Late November Catch Up

Well, it's been a while since I've blogged. Why? Because my days have been pretty boring. My change-of-season-sickness turned into a sore throat/cough/ear infection/sinus infection...thing. It ended up hanging around in some form for about two months. Thankfully, it has FINALLY passed as of recently. I am still fighting with my ear as it continues to randomly plug and unplug. Fun, fun, fun.
Oh, and I also got my swine flu shot two weeks ago today, so hopefully I won't have to worry about sprouting a twirly tail and feeling the urge to roll around in the mud.

So, the major frustration of the long sickness (besides being sick), is that my work on The Girl and the Ghost was delayed. Bigtime. I had hoped to have it finished by the end of the year, at least the actual animation phase, but that's pretty unlikely now. It WILL get done though. This one has been far too long of a journey to turn back now.

Some recent highlights have included Halloween and Thanksgiving. Halloween was great because little Matthew made me proud and dressed up as Superman.
Check this awesome little nugget out.


I also carved a Jeff-Goldblum-O-Lantern.

Thanksgiving was nice, I had fun just chilling out with all the family. On top of that, it was also Matthew's second birthday. It was a blast to watch him open his presents and dive into his cake. Can't believe the little bugger's only been around for two years, it kind of feels like he's always been here.

As one of my gifts to him, I made another video to follow The First Four and The Following Fifteen. Here's Eighteen Through Twenty Four.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly7y7vqqSAQ

Thanksgiving weekend was rounded out with lots of hanging with the gang. It was the first I've gotten to hang with Corey, Eric, Brendan, Jeff, Mikey, and Mo all together in ages.
Twas a good time.

There's also a bit of big news I'm excited to share. A couple weeks ago, Larry, Aaron, and the guys headed out to LA for a week of meetings. On November 19th, I got a text from Larry that read

"Lotr producer just took us to breakfast to tell us he's investing in our new toon"

Mark Ordesky, producer of Lord of the Rings, is investing in our next animated project, Four Tanks and a Healer.

You can read Larry's account of the trip here.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/notes/larry-longstreth/onward-to-awesomeness/207207984601

This is so mind-boggling to me that my brain has yet to fully process it. It'll definitely be interesting to see where our projects go in 2010.

But before that? Christmas. I'm really looking forward to it this year. I'm ready for some Christmas spirit.

Proof That My Nephew Rocks

Mikey, Mo, and Jeff were over to play some Rock Band last night. Matthew, now 17 months old, decided to join in and show he's ready to join the band. Thankfully, Mom grabbed the camera.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsXlOpwyJ7c

Updatery

I know I'm ridiculously overdue for an update, so let's fix that, shall we?

I'm still working my butt off on The Greatest Fan Film of All Time. I still love how it's looking, though it's still taking forever. I tallied it up a couple weeks ago and found I have well over twenty minutes of it animated. I'd expect that would make the finish line feel closer, but so far no dice. I'm currently working on the major action scene of the film. Once that's finished, I think I'll start to feel good.

I'm still frequenting the movie theater when I need a break. As I anticipated, I'm a big fan of Wall-E. Cool story, amazing visuals, very touching, Pixar didn't let me down.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army was a blast and a great followup to the first.

Hancock was just okay for me. It was fun and had it's cool moments, but I wasn't blown away. I liked it though.

The Dark Knight, as I'm sure most of you know, is a beast. It's been a long time since I've enjoyed seeing a movie as much as I enjoyed that midnight screening. Eric, Jeff, Mikey, Mo and I were there in the sold out theater for the first showing. Everyone there was pumped and we even had a Robin and a Nightwing in attendance. Turns out I actually knew Nightwing.
The movie itself was great. Intense, dark, and managed to surprise me several times. I'm looking forward to a few more viewings.

DailyMotion has been awesome and very supportive of our films. After they gave Nintendo: OldSchool Revolution a couple months back (giving it an additional 89,000+ views so far), they ended up showing it at a screening at their offices last week. It's pretty wild to think that the project I animated nearly three years ago was just shown on a rooftop in New York City. Craziness. A million thanks to Aimee.

Even crazier, I got an email requesting I submit Sex Love and Honey to the Anim'est International Animation Film Festival in Bucharest, Romania. I still can't process that people on the other side of the world have seen my work and are even requesting it.
Now as part of the submission, I need to create a press kit for myself. That ought to be bizarre.

Who wants more baby Matthew pictures?

Also, some long overdue pictures of my autographed prize from Stan Lee, which turned out to be a poster for The Incredible Hulk.

