I haven’t really had a chance recently to record my daily activities like I used to. And I guess that’s a good thing since it means I’ve been super busy working on some amazing projects!
Here’s what I’ve been up to for the past few weeks:
Working on my first real freelance illustration job!!! I’ve been more or less hired to design some covers and interior illustrations. More details to come.
Working on blog posts documenting my Cannes/London trip. There are about 20-23 related posts I’ve been working on since I got back. I just want to polish them all before sharing them!
Figuring out inventory for upcoming online store and expos/fests/conventions. This includes putting together my first zine and The Flea plush toy among other products.
Production of my first zine. I’ve been printing, cutting, and assembling like mad and can’t wait to share my work! Plus, I already have a great idea for my second zine.
Production of The Flea plush toy. This has involved a few failed attempts, but I’ve finally hit upon a great prototype and am ready to start making more.
Setting up a Storenvy account. Drafting product descriptions, etc.
Pre-production for The Man Who Never Smiled. One of my short scripts is being made into a film!!! I’ve been working with a Sacramento-based director named Josh on this. We’re planning on filming in July. More details to come.
Planning on finishing the first 10 pages of The First Reich. As soon as I’m done with the first deadline for the freelance illustration job, I plan to work on this.
Officially began writing my third full-length screenplay. I’ve had this strange idea floating around my brain for a while now. Without giving anything away, I think the best way to describe it is as a dark dramedy.
Planning on submitting some new short screenplays to various contests. While at Cannes, I had a chance to write a few new shorts.
I just wanted to tell everyone that I’m leaving for my Cannes/London trip!
I will be away from later today Saturday, May 11th through Friday, May 31st (plus most likely a few days of recovery, etc.).
During my trip, I plan on taking copious notes/photographs in order to share my adventure here with you when I get back.
Unfortunately, I’ll have only sporadic Internet connection while abroad. But please feel free to leave me a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible!
Zest Books Internship, Day #19: A little bit of editing, a little bit of Facebook-ing, a little bit of photoshopping, and a little bit of mailing.
Saturday, April 6th
Hanging out with family today. Went to see Oz: The Great and Powerful, which was pretty bad except for the opening credits and the Danny Elfman soundtrack.
Finished working on notes for The Man Who Never Smiled.
Wednesday, April 10th
Zest Books Internship, Day #20: Worked mostly on mailing today… I think I put together over 60 packages. Wrote a blog post for the Zest Books official blog about upcoming titles Little Fish and Super Pop! with an accompanying illustration — can’t wait to see this go up online!
Thursday, April 11th
Ran some errands and worked on some preparation for the Cannes/London trip.
Made an account with Storenvy and am beginning to set up my own online store.
Went with Wes to an event at San Francisco Film Society. Talked with some of Wes’s former employers and met a filmmaker named Joey who will also be at Cannes.
Friday, April 12th
Zest Books Internship, Day #21: Worked on some cover designs for an upcoming Zest Books title. Everyone really seems to like what I’ve done!
Invited to be an illustrator for an upcoming collaborative project with a small publisher. More details to come!
Worked on some upcoming blog posts.
Worked on setting up the online store.
Saturday, April 13th
E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
Went to North Beach to eat really tasty Italian food. ( ´◔‿ゝ◔`)
Sunday, April 14th
Date with Wes! Went to see The Place Beyond the Pines, which was interesting. Ate Vietnamese food afterwards. (・∀・)
Ran some errands and worked on some preparation for my Cannes/London trip.
Thinking of investing in a professionally printed preview zine of The Poet and the Flea to sell online and at expos. Looking into various local printers!
Zest Books Internship, Day #23: Sat in on staff meeting. Created a blog post for Earth Day. Worked on WordPress, editing some content.
Worked on some upcoming blog posts.
Saturday, April 20th
E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
Helped mom prepare for the art show next weekend.
Did some research on local printers.
