveries with the public. The laboratory recently did some work expanding and updating its theater, and putting a fresh face on its museum for the open house this past May. Both have a few large items of note, to say the least. One particularly overwhelming object was the retired lens from the Hubble telescope. It looked, other than its sheer bulk, very unassuming.  Then we were directed to some small pockmarks at the front end of the housing that were made by small comets hitting the housing. I took a picture, but it just didn’t capture the magic of the object.

©Chris Williams and MIchael Docherty

Recently I received a message from an animator friend of mine via Facebook about a graphic novel he is working on. It’s not really breaking news that an animation artist is working on a graphic novel with hopes for a film adaptation. It’s more of a cliché in Los Angeles for artists to have a day job in the industry and work on their own art projects in their free time. Cliché or not, there is still a lot of inspiring work coming out of the independent scene. The really interesting thing about William’s email was the mechanism he was using to raise funds to see the project through to its fruition.

A few weeks ago I attended the dedication of the Ray Harryhausen theater at Sony Pictures Digital, which holds the Sony Pictures Imageworks and Sony Pictures Animaton studios on its campus. The dedication itself took place on the large lawn outside the theater and was followed by a screening of Jason and the Argonauts, which had been digitally scanned and restored to make a Blu-Ray edition of the film.  It was a small and joyous event that felt almost like a family gathering. The event seemed to have turned everyone into a 12-year-old Harryhausen fan who couldn’t help smiling.

Jon Landis gave the dedication in place of Imagework’s Ken Ralston, who had come down with something on the flight back from London where he had attended Mr. Harryhausen’s 90^th birthday party. There was camera set up to record birthday wishes from Mr. Harryhausen. Luminaries Rob Cook and Sam Raimi, among others, attended. Raimi brought his kids, which I thought was awesome. I came to love science fiction, fantasy and horror movies sitting beside my grandfather in the great movie houses of old downtown San Diego. I always love to see people passing on their love of the fantastic to their children.

The 1960s was a time of political activism and paradigm changing views of race and when institutions of higher learning were adding Graphics Labs to their campuses, usually as an extension of the Engineering departments. This was not only expanding the reach of the computer graphics industry, it was also creating a community that had a special interest in computer graphics and interactive techniques.

I believe strongly in volunteerism of all kinds. I have friends all over who volunteer, everything from Habitat for Humanity to reading for the blind. I believe all volunteerism (as long as it’s legal, etc) improves the world. I take a follow your heart approach. My heart looks at something that needs to be organized so that artists and inventors can be showcased in a manner worthy of their work and I can’t help myself.