I'll have to find a prime spot on my wall for this beauty.

Tech Troubles, Movie Musings, and the Wee One

I hate those moments when I realize how much I rely on the internet. Our service has been wonky for the past three weeks. My high speed is slower than dial-up (when it even works) and only reaches close-to-normal speeds when someone's using the phone. We've called AT&T for help several times, obviously without any success as of yet. I'm pretty much fed up with them.
It's surprisingly frustrating to not be able to check your email or peruse YouTube whenever I feel like it. It does have its advantages though, as I've been getting loads of work done.

I've used the internet downtime to really hit the animation hard and finished the scene from The Greatest Fan Film of All Time that I've been dreading since the start. It was my first all out action/chase scene and I really questioned my capability to pull it off. Amazingly, I finished the minute-and-a-half long sequence and I love it. Progress is nice.
Speaking of progress, we had a recording session for Fan Film on Saturday night. Larry, Derby, Clint, and Ian came up and we got most of the remaining dialogue recorded. Jeff even pitched in and voiced the Atom. Everything went well, we had fun and got a lot done.

When I'm not making movies, I have been going to see a few. Iron Man was excellent and really impressed me. It seemed like they really went the extra mile to make it more than the average superhero movie.
I also saw The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, which I loved. I remember I wasn't sure what I thought after I first saw The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It was so soon after The Lord of the Rings, it seemed to me like they were trying to make a kid-friendly version to ride the wave. I liked it, but that was it. Then, every time I watched it, my appreciation for it increased, I saw new sides to it and kept getting more from it, I grew to love it. Prince Caspian was a great follow-up that really felt like it moved the story and the characters forward. For such an action packed movie, it surprised me how the whole thing seemed to have a sad undertone to it.
I still want to check out Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls. I can't say I'm a huge Indy fan and I've heard very mixed reviews from friends, but I'd still like to give it a go.
It's looking to be a good summer for movies, my biggies are definitely The Dark Knight and Wall-E. I admit, I already caved and got myself a Wall-E figure, which is too cool for words, so here's a picture.

I'm curious about Hancock and hesitant about The Incredible Hulk. I'm in the minority in that I liked the 2003 Hulk movie and while the whole cast and so much about the movie tells me it should be great, the previews have left me cold.

I've gotten to hang with Cathy a bit lately, which has been really fun. She's getting married this weekend and moving to Seattle shortly thereafter. I'm so happy for her, though it'll be sad to see her go. I'm sure she and Ben will love it out there.

Matthew, me, and Hanna

Baby Matthew turned 6 months old last week. That went by really fast and yet it feels like he's always been here. The kids a bruiser and a ham, but an adorable one. His interests include drooling, eating, blowing raspberries, trying to eat things that aren't meant to be eaten, pulling his uncle's hair, hitting tables and various other surfaces, and did I mention he's a cowboy?

It's crazy to watch how fast he grows, you can see changes from day to day. He's already got a few teeth, he's very vocal, and he'll be crawling within days (right now he just rolls over and spins in circles on his belly). I discovered a few weeks ago that the Dixie Chicks song Lullaby has a powerful enchantment on him and will make him fall asleep nine times out of ten, it's hilarious.

I'm definitely keeping busy, but it's hot and I'm antsy. I want to go to Niagara Falls.

"...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

"Normality" Restored

Things are back to normal, as the final stragglers from winter break have departed to rejoin the real world. I am sad to see things shift back, as the constant company was nice.

Friday was the last game night of the break and a smaller one than we've been having, now that Corey, Eric, and Jeff are all back at work and school. Though there was a nice change of pace, when Nikki joined Mikey, Brendan, and me for her first game night. It was a nice follow up to hanging out with her last Tuesday, during which she felt her first earthquake. Always new experiences for friends, here at the Drake house. Schedule your appointment today!*

Saturday was a relaxed night of wine and venting with Maria. It was enjoyable and much needed.

Last night, it was back to work at full force. I animated for nine hours and churned out a whopping six seconds of footage for The Greatest Fan Film of All Time. It doesn't sound like much, but it counts. It's the start of a major push from me to finish this thing.
I also managed to watch the first episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I'm a sucker for the whole Terminator universe, so I enjoyed it and can't wait to check out the new episode tonight.

Back to work for this chap. No scheduled notable breaks until Cloverfield on Friday. Wish a fella luck.

*No weirdos, please. Earthquakes cannot be guaranteed. Game night seating is limited, act fast. No refunds.

