Industrial Light and Demoscene

Gargaj, Gloom and Steeler outside the ILM/Lucasfilms Studio B entrance.

So we just got back from our presentation (and AWESOME tour) at ILM/Lucasfilms. The presentation went really well, with around 50 people turning up. It was well-rounded crowd, and almost all of them stuck around for the whole thing, even lunch afterwards. :)

We met AND there, and even a guy that used to be in nooon (yes, really!) and we got to pose with both Yoda and Darth Vader, so all in all a really good day I'd say. :)

We have some more pictures but before we can post them they need to be run by the PR execs over there first.. and now we are going to a Halloween party! :)

We're going back to NVIDIA

Follow-up: so apparently things went really well yesterday. So well in fact, that we are going back to NVIDIA on thursday, after our presentation at Adobe. To be serious for a moment: we really feel that NVIDIA "gets" us and the demoscene. We already have a lot of cool ideas (spawned by both parties, it was not just us telling them what we would like - it was really a two-way conversation).

The whole team that we met with were honestly the nicest set of people you could imagine, and we are really looking forward to cultivating some of the ideas that came out of that first meeting.

..and now, by popular demand, a picture of Temis - our host at NVIDIA and San Francisco-inviter extraordinairé:

Temis and Steeler enjoying a typical american lunch (typical in our eyes anyway :)

It doesn't really show on the picutre I guess, but that .. was one BIG burger!

Earthquake!

The outreach gang at the NVIDIA offices.

Okay, so we are nearing the end of our presentation at NVIDIA - everything is going well and the spirits are high.. and then..? Earthquake! We kid you not. 5.6 on the Richter scale. :) Read more about it at CNN.com:

"My God, I felt like running because the roof might come down on my head," she told the AP. "I've never felt anything like this in 16 years in the United States."

We felt it pretty well too. People looked kind of scared and started heading for the exits. Unfortunately we weren't quick enough with the camera, but here is a short post-quake clip (recorded around 10 seconds after it stopped - the roof-lights were still moving):

(Ed.note: The guy who wishes us "Welcome to California!" is
Rob Csongor, the VP of Corporate Marketing @ NVIDIA)

..and here are some images from our day at NVIDIA (which was actually close to a full day - we got there at around 16:00 and just got back to the appartment, like, thirty minutes ago :)

"Is everybody in? Is everybody in? The presentation is about to begin.." (Which demo is that from? :)


"The Popular Demo" is always a crowdpleaser.

All in all it was a great day, albeit long. :) Tomorrow it's time for Industrial Light and Magic and Lucasfilm.. but now.. nighty night - sleep tight - don't let the "post-earthquake" bugs bite!

Our schedule

Some people have asked us what our schedule looks like, and even though not everything is 100% decided, the days are as follows:

• Tuesday (today): NVIDIA
• Wednesday (31.10): Industrial Light and Magic / Lucasfilm
• Thursday (01.11): Adobe
• Friday (02.11): Pixar and Bay Area Visual Effect Society

Our plan is to keep you updated here both before and after our visits, so keep coming back for more. Now that Gloom has tackled the first use of iMovie HD on his Mac there will probable be a bit more videos as well (you said you wanted them - who are we to disregard public opinion? :)

Nevertheless right now we are waiting for the NVIDIA guy to go to Santa Clara in some minutes. So heading off now ;) Bye!

Steeler reports from the front line

This video was recorded yesterday - just a short report from Steeler. :)

Working..

We actually do work as well. Preparing for the first of our presentations, taking place tomorrow (at NVIDIA). The foundation of the Bay Bridge is barely visible through the window.

Early morning walk in SF

We're in the US allright. :)

We woke up early today and decided to walk around a bit in the area around where we are staying. It was quite foggy then (though now it has cleared up and the sky is blue and the sun is shining :) and quite damp and cold. We took some picures though, and here they are (courtesy of Gargaj).

Foggy morning. High tower. Looks like something directly out of "City 17" :)

Skyscrapers everywhere!

Steeler and Gloom found their new favourite delivery van. :)

Palmtrees and the Bay Bridge going across to Treasure Island (which is, apparently, completely devoid of treasure :)

Finally arrived

Gargaj took this picture of the sunset from San Francisco Int'l Airport.

After being on the road since 05:00, we finally arrived in San Francisco yesterday (it's now 08:27 over here). We met Sebastian (Shiva of Kolor), who works at Adobe, and has kindly let us stay in his apartment. After we picked up the rented car we had to spend some time on an american freeway (which was eerie and scary at the same time :) we arrived downtown and settled in to Sebastians apartment.

Some chilling later, we went shopping for food and boy.. there are some weird stuff available here! More later today.

The long wait .. for the longer flight

We're currently at Heathrow airport in London, waiting. Steeler is filling up his PSP with music for the 11.5 hour long flight (!) to San Francisco. Gargaj is creating music of his own (from where I sit, it sounds sweet :) and Gloom .. well, he's writing this. :)

Let's start by filling you in on some of the things that happened yesterday. Boring, yet not as boring that it didn't deserve being photographed.

"Heavy" - yeah, no shit. I have a pain in my right arm to prove it as well.

Steeler picked up me and Gargaj at the airport in the cleanest car in the world!

Gargaj - the cuddliest of the sceners (New! Version 1.2 with a goate!)

The cuddly scener brought me "Culture Crash" from Budapest! (Editors note: "Culture Crash" is my name for this baked dessert. It's actually called "Kürtöskalács" but come on - who can pronounce that?)

Proof that the UK is turning more and more Orwellian with each passing day - the sign says "This is a manual air condition that turns off automatically. The button needs to be pushed every 20 minutes for continued operation." or something to that effect. "Holy mind-numbing indoctrination, Batman!"

There were some more pictures, but for some reason Blogger doesn't seem to want to play with The Cloud WiFi hotspot right now. As the old Monthy Python saying goes: "Oh well, can't be helped, can't be helped.."

What-the-duck?!

Hello everyone. This page is about a noble (not to be confused with Nobel) effort to spread the word (and joy) of the demoscene to the other side of the globe - from Europe to The United States of America (and we don't mean that one member of Farbrausch :).

The trip began on the 27th of October, when Gloom and Gargaj traveled to Hamburg, Germany, to meet up with Steeler and leave for San Francisco the following day (today - we're waiting at the airport in London for our connecting flight, that's why we're writing this right now).

On our trip we will visit (and hold presentations for) among others; Pixar Animation Studio (link), Industrial Light and Magic (link) and Lucas Films (link), NVIDIA (link) and the San Francisco chapter of The Visual Effects Society (link).

We will try to update it as often as possible. In the meantime, stay tuned .. to demoscene.tv! :)