Sunday, April 21st
Elias’s 1st birthday party! Bit of a strange day… Wes and I went to Gabe’s house to celebrate his son’s first birthday. Unfortunately, we didn’t actually get to see Gabe since he had to take his father to the hospital for a broken leg. Later, Wes and I went to The Ice Cream Bar since it was so hot outside and we needed to cool off. Then, we ended up eating at Sunflower Vietnamese for dinner and later had dessert with my folks and Nikki the shiba inu.
Zest Books Internship, Day #24: Put together some interview questions for Dan. Worked on some button designs in Photoshop.
HOLY MOLY MACARONI! I just received the most amazing e-mail. (A secret for now…)
♪(┌・。・)┌
Thursday, April 25th
Working on Blake Society talk!
Friday, April 26th
Wow, received another awesome piece of news. Can’t really say anything yet, but everything is really coming together it seems!!
Zest Books Internship, Day #25: LAST DAY! Finished button designs and ordered them online. The office ladies took us out for lunch, which was very sweet.
Spring Cleaning: Wanted to clean up my room and get rid of a lot of junk before leaving for Cannes/London trip! Now that most of the junk is gone, it should be easier to pack.
Monday, April 29th
Feeling under the weather today.
Tuesday, April 30th
E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
Helped mom with some photos I took of her work for various purposes.
Wednesday, May 1st
E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
Even put together some important snail mail today!
Finally got my hair cut! Now I feel like I’m almost ready for my trip. (◕‿◕✿)
Correspondence with a recruiter for a potential job.
Friday, May 3rd
Ran around EVERYWHERE today to finish up errands for the Cannes/London trip. Utterly exhausted!
Jotted some more ideas down for a future screenplay.
Saturday, May 4th
Today’s motto: 七転び八起き= Nanakorobi yaoki. Fall seven times and stand up eight.
Family Bonding Day! This is the last weekend before I leave for Cannes/London, so spent time with the folks. Ate lunch at a great Puerto Rican restaurant. Finally got to see Girl with a Pearl Earring and Rembrandt’s Century at the de Young.
Sunday, May 5th
Date with Wes! Went to see Iron Man 3, which really wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Ate tasty Japanese dinner at Sanraku. Hopefully will see Wes one more time before I leave!
Monday, May 6th
New suitcase arrived in the mail.
Finalizing Cannes/London trip plans.
Continued correspondence with a recruiter for a potential job.
Worked on some upcoming blog posts.
Tuesday, May 7th
Ran some errands for the Cannes/London trip.
Finalizing Cannes/London trip plans.
Working on Blake Society talk!
Wednesday, May 8th
Ran some errands for the Cannes/London trip.
E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
Finalizing Cannes/London trip plans.
Working on Blake Society talk!
Jotted down some more ideas for a future screenplay.
Dinner with Wes!
Thursday, May 9th
E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
Finishing up odds and ends of Cannes/London travel arrangements.
Packing for trip!!
Worked on some upcoming blog posts.
Friday, May 10th
E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
Finishing up odds and ends of Cannes/London travel arrangements.
PACKING!!!
Saturday, May 11th
Finishing up odds and ends of Cannes/London travel arrangements.
Flight leaves San Francisco at 7:05 p.m. Will arrive in Nice, France at 6:10 p.m.
Etcetera
The Poet and the Flea: 63 pages of written script (1 page of script = 4-6 illustrated pages), and about 36 pages (1-30 completed, and 31-36 in progress) of illustrated work.
The First Reich: about 1-10 pages of illustrated work in progress.
First Zine: 8 pages of illustrated work completed. Zine production pending.
This past Saturday, I attended the opening reception for an exhibit entitled “On Paper” at Gallerie Citi in Burlingame, California. The show features five artists who work in paper-based mixed media. I was there to support one of the artists — my mother Irene Zweig — who creates captivating pieces through deconstruction and reassemblage.
If anyone happens to be in the San Francisco Bay Area and would like to attend, the exhibit will be open through June 15th.
Spoke with my high school friend Tina L. about SPX (Small Press Expo) in Maryland. We (Tina, some of her friends, and I) are going to try to get a table there this September! Also, Tina may share a table with me for this year’s APE!
