(Even though I'm not a big fan of 3D but that was because for my first and only 3D film I watched Avatar from the front row and it was horrific.
I believe that 3D should be for cartoons instead of normal films too! Coz in cartoons the lines are so much more defined mah.)
Ok I'm rambling on because I'm so excited.
Anyway to recap for people who didn't already know, I auditioned to be one of the 15 bloggers chosen WORLDWIDE (very hao lian must put in caps) to get an exclusive tour of Pixar and to get a first watch at Toy Story 3.
I've always been a big fan of Pixar (my absolute favourite movie is The Incredibles) so this was like a dream come true I tell you. Seriously.
And so I went, all the way to Emeryville, San Francisco.
Flew Philippine Airlines with the plane mostly filled with Filipinos. Transitting in Manila airport was a breeze, got personal escort one! And the filipinos are super friendly!
Was supposed to fly SQ but only Philippine Airlines could drop me home in time for the Nuffnang Symposium.
(On a side note I think I've figured out the difference between Philippine, Philippines, Filipino, Filipina, Pinoy and Pinay!
Philippines: Country
Filipino: Citizen, male/general
Filipina: Citizen, Female
Pinoy: Slang for Citizen, male/general
Pinay: Slang for Citizen, Female
Philippine: Inanimate object from Philippines
I think!! So confusing)
Here's my flight get-up. I normally have extensions and slap on some blusher + lipstick and gloss.
No foundation or mascara coz confirm get smudged and get very uncomfortable when you sleep!
Dude sitting beside me was a farter. -_-
Inside my bag... The big brown pouch contains Gillian's $3,000 video camera knn I was so stressed I would lose it or damage it.
And this Pixar trip was made into a Guide to Life episode which was filmed entirely by me! It wasn't easy filming yourself, let's just say that.
On a cab en route to Four Seasons Hotel! Gotta love USA advertising.
The hotel was crazy posh and super hugeeee!! Must go up 2 different lifts to get to your room from the lobby -_-
First thing I did: Shower, and order room service... Courtesy of Disney! ;)
And this is what I had - Pan Fried Halibut with creamy potato gratin
Comes with the yummiest creamy lemon butter sauce
It was so freaking delicious I ordered it for 3 dinners straight can you believe that? NOW I'M CRAVING FOR MORE OMG...
SLEEP! Day 2:
SHOPPING!!!
Spent about $400 on a four storey Juicy store. Oh well once a year.
Four seasons was in Market street which is where all the shops were!
Diesel ad
SHOPPING!!!
Spent about $400 on a four storey Juicy store. Oh well once a year.
Four seasons was in Market street which is where all the shops were!
Diesel ad
Also went to the flagship F21 building (yes it's a building by itself) and spent LOADS of money!! *sadface
At 5pm the bloggers/youtubers had to meet at the hotel lobby to be shuttled to Pixar... TO WATCH TOY STORY 3 OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG X INFINITY
I was responsible *ahem* and reached the hotel with ample time to prepare so camwhore first!
Loving my New Look jacket (super warm and chio!) + Hongkong nude pink boots!
Must try with the camera at different positions
In the luxurious toilet
Room
Hehehehe will the camwhoring stop?
OK LAH NO MORE!!!
After a while we arrive at PIXAR!!
It was raining so I only managed ONE BLURRY SHOT of bloggers walking in... Lao sai.
Anyway it was very hard to juggle filming and photography lah... Obviously filming was my first priority!
We weren't allowed to snap photos inside for today so we just went into the theatre (yes they got indoor theatre in Pixar) straight!
Was Toy Story 3 any good? HELL YES IT WAS!!
Action-packed and won't even let you have a moment where your mind wanders off! It will make you cry (some of the bloggers did), laugh, get indignant, and filled with childlike awe. :)
Andy's going to college so how will the story wrap up? It's really an awesome ending imho.
Plus there are super a lot of new toys! Pictures of them later. Really lor, you know how you've been seeing Toy Story 3 trailers and ads around and sometimes the product doesn't live up to the hype? THIS TOTALLY DOES.
Plus I don't know how they did it but they also like polished up the animation or whatever so it looks chioer than ever!!
MAD LOVEEEEE
Day three:
Meeting at the hotel lobby again at 8am
Meeting at the hotel lobby again at 8am
Pic of two USA pixar bloggers... Left is 18 and right is only 16! The 16 year old had to have a guardian with him lor. It was their first time going into Pixar too and it must be even more a dream come true for them (coz they are passionate enough about Pixar to have a pixar blog)!
I'm sitting beside Natalie Tran on the bus... She is a famous youtube star. Erm the first day I tweeted that she is very hostile so on day 2 she said she saw the tweet (mad paiseh) and was trying to be nicer.
Tadah!
SULLEY AND MIKE~!! Monsters Inc is awesommmmme!
Sunnyside Daycare - place in Toy Story 3 that looks deceivingly cheerful :D
Toys scattered on the table. No idea whether these are real coz director Lee Unkrich has a penchant for collecting bootleg Pixar toys.
Pixar's office space is so big and airy and fun!
Attack!
Huge Woody and Buzz made of LEGO! MUST. CAMWHORE.
HOWDY! There is a snake in my boot!
Pixar supervising producers Bobby and Mike were bringing us around and telling us more about Pixar's work environment, showing us the equipment (one huge room full of 6 feet tall computers just doing nothing but rendering all day long), and most interestingly of all, the offices of Pixar's animators.
These people are obviously very creative, so much so that no one could resist decorating their offices (they all have a room to themselves) VERY VERY EXTRAVAGENTLY!
