A Busy Thanksgiving Week

The snow has definitely been trying its hardest to make its presence known and didn't have too much luck, aside from a dusting that stuck to the tops of vehicles. Thanksgiving was the first day I'd say it really snowed, which it did all day. The roads were left a bit slick, but it was nice to watch the snow fall. It's all melted already, but I'm sure there will be plenty more before I know it.

Thanksgiving week was nice and full of goings on. Everyone was back in town, so the challenge arose to see as many people as I could before they headed back to their respective jobs and schools.

Corey drove in on Tuesday night, so we kicked back and caught up a bit before Wednesday night's game night extravaganza, when Eric, Jeff, Brendan, and Mikey joined us. Craziness ensued, fun was had, and the villagers rejoiced.

We went to Grandma's on Thanksgiving, which was nice, despite my exhaustion. I didn't get to sleep until 9:00 that morning as I was frantically editing video. A little family dance video I made as a joke a couple years ago has almost started to become its own little tradition, the family expects to see a new one at the holidays. I managed to pull it off this time and everyone seemed to like it, so I suppose it was well worth just getting a four hour nap.

Corey, Eric, and Aaron swung by later for a couple games of TimeSplitters. Always a good time.

Black Friday rolled around and I stayed inside, safely away from the rabid bargain hunters. They're a dangerous lot. I already finished most of my shopping online in the days before, so I was set.
Mikey and Jake came over in the evening and we chilled for a bit. After Jake had to go, Nikki joined us and we watched MirrorMask. I liked the movie the first time I saw it, but I see more and more layers every time I watch it, I love it.

Saturday was a night many months in the making. Nerd Night.
When it was first announced there would be a Battlestar Galactica TV movie in between seasons three and four, Eric and I agreed we had to make an event of it. Last night, Eric, Brendan, and I plopped down in front of the TV, turned on the surround sound, shut off the lights, and geeked out to Battlestar Galactica: Razor. It was intense and I loved it.
We rounded out Nerd Night with a dash of Soul Calibur II and a pinch of TimeSplitters.

Unfortunately, my busy week delayed the animation process. Again. I'm still moving forward though. I admit, I'm getting pretty antsy to work on some new project and ideas I've got bopping around in my brain, but Fan Film and Ghost are top priority.

Raine Maida's recently completed solo album, The Hunter's Lullaby, was released a couple weeks ago. Released along with it was a great music video that chronicles Raine's day of busking in the streets of Toronto with the goal of raising $30,000 for War Child Canada to build a school in Congo. I'll close today's blog entry with the video for Yellow Brick Road.

Last Minute Pumpkin Run

Halloween has come and gone and now November is here. Thanksgiving is three weeks from today with Christmas and snow and all that is wintry right behind it. The year sure is flying by. I think I say that every year. Yesterday, on the other hand, seemed to go on forever.

I had to be up ridiculously early (9 AM is ridiculously early for me) for a doctor's appointment. Just a check up, all is well.

From there, I did a little shopping with Mom and bought myself the sixth season of Scrubs on DVD. We grabbed a bite to eat and headed out to hunt down some pumpkins.

We learned an important Halloween lesson this year: don't wait until Halloween to buy pumpkins. Something came up every time we were planning to go, so it came down to the last minute. When we got there, the pumpkin patch was just a patch. On the bright side, I guess it made it easier to decide which ones to get.

Look at all of them!

Back home, I tried to come up with a design. I usually start planning days in advance, but I just got too distracted I guess. Animating will have that effect. With the clock ticking down to the arrival of trick-or-treaters, I had to come up with something fairly simple and fast. Friends gave me some great suggestions like the Guy Fawkes mask, Jack Skellington, my own face, characters from The Girl and the Ghost and a lot more. I know I could have lots of fun with those, but I just didn't have enough time. Of course, Eric suggested a series of Battlestar Galactica options. Maybe next year. I ended up deciding on our design of Darkseid from The Greatest Fan Film of All Time.

It actually kind of looks like me as a zombie.

I rounded out the night by watching Pushing Daisies and Ghost Hunters.

The news just said we might get our first snow next week. I'm already under a blanket. I'm prepared.

Sunday Afternoon Ramblings

I can't believe Thanksgiving is this week. I can't believe I haven't posted since the 3rd. Truthfully though, not much worth posting about has happened.

I've been on a big DVD kick lately. Target had an excellent deal and I bought Ghostbusters 1 & 2 for a total of $10, I forgot how great those movies are. Animation was the order of the day, as I recently rented Over the Hedge and Curious George from Netflix and bought Cars. All were great, each had its own unique strengths.
Having a love for creepy and paranormal movies, I rented An American Haunting, sadly, it was a major disappointment.
And now I find myself addicted to yet another TV series. I just rented the first couple discs of the recent incarnation of Battlestar Galactica and I'm already hooked. Surprisingly awesome on every level.

In other movie news, Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face passed the 10,000 view mark on iFilm a few days ago! It took a little while, but people are watching and that's all that matters.
On a related note, I'm not too crazy about iFilm's new layout.

And my main source of excitement...only 10 days til I see Chantal Kreviazuk! I really can't wait, it'll be fantastic.