Wednesday, February 20th
Zest Books Internship, Day #7: Super busy with some editing/fact-checking work! Also, sat in on a Teen Advisory Board meeting, which was interesting. Going in again tomorrow instead of Friday to sit in on a meeting and meet a tight deadline!
Thursday, February 21st
Sent Hannah some follow-up answers.
Zest Books Internship, Day #8: Came in Thursday instead of Friday. Managed to complete a big project before the deadline. Finally met Dan in person (had only talked on phone before). Going to help Hallie with a photoshop project on Wednesday. Busy, busy, busy!
First skype meeting with film director Josh! He’s interested in my short script The Man Who Never Smiled. Soon, he’ll be scouting locations and creating a shot list. Wants me to write detailed notes about the script and eventually create a simple storyboard. Set filming date for July. Extremely excited!!!
Zest Books Internship, Day #11: Worked on a graphic-novel-related marketing research project.
Thursday, March 7th
Meeting with Gabe! Hoping I can finished illustrations for Elias in a few weeks, scan them, then meet with Gabe to get everything prepared to send out to publishers!
Zest Books Internship, Day #12: Continued to work on a graphic-novel-related marketing research project. Received some very interesting advice about publishing.
Zest Books Internship, Day #15: Worked on research for London Book Fair and literary agents. Put together a bunch of packages to be mailed. Image research for computer/internet-related ebook.
Saturday, March 23rd
E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
Date night with Wes. Saw The Incredible Burt Wonderstone — actually much more entertaining than we were expecting. Bought David Bowie’s new album!
Yay!
Sunday, March 24th
E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
Received reply from a potential job — interview on Thursday.
Passover trip — had Passover and stayed overnight at cousin’s house outside of Sacramento. Would be perfect location for filming Death Is No Bad Friend.
Received e-mail from local production company. Interview scheduled for April 11th!
Tuesday, March 26th
Return drive from Passover trip.
Wednesday, March 27th
Zest Books Internship, Day #16: Worked on image research and fact checking! Fact checking is definitely one of my strong suits — I have so much random knowledge stuffed away in my brain that I can immediately sense when something is off.
Beautiful but deadly pollen!
Thursday, March 28th
Interview with potential job unsuccessful, but that’s fine by me. Looking forward to next interview on the 11th!
The Poet and the Flea: 63 pages of written script (1 page of script = 4-6 illustrated pages), and about 36 pages (1-30 completed, and 31-36 in progress) of illustrated work.
The First Reich: about 1-10 pages of illustrated work in progress.
First Zine: about 6-8 pages of illustrated work in progress.
At the beginning of March, the chair of the Blake Society Tim Heath confirmed my invitation to speak to the society as well as asked that I put together a title, description, and bio for this year’s programme of events.
To give me a better idea of what to write, Tim offered to send me a copy of last year’s brochure. And, late last week, this beautiful printed booklet arrived (see photos below)!
I can’t wait to see how this year’s programme will turn out!
P.S. I only just realized that Philip Pullman is the president of the Blake Society. What!? I mean, it makes complete and total sense, but I’m still trying to wrap my brain around that fact.
I met my Barcelonian friend Elena in Tokyo of all places. We were both studying at Sophia University for a year.
We met through a mutual acquaintance and the three of us ended up on a three day trip to Okinawa. Both Elena and I share an enthusiasm for Okinawan culture and were so excited to go. We managed to see everything on our checklist and had an overall wonderful time there.
As it turned out, a few weeks later, Elena ended up moving into the same dorm as me. We ended up spending memorable times together, staying up to the wee hours of the morning chatting and eating candy.
Now, having only recently moved to San Francisco, we live on practically opposite sides of the globe. But we still Facebook and tweet at each other. And, most excitingly, we send packages through snail mail to each other, back and forth from Spain to the States.
While we were friends in Tokyo, Elena had no idea I drew at all. This was during my college phase of not having time to draw. Boy, was she surprised when she learned I was working on my graphic novel The Poet and the Flea. And, quickly, she became my #1 fan!
