There
are times when I have questions and hope for a simple answer when I
finally ask them. Normally I'm able to find the answer to them with
my own research or by simply poking around the internet. Then there
are times where I will have to contact a reliable source but there
are times that backfires. One such incident happened a few years back
when I was looking for native plants and flowers of India and which
of their deities was associated with what. To me it was a relatively
simple question but I just couldn't find the answer online. So what
was my next step? I contacted the Smithsonian Institute by phone and
asked. You would think that a collective of some of the most
knowledgeable minds in the fields of religious iconography, art, and
botany would know what in the world I was talking about. Nope! After
almost an hour and a half of being bounced between 3 different
departments, no one knew what I was trying to ask. Normally people
would give up by this point but I went a different route and
contacted the Central National Herbarium, Botanical Survey of India by email instead.
Within 15 minutes I ended up with a response from one of the directors of the gardens with the exact information I was looking for, to which
I was very thankful for since I wanted the information for some
future projects (which sadly I haven't had a chance to get to as of
yet but still am planning on getting them done).
This
perhaps might give you some insight into the lengths I go to in order
to do research on things I'm interested in. Where am I going with
this, you might be asking yourselves. Back in November 2012, I was
wondering if Disney was going to continue with a movie series that so
far only had 2 installments as of yet. What would be I talking about? Fantasia (1940) and Fantasia 2000 (1999) which, to me, were an amazing collaboration between classical pieces of music and the talents of artists interpreting them into a visual form. Looking online, I couldn't
find a thing so wrote a letter to the Disney Studios with the
following question:
To
whom it may concern,
I
had attempted to find a way to send my inquiry by email through your
website but unfortunately, I was directed towards the FAQ page where
I did not find the answer to my question so I thought it best to
contact you by mail. As an artist, I have always appreciated many of
the films that the Walt Disney Studios has created since the 1940s to
present. Perhaps my favorites is Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 due to
the perfect marriage of musical masterpieces and the skillful
storytelling of your animators. I have been waiting patiently for any
word on if there would be a third installment to the Fantasia family
but I have yet to find any news on such an endeavor. Maybe I missed
the news but I was curious if there was on in the making or planned
for the future? I do thank you for your time and look forward to
hearing from you on this subject matter.
I
patiently waited but after several months of not having any response,
I decided that I would write to them again with the thought that
perhaps the first letter was lost in the mail or was lost in
someone's office trash can. So in February I sent a second letter
stating that I did send the first one last year, restated the
question and thanked them again for taking the time to get back to
me. Here it is 2 weeks into July and have yet to hear anything. Think
that this will be one of those moments that I will not be finding the
answer any time soon unless one of my readers is some how connected
with the studio. Perhaps I'm being silly for contacting such a giant
with such a small question. What is your opinion on the matter?
