Friday, November 26, 2010

Three Already?

Time, as it often tends to do, has flown. I can't believe it, but today marks three years since I became an uncle.


Happy Birthday, Matthew! Love you, butthead.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Completion and Relaxation

Well, since my last blog entry, I've been busy. Very busy. I suppose the biggest news would be that after 7 months of working like crazy, I've finally finished animation for Four Tanks and a Healer. Completion was reached in the early hours of November 13th. I was exhausted, but so relieved.


The guys are currently editing and scoring it, then it'll be totally done. In the meantime, here's the most recent trailer:


I hope people will like the finished product once it's released. It was a long road of many many late nights spent sitting by myself in the dark and animating. I won't lie, it was rough. My sanity was frequently saved by watching The Nostalgia Critic and more recently, old clips of The Kids in the Hall on YouTube. I had forgotten how great that show was, I really need to get myself the complete series on DVD soon.

Since finishing my work on Four Tanks, I've spent this last week living a fairly hobbitish lifestyle- eating, drinking, relaxing, and enjoying my sleep more than I have in quite a while. It's nice. It actually took me a couple days to get over feeling guilty for relaxing instead of working, but I'm good now.

So, now that that's done, what's next? Well, after I decompress a bit more, my top priority is to dive in and finally finish The Girl and the Ghost once and for all. After that, I've got a few potentially amazing projects in the works, but we'll discuss those once they're a little closer to fruition.
Now I've got more time to blog and I've got tales going back to March waiting to be written about, so it'll be nice to sit down and tackle those.

For now, I'm just looking forward to enjoying Thanksgiving week, hanging out with friends, and just being.

Monday, August 02, 2010

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Quick Little Update

I'm still hard at work within the Animation Cave, chipping away at Four Tanks and a Healer, but wanted to peek my head out for a second to let you know that the trailer went online yesterday. Check it out!


So, what do you think?

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

VII

Seven years ago today.

Love you.

Miss you.

Amusing and Creative Entry Title

My brain may explode soon. I've been going nonstop for so long now, I thought I'd take a minute to update the ol' blog. It's been three months since my last entry. Shame on me.

So, what have I been doing?

Shortly after I last wrote, I snuck away for an awesome Toronto trip which will get its own entry (or entries) on here soon. Really. I mean it.

Upon returning, my aunt and uncle came down from way up north in Canada for a visit. It had been a few years since I last saw them, so it was great to spend some time with them.

A few days later, Larry, Aaron, Marisa, and I had our first 4 Reelz production meeting. Hmm... Come to think of it, I don't think I've mentioned 4 Reelz on here yet. Go to 4Reelz.com and take a look-see.


Anyway, the meeting was at Mirabile's, a little family-owned Italian restaurant. The neighborhood's not the best, but the place itself was nice.
After the production meeting, Vince and Travis joined us for some food and a table read-through of Four Tanks and a Healer.


The food was great and they had me drinking homemade wine before noon, which helped numb the ache of actually having to be up before noon.
The read-through went nicely and we were ready.


They recorded all the dialogue for Four Tanks the next day and I went back to working hard on The Girl and the Ghost. I had hoped to finish it before starting Four Tanks, so I would have one less thing to worry about. I got close, but it didn't quite pan out that way.
In the following weeks, Larry drove up and we recorded the last of his dialogue and I directed Aaron's recording session via Skype.


The animation is about 95% finished, but I got to the point where I had to start Four Tanks. So, right now I'm a little over a month in on that.
Here's a little teaser peek at Four Tanks and a Healer...


I'm working hard and putting in long hours so I can make sure this thing is as good as it can be. It's turning my brain to mush, but it must be done.
I'm a machine.

This weekend, I'll be recording the last of Marisa's stuff for The Girl and the Ghost and I'm going to see The Swell Season. Should be a good weekend.

I'll be blogging again soon and I'll be posting some long overdue Ghost goodies, so stay tuned.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

2010: Time to Catch Up

It's been over two months already?

Oops.

I've never claimed to be a punctual (or good) blogger, but I'll always keep coming back and updating. The main problem for me with blogging is that when nothing's happening, there's nothing to write, but when things are happening, there's no time to sit and collect my thoughts into a semi-decent entry.
I'm pretty busy these days, but I want to get an update out before it gets too out of control.
Let's do this.

Christmas was a great time. Lots of long-running traditions failed to come together, which was a bummer, but Christmas Day made up for that. Kris, Jessi, Hanna, and Matthew came over on Christmas morning and we did presents here. I loved watching Matthew have the whole experience, that was the highlight for me.


Keeping with tradition, the afternoon and evening were spent over Grandma's, just hanging out with the family.

Matthew spent the night on New Year's Eve, so I hung out with him and Mom all night. Ate some cheese and crackers, had a little drinky drink, it was nice.


The highlight of that night was the pudding episode. Matthew was sitting next to me as I putzed around on my laptop. He was eating pudding, so I asked "Is that good?"
He looked at me, gave it some thought, and said "Have some."
He then grabbed his spoon and stretched, trying to get it to my mouth. Half of it smeared across my cheek, the rest across my teeth. He said "uh oh", grabbed his napkin, climbed up, and started wiping my face. I was laughing too hard to make a sound. When he started wiping my teeth, I closed my mouth to avoid getting a mouthful of paper napkin. He then proceeded to grab my beard and pull down, trying to open my mouth.
The kid's a trip.


2009 got off to a rough start and never really seemed to recover. There were highlights and bright spots, but the overall tone of the year wasn't all that great, so I was happy to see '09 go so 2010 could get a shot at not sucking.

So far? I suppose it's been okay. The winter weather's been pretty rough, so I haven't been able to get out much. Honestly, I've pretty much gone stir-crazy at this point.


I've been using my indoor-time to catch up on some of the movies I missed last year. I've recently watched The Hangover, 9, District 9, and Zombieland. All were good, but my favorite movie I've seen recently was easily Moon. Blew me away. See it.

I also saw Avatar in 3D. I can't say I fell in love with it, but I definitely liked it.

I've mostly been spending my time working to finish animating The Girl and the Ghost. It's been a big test, trying to push myself without burning out on the process more than I already am. But I'm moving forward. I wouldn't say I'm in the home stretch just yet, but it is in sight. This movie's almost done.


Want something to watch now? Dolly Oxem's Traveling Video Circus premiered a few weeks ago! Check it out!


Production for Four Tanks and a Healer begins next month. Craziness, I tell ye.

I better get back to work.