Elena became smitten by the rose from page 27 of The Flea (as seen on Part 4 of Behind the Scenes). So, for the winter holiday, I sent her the following ink and watercolor rose.
In return, at the end of January, I received a wonderful little New Year’s present from Elena (see photos below)! She sent me a delightfully long handwritten letter, a bag of candy, and a flyer of a favorite Japanese band called exist†trace (which I believe Elena was handed by the lead singer named Jyou after a The GazettE concert).
I would love for Elena to come visit San Francisco one day, or for me to visit her in Barcelona (when I’m not an unpaid intern making absolutely no money). Elena is really the only person I keep in touch with from my year abroad and I’m proud to have such an awesome friend! Maybe someday we’ll even return to Japan and even Okinawa together.
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For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.
Thank you so much to Don Hoang Nguyen (nguyeningit.wordpress.com) for nominating me a third time for the Liebster Award! Don’t forget to check out Don Hoang’s quirky illustrations and comics.
To view the post from my first and second nominations, click here and here.
As I mentioned yesterday,I continue to accept these awards because I love being able to share/promote other talented WordPress bloggers by nominating them. So please take a look at the list of nominations below!!
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Rules
Post eleven facts about yourself.
Answer the questions the tagger has set for you and create eleven questions for people you’ve nominated.
Choose eleven people to give this award to and link them in your post.
Go to their page and tell them.
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Don Hoang’s Questions
1. What is your favorite pizza topping?
Dolce gorgonzola, ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, pear and golden raisins.
2. Where is your favorite pizza joint providing said favorite pizza topping?
The Quattro Fromaggi pizza at Pizza Nostra in San Francisco.
Prepared for tomorrow — the first day of my new internship!!!
Wednesday, January 30th
Zest Books Internship, Day #1: Wonderful first day! Having an easy time getting into the flow of everything. Staff is extremely friendly and excited to get to know them better. Get awesome sneak peaks of upcoming titles. Friday, will be working on Tumblr and possibly doing some image research — can’t wait!
Thursday, January 31st
Not ready to announce anything yet, but amazing news (from January 20th) continuing to develop!
Received e-mail from follower Hannah Meiklejohn (bellusmundus.wordpress.com) asking if she could write an article for a magazine about The Poet and the Flea, yay! Excited to learn more details about the article and magazine. (^-^)
Zest Books Internship, Day #2: Worked on historical-themed image research for most of the day, which was mostly a lot of fun! Started working on Zest’s Tumblr (zestbooks.tumblr.com). Ate lunch in nearby park, which is very pleasant and relaxing and will definitely be repeated.
Saturday, February 2nd
Happy Groundhog Day!!
Filled out the rest of Cannes paperwork and made a checklist for what to bring (I’m Going To Cannes!!!).
Went to see Warm Bodies with Wes! Not the most brilliant movie, but adorable and a lot of fun. (︶ω︶)
For those of you watching the new Netflix series House of Cards, I highly recommend watching the original BBC version starring the brilliant Ian Richardson also available on Netflix.
Ran into a neighbor on the bus to work today, and she’d like to hire me to help her with her WordPress. We’ll see what happens… (^-^)
Zest Books Internship, Day #3: Worked on creating prom tips for Zest’s Tumblr as well as a mailing project. Getting to know everyone in the office better — everyone’s super easy to talk to. Took home a copy of Zoo Station to read.
Wow, I adore this new FX show The Americans! Amazing character development and really scary/exciting. Can’t wait for the next episode.
Zest Books Internship, Day #4: Continuing work on Tumblr! Sat at Ann’s desk today — she happens to have a David Bowie paper doll (with multiple outfits) taped to her computer, which brings me endless joy. Got to know fellow intern Olivia a bit better. Extremely excited to proofread/edit the back cover blurb for an upcoming book. Also got to share my opinion on some cover art!
Today’s constant companion: David Bowie!