And Many a Hall Was Decked

This Christmas was a goody.

Our morning tradition had a bigger attendance this year, being our first one with Jessi and Hanna joining us, not to mention it was Matthew's very first Christmas.


They arrived around 2:00 (our equivalent of morning) and Hanna took on the duty of passing out the presents.

I love a good hat.

Santa did great this year, I got some new speakers I had been hoping for, an excellent Superman statue, a whole bunch of DVDs including Once and the collector's edition of the soundtrack. I also got a really nice hat, just like my old Superman hat (minus the S emblem) which I lost that fateful night at the wine bar so long ago. I even got a lightsaber.

Add that to the DVDs Mikey got me, the awesome books Corey gave me, and the Festivus greeting from Eric, and I'd say I received quite the haul.

Giving gifts just gets more and more enjoyable each year. It was my pleasure to perform my unclely duty and give Matthew his first CD. I decided to meet our worlds halfway and give him For the Kids, a CD full of modern artists signing kids songs. It even has Raine and Chantal doing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.


Keeping to tradition, we loaded up and headed over to Grandma's, where Matthew met all of his crazy (in a good way) relatives.

Kayla holds Matthew
Erin takes a turn
Maude's in her element
My grandma and her great grandson

It was a nice and laid back time just eating, drinking, and visiting with everyone. At one point, I busted out one of the DVDs I got that morning. It wasn't just any DVD, it was a magical flashback DVD of epic proportions. Never did I think I'd find myself at the age of 25, sitting with Brendan, Jacqui, Jeff, and Ronnie as we watched Fraggle Rock.

Classic.


Later on, we all opened a couple more books. Mine were a beautiful hardcover edition of Justice, Volume 1 and a great looking 12" figure of the Cyborg Superman.

Photo by Brendan

As the night went on, everyone slowly filed out. We were the last to leave and got home at 10:30 after a long day.

Despite the total lack of snow, this Christmas really felt like Christmas, which I remember wasn't quite the case last year. It was really nice. And I'm glad.

Now I'll spend the days leading up to New Year's playing with my new toys. Ralphie better grab his Red Ryder BB gun and scram. This is how the big boys play.


Oh, and I got a pony too. His name is Bill.

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.

The Weekend the Stars Fell

When I saw Larry during the making of Harvey Daggit and the Devil's Olives, he was completely stressed out, distracted, and exhausted. Now that I find myself in charge of The Girl and the Ghost, I fully understand what he was feeling back then.

It's amazing how many hiccups arise on a film that will only be roughly fifteen minutes long in the end. From making sure all the voice work sessions go smoothly, to issues with editing software, to figuring out music, to just being burnt out by animating. All the little problems take a mental toll on you when there are so many other aspects needing your attention.

I've been in a zombie state lately, which is why I gave myself the weekend off.

This weekend happened to be the weekend of the Perseid meteor shower. Over the years, it's been an amazing thing to watch, so it seemed like a perfect time for a break.

Jeff is heading off to college in a couple days, so we had a final game night before school took over. It seems the new challenge among the guys is to best me at Soul Calibur II. They keep trying. They even resorted to trying to make me laugh so much that I'd lose. At one point, I had Mikey inches from my head making bizarre faces and sounds while Jeff blasted audio of a goose calling tournament from his iPod. I had tears in my eyes from laughing, but I emerged victorious, though it was a crazy and awesome battle.

After the games, I headed outside with Mom to see what could be seen in the sky. We saw a handful of meteors on Saturday night and only one each on Sunday night.

Yesterday, we went to see Stardust. I read the book a couple years ago and loved it, so I was excited (and a little nervous) to see it on the big screen. I've seen the trailer and though I love the book, the preview just didn't sit right. Thankfully, Neil Gaiman was right when he said on his blog that the previews are bad and very misrepresentative of the actual movie.

I had a great time and Mom was even teary-eyed by the end. The previews try to sell it as a romantic film with a little action and while it is romantic and there is action, there's so much more to it than that. The humor is actually funny (which is rare in most movies lately) and sometimes twisted, the fantasy elements are great, and Robert DeNiro gives a... very surprising performance. There's a little bit of everything going on in Stardust and I thought it worked well. For the first time in a while, a movie revolving around magical beings and events actually felt magical. I left the theater happy.