It was unbelievable!!!
We saw an office decorated completely Tiki-styled with straw roof and torches etc... Pretty pale yellow with a baseball-picket fence coz the animator loves baseball... Other crazy designs - which unfortunately I couldn't video or snap shots coz it's not allowed...
THEN Mike and Bobby led us to animator Andrew Gordon's office. They led us in in groups and allowed us to take pictures.
But erm........ THAT OFFICE IS SUPER PLAIN!
Totally disappointed lor!
BUT THEN....
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OMG
AN UNASSUMING BOOKSHELF SWINGS
OPEN TO REVEAL A SECRET ROOM!
Vegas styled with a bar and casino poker table!
And all the celebrities who have been in this very room with Andrew Gordon... So many!
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OMG
AN UNASSUMING BOOKSHELF SWINGS
OPEN TO REVEAL A SECRET ROOM!
Vegas styled with a bar and casino poker table!
And all the celebrities who have been in this very room with Andrew Gordon... So many!
However this room was a bit cramped so I didn't have a chance to snap more before leaving to let the next batch in.
There was this super grumpy middle-aged Russian blogger among us who was giving a stupid black face the entire time. I can't believe there are people so ungrateful man, who is forcing him to go to this junket?! Some other kid somewhere would be soooooo happy to take his place for this once in a lifetime opportunity!
As Bobby and Mike were checking to see if everyone went in, they asked the Russian if he would like to go to, he just rudely waved Bobby away and glared into the distance.
I'd invite him to leave at this moment but Bobby just looked politely incredulous.
And then we had roundtable interviews!
With Bob Pauley, Art director, showing us the creations, paintings and drawings of many talented artists.
Some of the new characters you can expect to see in Toy Story 3! My favourite is a little yellow bunny (not here) that looks like Minilove!
Explaining to us how each character was conceived. Very interesting!
Christine Freeman, lead archivist, looking pleased to show me a sculpture of Jessie.
She has LOADS of paintings/toys/sculptures etc all showcasing the start to finish of each Pixar creation. She even showed us how Buzz looked like initially and it was not like the final thing!
And btw do you know why Buzz Lightyear is white, green and purple? That's coz his creator's favourite colour is green and his wife's is purple. Don't know about the white part I guess it just looks futuristic.
I love this gigantic painting of Buzz and Woody looking at Andy going away from them.
With no facial expressions even, one can feel the disappointment, sadness and helplessness of the duo just by the colours and that hand on the shoulder that says There, there, we can work something else out...
Very sad one!! Why am I so emo it's a movie -_-
And we break for LUNCH!!
Pixar staff are so lucky their work place is so nice!
Camwhore shot
We visited Hidden City Cafe, a small joint where a lot of the Pixar peeps used to eat at just coz it was near to their office.
We were real lucky to dine with Teddy Newton, who is an animator, storyboard artist and also directing the Pixar short film that would show before Toy Story 3, Day and Night!
Somemore he does voiceovers. He was the newsreel narrator in The Incredibles!
There he is with Bobby (second from right) and Mike (extreme right).
What's with the hats?
Eating with the bloggers. I like Bree, from Buzznet (right).
And still I didn't get any
And we got to watch Day and Night!!
Everyone went "woooooo!" when John Lasseter himself (CCO of Pixar) came to introduce the short film to us!!
Was it good? YOU BET. Pixar shorts typically don't have any dialogue and yet expresses so much! And this one is lagi better it is 3D INSIDE a 2D film!!
The black colour parts are 2D while the insides of the dudes are 3D!! It's realllllly amazing lah! I really love Pixar shorts it's like you paid for an awesome movie and got one bonus little movie really very wu hua *sobs
My favourite is Partly Cloudy and second is the lamb hopping one!
THE INCREDIBLES!
Me as a toy!! Well I'm already part silicon...
Maan, the disney rep from Singapore, also gives it a shot. I like her very much! Among all the strangers from around the world it is so comforting to see someone back from home being nice to you. :)
Disturbing director Lee Unkrich as he does someone else's video interview.
More camwhoring!
Peas!
in a POD!! Hehehe so cute
With Jessie, one of my favourite characters from Pixar ever
Toy Story 1 and 2 in Blu ray!
Toy Story video game!
Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich and producer Darla K. Anderson signing for their fan. I also had them sign something!
An alien!
Present for Ming in exchange for the Capella room he booked for Mike and I for our wedding. He loves this kinda stuff!
Love what Darla wrote. She is super cute!
Picture with Maan, thanks for taking care of me so well xoxo
Ming's pressies, bought from the exclusive Pixar studios store - merchandise there cannot be found outside!
Dug says hello!
Asked Bob Pauley if he could sketch a toy story character for me and he drew Lots-O-Huggin' bear and an alien!! I could keep this and he signed it for me too!
I am so, so proud of what Clicknetwork has evolved into...
3 years ago it was just a dream and look at us now!! *hugs Gillian to cry*
Last look at Pixar Studios
BYE BYE!!!
p/s: I know this entry is super long-winded but I have to record my memories of this awesome event! Hope all Pixar lovers like me enjoyed this entry! Confirm must watch Toy Story 3 you can hold me personally responsible if you don't like it! LOL but seriously though if you don't it's coz you have shitty taste.
UPDATE: Erm sorry to burst the bubbles of the peeps who said they are definitely gonna give Pixar a visit but the place is not open to public and they are very stringent about visitors!! Cannot be open to public lor it's a workplace so imagine if got people milling around all the time how can they work?!