BELATED RESOLUTIONS FOR 2011
These resolutions are mighty late, though I think according to the Chinese calendar – their New Year is just approaching.
As with everyone, the Holidays were fun, crazy and really busy. We always remember our Holidays in Ireland with great affection. Back then, the whole country basically closed down. The banks and stores closed for most of the time, so we had to stock in provisions to last a week or two. The price of food seemed to be reduced and specialty items appeared on the shelves – candies and baked goods from Italy and Germany, fruits from Israel, pate’ from Belgium, smoked salmon from Norway. It was an affordable, veritable smorgasbord.
Everyone travelled to the country to stay and visit relatives. Except us, we would visit local friends and have movie marathons for what seemed like days and days. We did not have a television (we would have to pay for a TV license, so I would borrow a combo VCR and TV from the Ballyfermot school for the Holidays.
The transit buses throughout the country stopped running on Christmas day and did not resume service after until New Years day. It didn’t bother us a bit to be together so much. For the most part, we have always had a wonderful time - with generous amounts of laughter, long walks, movie watching and puzzle assembling.
Every Christmas Season, we are always looking to duplicate those experiences and build on them.
Christmas in Orlando, is somewhat different! We celebrate the days whenever the most people are here - this year that was from the 27th to the 30th of December.
The biggest difference between the Holidays in Savannah and here in Orlando is that here there are Holiday events right up to and past Christmas. On December 24th, we attended David McElroy’s one man performance of A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Dave plays over 30 characters. His performance was truly amazing! We thoroughly enjoyed the evening! Years ago, Dave and I had worked at the Disney Institute.
Prior to the performance, we had supped at the Saratoga Springs Grill (formerly Seasons restaurant at DI).
Enough of the holidays!
My resolutions for this year are almost the same as last year. I am all set to learn Maya. Fullsail University encourages its employees to stay progressive – so no excuses this year. I’ll be having my own version of to “Infinity and beyond!”
I am progressing on MIMI AND GACK – and will finish it this year. I have spent time organizing the files. There are so many bits and pieces, scanned, colored, effects, shading – the tracking is a monumental task.
My live-action feature script about my experiences stateside during the Vietnam War is heading toward being finished.
I still draw every day - I will try to upload more of those up on the blog and video blog more this year.
A few landmarks and comments:
Do we really need to label someone “king of the indies”? I can think of about twelve other animators who also deserve that accolade. Enough of the labels already – why do we have to label folks?
2010 was a banner year for our film PETE’S ODYSSEY, it won 2 first places and several other prizes. Many thanks to Charlotte Rinderknecht for her trust and support – PETE wouldn’t have done so well or even existed without her participation. As always, the students who worked on PETE were wonderful! Of course MIchelle Armstrong (Lauria) provided an amazing song UNAFRAID TO FIND. Special thanks to Vinny Potuto and Lynne Oddo – see what happens when you put three Italians together.
Our son, Matt Lauria reached new heights in his acting career. His Luke Cafferty on FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS was a seminal performance. His new show CHICAGO CODE – he is Caleb Evers – airs on Fox Network next week, February 7th at 9:00 p.m. eastern…more on that later. Instead of Larry Lauria, award winning animator, director, instructor. I am Matt Lauria’s dad (which is great as far as I am concerned).
We love being back in Orlando, My job at Full Sail University is wonderful. The folks I worked with are amazing! The students seem dedicated and full of energy!
More soon.
ALWAYS ANIMATED!