We came home and ended up staring into the skies again for four and a half hours. While it wasn't as spectacular as other years, we still got quite a light show with accompaniment by the tree frogs and crickets. Between 10:00 PM and 2:00 AM, we probably saw between fifteen to twenty shooting stars. Some were small, some were not so small, bright and colorful with tails that stretched halfway across the sky. We even saw one strange light that appeared to fade out not a hundred feet away from us.

Still puzzled by that one...

It's been a nice and much needed break. Hopefully this'll get the creative parts of my brain firing again so I can get back to working at full burn again soon.

It's Blabberin' Time

My life has consisted mostly of frames, keyframes, and tweening for these last few weeks. The Girl and the Ghost has been eating up a ton of my time lately (I've even put in a couple 10 hour days) and honestly, I'm really happy about it. It's still pretty far from finished, but I get more and more excited as it continues to take shape. I really feel like I'm accomplishing something special, even if it's only on a personal level.

I normally tend to shy away from watching animated films while I'm animating, to avoid intimidation, but that seems to have changed this time around. I re-watched Princess Mononoke a couple weeks ago and actually energized rather than inferior. Sure, my designs aren't as intricate and I don't have the dynamic action scenes, but they had hundreds of people working on that film. I'm just one and I feel my project is already looking pretty impressive. I'm excited.

Okay, enough blowing smoke.

I visited my old high school again a couple weeks ago to say hello to the remaining people there. So many people have retired since I graduated seven years ago. It's strange going in there and not recognizing most of the faculty. It's also strange to think I've been out of school for seven years.

I'm old.

Everyone there seems to be doing well. It was great seeing familiar friendly faces. It felt amazing to tell them what I've been doing with myself these last couple years.

Before leaving, I had to head down and visit my old spot under the stairs.

2000/2007

Mom and I went and saw Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer on Friday. I had such high hopes for the first Fantastic Four movie and felt so let down when I finally saw it. So, naturally when I started seeing trailers and clips for Rise of the Silver Surfer and thought it looked cool, I couldn't help but be a bit wary. I was looking forward to it, but didn't want to feel that same disappointment again.

I didn't.

I know the movie isn't Oscar material (though the Silver Surfer effects may be), but I had such a blast watching it. Sitting in that theater, I felt relaxed, entertained, and totally de-stressed for the first time in I don't know how long. It was a fun ride of a movie.
The only real remaining annoyance from the first movie was the lame interpretation of Dr Doom, who didn't really need to be there at all. And that voice...if you're using a villain who wears a mask, at least use an actor with a somewhat intimidating voice.

Yesterday was Jeff's high school graduation party. It was a good time just chilling outside in the perfect weather while eating good food and visiting.
I can't believe Jeff is out of high school.

I'm old.

Back to animating for me. Happy Father's Day, y'all.

Dirty Birdies

Nope, haven't fallen of the face of the Earth, I've just been really busy lately. I've been doing double duty, working on both The Girl and the Ghost and The Greatest Fan Film of All Time (the sequel to Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face) at the same time. They're both looking great, but coming along slowly. I really need to buckle down soon and push forward on these, it's great stuff and I'm loaded with ideas for them, just running a bit low on the creative energy.

Spring's definitely hit Ohio. It's been sunny (though a bit chilly), the trees are getting their leaves, and everywhere you look, birds are doing it like rabbits. Frantic, feathered, winged rabbits.

I saw Spider-Man 3 on Friday, which was fun. It had a few parts that bothered me, but the rest sat so well with me that I didn't even care, I had a blast watching it and I thought it wrapped up the trilogy nicely.

I've been on a pretty steady diet of British entertainment lately. I saw Hot Fuzz with Jeff last weekend, which was hilarious, I watched the first season of Extras, and I finished The Office last night, which ened up blowing me away. I enjoyed watching the whole series, but as it ended and I saw how things wrapped up, it suddenly hit me how great the whole thing really was and I was sad to see it end. The bit when the microphone gets turned off was absolutely brilliant, if you've seen it, you know what I mean.

It left me really wanting to make something of that amazing quality. It's a tall, tall order, but it's something to work for.

I'm going to try to blog at least once a week, even if only to update how the projects are shaping up.

I leave you with a photo of my encounter with a giant strawberry.

Tonight, We Dine in Terabithia! Cowabunga!

Things have been pretty quiet 'round here. Not boring, just quiet.

Seeing 300 with Jeff was postponed that day, so Mom and I went and saw Bridge to Terabithia that night instead. I've never read the book, so I wasn't exactly what to expect. It was really cheesy and very Disney for the first hour or so, then it took a turn and got heavy really quickly. Surprisingly heavy for a movie that's being marketed for a very young audience.
In the end, the cheese at the beginning actually seemed to help the later drama make more of an impact. The more I thought about it afterward, the more I liked it.

