A Picture, Some Video, and a Ghost Update

Haven't been blogging much lately, since I finally jumped back into animating The Girl and the Ghost again. Animation resumed on August 5th and I've been going full force ever since. Until last Thursday, that is.

I sent the MacBook in to get checked out before the warranty ran out. So, I've been on my old iBook ever since. It's been killing me to not be able to animate (or watch YouTube videos, or play games, or do anything entertaining) for the past week. It should be back soon though, then it's back to work.

Animation-wise, I recently passed the 500 hour mark and have just over six minutes of completed footage. I'm usually extremely critical of my own work, but I honestly love how this is looking. It's finally coming together and actually feels like a movie. Can't wait to finish it and get it out there. For now, here's a still shot.

While we're in sneak peek mode, here's the trailer for Dolly Oxem's Traveling Video Circus!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpftKra7PUk

The computer downtime, though annoying, was timed well, as this past weekend was my birthday weekend. I was busy hanging with Corey, Eric, Mikey, Brendan, and Jake. Even got to see Aaron for the first time in ages on Sunday.
Much Rock Band was played and much fun was had. Thanks, guys.

I saw Our Lady Peace in concert on August 20th and had an amazing time. There's a detailed blog entry about that on its way as soon as I'm back on a computer better suited to handle pictures and video. For now, though, here's their latest music video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nK4MwL5p_o

Now, I better go get some rest. I'm in the middle of my usual change-of-season sickness.

Bleh.

More soon.

"...I Can't Believe How Much I Love the Rain"

Easter weekend was a fun, but exhausting one. Thursday through Saturday were dominated by Rock Band, especially Friday, when we went from 9 PM until 3 AM and played 58 songs in a row to reach legendary status. My voice, surprisingly felt completely fine afterwards. We had our biggest band lineup yet, rotating between Corey, Eric, Brendan, Mikey, Jeff, Jake, and myself throughout the course of the night. While we played, the skies opened up and the guys had to dig their cars out from under several inches of snow by the time we finished.

After our Saturday night session, I was up until about 9 AM, putting another family video together for everyone for Easter. The video turned out nicely, but having gotten only 4 hours of sleep, I was pretty much shot for the rest of the day. It was nice visiting at Granny's though.

When we got home, I had an email from Larry with a link to a recent article about Bullcrank and our movies. Check it out here:

http://www.fallsnewspress.com/news/article/3503402

So, the crazy weekend is over and I return to cartoonland once again. People seem to be responding positively to the trailer, which is a nice bit of fuel during the long nights of animating.

For now, I'll leave you with another family video I cut together earlier this week. This one features baby Matthew and I'm calling it The First Four.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qo3g8tKnFk

On Christmas Day in the Morning

Another month has blown by at a mindblowingly fast rate. It feels like I've been so active this past month, leaving me with plenty to blog about, yet also leaving me too busy to actually blog about it.

Most of December has been spent animating and enjoying unclehood. It really is crazy how much the baby has grown in his month. I'm a sucker for the kid, I could sit and hold him all day.

My Christmas preparations were fairly easy this year, mostly thanks to the fact that I did the majority of my shopping online. It wouldn't be Christmas without getting out to the stores at some point though, which I did last week. Of course, the insanity of the crowds out there tends to turn my brain to mush and I forget what I went to buy in the first place.

Mom and I went to Anthony's last week for the first time in ages. I have so many fond memories of being there around Christmastime, I hoped to be able to relive a little of that. While it was nice, it's just not the same with so many of the old faces no longer working there.

This past weekend was basically one giant game night. Corey, Mikey, Eric, Brendan, and Jeff all hung out on various nights, with the peak occurring on Sunday, when we all converged at once. There were even surprise visits from Larry, Clint, and Jake.

A nice new twist this Christmas break has been spending time with Nikki. Our common nerdiness and similar movie tastes always result in a good time. I never thought I'd enjoy being beaten in a game of Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit. Then again, I never thought I'd be beaten in a game of Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit.
She even talked me into seeing Enchanted with her last Thursday, which, to my surprise, I actually enjoyed.

And now it's the wee hours of Christmas morning, so I had better get to bed. Don't want Santa to skip over the house.
I wish you all a safe and happy holiday!

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.