Saturday, February 9th
Went to see Lewis Black with Wes and the folks! Stomach hurts from laughing so much!
Sunday, February 10th
Finally got to talk with my good friend from high school Tina! Talked on the phone for over 2 hours! (^-^;;)
Worked on TOP SECRET project.
Monday, February 11th
Went downtown today to pick up some more supplies from Britex for The Flea plush toy.
Did a little shopping in preparation for Cannes. A lot more shopping to do in the next few months.
Finished writing responses to Hannah’s questions. Just have to edit a bit and then send them to her.
Worked on TOP SECRET project.
Wednesday, February 13th
Zest Books Internship, Day #5: More historical-themed image research and Tumblr. Asked to do some brainstorming for book ideas. Ended up walking all the way home today since the bus skipped a lot.
A few days ago, e-mailed the Tate Gallery about information on their William Blake collection. Today, received response with good news. Will talk about this more in upcoming post.
Received e-mail from Hannah! She sent a draft of the article, and it looks really wonderful so far. Just have to answer a couple follow-up questions. \(^-^)/
Zest Books Internship, Day #6: More historical-themed image research and Tumblr. Also, talked about a potential book idea I came up with, and some of the staff seems interested! Next week, will be attending the Teen Advisory Board on Wednesday and a staff meeting on Thursday. Very excited!
Saturday, February 16th
Ordered a beautiful dress to wear at Cannes. I needed a maxi dress for pool parties, etc. and couldn’t find the right one in stores. So I browsed Etsy and found the talented Nicole Lebreux! Not only does Nicole have really fun designs, but also she was extremely helpful in answering my questions. So go ahead and check out her shop!
Went to see a simulcast of the new Met production of Verdi’s Rigoletto. The opera is usually set in the 16th century, but this production cleverly reimagines the story in 1960s Las Vegas. Wonderfully creative and engaging production with incredible singers! Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-zXLKd76fk.
Sunday, February 17th
Worked on some upcoming blog posts.
Date night with Wes!
Etcetera
The Poet and the Flea: 63 pages of written script (1 page of script = 4-6 illustrated pages), and about 36 pages (1-24, 27-30 completed, and 25-26, 31-36 in progress) of illustrated work.
The First Reich: about 1-10 pages of illustrated work in progress.
First Zine: about 6-8 pages of illustrated work in progress.
Answer the questions the tagger has set for you and create eleven questions for people you’ve nominated
Choose eleven people to give this award to and link them in your post
Go to their page and tell them
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Eleven Facts about G. E. Gallas
I’m going to cut corners a little bit since I already answered a ton of questions about myself for other awards. So check out more than eleven facts about me on my posts Reader Appreciation Award and Very Inspiring Blogger Award. (^-^;;)
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Denises’s Questions
1. What makes you laugh?
I laugh at any number of odd things, especially at awkward situations I may find myself in. Oh, I can keep myself endlessly amused.
2. How do you like to spend your spare time?
Spare time? What spare time?
3. What’s your favourite book?
This question is impossible to answer. Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Facesis practically my bible (I mentioned I’m a Jewish atheist, right?). I’m also quite fond of Robert Graves’s I, Claudius, Alexandre Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo, Yukio Mishima’s Spring Snow (Haru no Yuki), E. L. Doctorow’s Ragtime, etcetera, etcetera. My bookshelf looks frighteningly like a Penguin Classics library!
4. What inspires you most?
Artists who are extraordinarily dedicated to their work inspire me the most.
5. If you could change one thing in your life, what would it be?
Wouldn’t change a thing!
6. Has blogging an impact in your real life?
Hmm, let me think about that one — not sure yet.
7. Would you meet in your real life someone you’ve met on the internet?
I have already met in real life a number of people I’ve met on the internet.
8. What do you find annoying?
Hypocrites — they are the bane of my existence.
9. Do you blog often?
Yes, I suppose so.
10. Which place of the world would you like to visit?
I would love to visit all over Scandinavia!
11. If you win, how are you going to celebrate on the blog sphere?