I ended up finally seeing 300 with Jeff that Monday. I definitely enjoyed it. Sure, it's not the greatest movie ever made, but I had a lot of fun watching it. It's a visual explosion and excellent for those times when you just want to watch a good action movie.

I've been doing some work on The Girl and the Ghost, mainly establishing the visual style it'll have, seeing what works and what doesn't. So far, I think it's looking rather sweet.

Speaking of looking sweet, Bullcrank.com has been revamped with a shiny new design. Go take a look and don't forget to breathe in that new website smell.

St Patrick's Day was pretty low key, but nice. I had a potato and some Guinness, then Mikey came over to play some video games and I introduced him to Firefly. Much to my surprise, the video leprechauns over at iFilm featured Sex Love and Honey yet again on St Patty's Day. Featured twice in ten days? Excellent!

We got an early taste of summer last Tuesday when it hit 75 degrees. I took advantage of it by driving around and running errands with Mom and Granny. It felt so nice being able to drive with the windows down. Of course, it snowed over the weekend.
It's supposed to warm up again into the 60's towards the end of the week. I'm really looking forward to it. That and the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Can't wait.

Odds and Ends- Ghosts, Batman, and Ric Flair

Seems I've suddenly got a surge of creative energy as of late. I've now got two new animated projects on my plate. Currently, I'm tweaking one I'm writing on my own, tentatively titled The Girl and the Ghost. It's just a weird little ghost story I came up with that actually loosely ties in with an older script of mine.

The other project lined up is...brace yourself...an unofficial sequel to Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face. It's gonna be crazy, nerdy, and a sight to behold. We've got some wild stuff lined up for it, just wait and see.

I recently did a tiny bit of animation for a skit Aaron was working on. Well, that skit's now finished and online, so check out WOO! and prepare yourselves for this random ode to wrestling legend Ric Flair.

http://www.ifilm.com/video/2827436

And now I'll be quoting a bit of insanely cool news from Larry's blog:

I was on page 12 last night when I told Jake (our animator) that I hadn't checked my bullcrank.com email in weeks and that I was about to. I opened it and flipped out. There was an e-mail from Mark Ordesky, the Vice President of New Line Cinema and executive producer of Lord of the Rings. If you remember or have read the other blogs, you know that Aaron and I met him in LA and that he's been a fan of our stuff ever since.

He had seen "Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face" and "The Losers Have a Junkyard" upon returning from the UK where he was working on Nicole Kidman's "Golden Compass" trilogy. He loved both, as well as "Nintendo: Oldschool Revolution" and "Blow Pop" and he asked me to send every short film I do to his office from now on on DVD. Also, he reminded me that he's waiting to read the script to our feature film. Here I am with the damn second draft open in front of me and I'm so amazingly happy with it and I get an e-mail from Ordesky reminding me that he wants a copy right away. I flipped out. I didn't even read the other emails until a few minutes later.

While reading the other emails I spotted one from a college student in Texas. He asked permission to show "Nintendo: Oldschool Revolution" locally and on Time Warner Cable. I said of course he could as long as he credited Jake, myself, and Bullcrank.com

How's that for awesome?

You might notice (but probably not) that I've played with the site's layout a little bit. Only the sidebar really. Now links to my various projects are more easily available just under my little bio box to the right. Below that, you'll find my recent ramblings, then links to my stuff and friends' websites, and finally, the blog archives. I think it's a bit more user friendly, let me know if you think otherwise.

It's looking like spring is finally in the air. The sun's out, it's warm(er), and the snow is melting rapidly. I even heard birds on a couple mornings this week. I did some running around to stores with Mom yesterday and barely even had to bundle up, it was nice. I may head out with Jeff tonight to see 300.

It's nice knowing summer's not that far off.

Day 3- On Our Way Home

Saturday, February 24th, 2007

I slept better than the previous night, but I was still a bit tired when I woke up to a sunny Windsor Saturday morning. The previous two days, though jam packed with activities, went by surprisingly fast. Even though I had an amazing time, I felt ready to head home.

Once again, Mom was up and active a while before I was, packing and getting ready for the drive. I flipped through the channels as I woke up and was surprised at what I found. It wasn't Saturday morning cartoons, it was Saturday morning Veronica Mars. Not a bad thing to wake up to by any means.

