Well it certainly felt like a long summer. I'm so glad uni is only 2 weeks away. Before then I need a haircut.
I've been coming up with ideas for the future. Without trying to force them out, neither spill them all over the place, fearing someone might cause lawsuits. They're animation-related things I've been slowly developing, hoping to pitch as hot properties for Pixar (when they branch out their art departments), Disney (after the untitled Pooh project) or independent distribution. I want to have the freedom to be creative and make original feature films that people will admire and watch again and again. How I take certain ideas and turn them into something completely my own is by watching lots of movies, reading comics and books. Taking in details like visual/narrative techniques, studying genre conventions, observe characters' actions/emotions - playing with them. Dreaming always helps too. Combining them with personal experiences, they are constantly buzzing in my head, so I never so slow down. I'm ready for whatever those professional briefs have in store.
So yeah, October onwards is going to be great - a new challenge everyday, a new movie every week.

It was Mum's birthday so we had a couple of days out in London and Nottingham. The former was another grand adventure because we lost weight covering the great distances we walked. A brief browse around Covent Garden before heading back to Victoria Station, since we hadn't realised how long we had spent in an art gallery.
Tate Britain was a cultural experience that left me wholly inspired, a HOLY SHIT WOW reaction to those massive landscape pieces by Francis Danby and John Martin, and an urge to mix tones and highlights like the masters. Had I been to this a couple of years back Fine Art and I would have gelled but back then I had mixed success. This collection is the real deal. Web images do no justice. The Great Day of His Wrath is a badass 19th century example of the "Sublime in Crisis" Mum compared to the destruction of Vulcan in Star Trek. And then of course we marvelled at the bright colours and attention to detail of the Pre-Raphaelites. Kids, if you watched Desperate Romantics you'll know, among other things, Lizzie Siddall posed for Millais' Ophelia, and sex demon Rosetti based Proserpine on William Morris' wife Jane.
I was also amazed by the bronze sculptures on display, particularly the dynamicism of Frederic Leighton's An Athlete Wrestling with a Python; Turner's use of lighting; the works of William Blake, Hogarth, Fuseli, Gainsborough etc; a triangular, abstract metal scultpure that filled a hall.
After that trip, I still feel I haven't seen/done everything, and in London it's where it all happens.