Not much later, we were packed, bundled, and in the lobby, ready to go. I waited by the luggage while Mom made a quick stop in the gift shop to grab a copy of the local paper, in hopes of there being a review of the concert. When she got back with the paper, I smiled when I saw Chantal featured on the front page in a story about her visit to the children's ward of the Windsor Regional Hospital before the concert.

We readied our maps and road music and made sure snacks were handy (as we were traveling on empty stomachs) and finally set out.


The drive had a slightly bumpy start, thanks to some useless steps in the directions from MapQuest that led directly to a dead end, but we eventually found our way to the Ambassador Bridge.


Mom's not a fan of bridges, heights, or large bodies of water, so it was understandable when she got visibly tense when we saw how backed up traffic was on the bridge. I figured it would just be a few minute long thing, but we were on that bridge for 45 minutes because it was so backed up at customs. Even so, Mom still did great.


A few more confusing directions came and went, but we found the freeway quickly and were on our way. The drive was relaxed and smooth as we listened to my new Our Lady Peace CD and ate the occasional pretzel. A quick three hours later and we were home.

Approaching Cleveland

We unpacked, told Dad and Kris about the trip, and settled in. While watching the news, we saw that the same icebreaker we had seen the day before was now in Cleveland. Also, it looked like we had gotten out of Windsor at just the right time, as they got hit with a pretty nasty ice storm that night.

The night continued with a nice chill session with Corey, Jeff, and Eric. We kicked back, played games, swapped music, and watched my new Trailer Park Boys DVD, which is easily the funniest movie I've seen in ages.

It was a great night that wrapped up a great little adventure. Here's to the next one!

Day 2- "We Were Occupied, I Never Had to Go Outside..."

Friday, February 23rd, 2007

I hate hotel beds. I've had a water bed my whole life, so sleeping away from home has always been something of a challenge. Making sleep more of a challenge was the heater in the room. This thing was so loud and ran almost constantly. It ran so much that when I finally fell asleep, it woke me up by shutting off. Needless to say, it was a fairly restless night.

Mom was up before I was and snapped a few shots out the window. There were giant chunks of ice floating down the river in the morning sun.


As I woke up on the day of the concert, I checked out some of the many channels and was overjoyed to see MuchMusic. I was a huge fan back when our cable company carried it, but they dropped it years ago. It was where I first found a lot of the bands I still listen to today. It was nice to be able to watch it again for a few minutes.

While we got ready to go find somewhere to eat, we noticed a boat coming down the ice-filled Detroit River. As it got closer, we could see it was actually an icebreaker.


A few minutes later, it was followed by another one. It was a pretty cool sight.


Mom and I wandered down to the River Runner Lounge, just off of the hotel lobby for breakfast, but found it didn't open until 2:30. Having a half hour to kill, we decided to go check out how to get to the Chrysler Theatre. It worked out nicely, since the Hilton was right next door and the buildings are connected, we didn't even have to go outside to get to the venue.

We went as far as the ticket booth door, which was locked, and turned around to find the door we had just come through was now locked. There was an open door leading to an empty meeting room, which we passed through and found an employee who helped us out.

Still having time to kill, we wandered a bit more. Checked out the gift shop. Posed with a funky little statue. The usual.


When they finally opened, we got a quick bite and and a little wine (what a breakfast) in the lounge. Jeff called halfway through, asking what I was up to that night. When I said I was in Canada, he responded with a classic "Whaaaaaaaaaaat?" and we made plans to hang the next night.


A little while later, we headed over for the sound check, as we were so kindly invited again. It was a great time, watching Chantal and Raine play and visiting with them and their awesome crew for a bit before the show.

The concert itself was excellent. The show in St Catharines was great, but this one blew it out of the water. The venue was bigger, the crowd was bigger and more responsive, and the performances from both Raine and Chantal were more finely polished.

During his set, Raine played two new songs from his forthcoming album, both of them, especially Yellow Brick Road, sounded great. I'm really looking forward to hearing the completed album.


One funny moment came when Raine commented how happy the audience seemed and suggested it was cause of all the strip clubs in the area. Seconds later, Chantal chimed in from behind the piano, "Not gonna happen, honey."

Chantal's set was excellent, mixing it up newer songs with the older ones. After opening with So Cold, she briefly paused the show, noticing several audience members had an extremely obstructed view, due to the piano's position on the stage. She took a few minutes and actually had some chairs brought up on stage, she then brought some of the audience members up.


Chantal and the band, including Raine on bass, sounded in top form. So many personal favorites were played, including Time, Ghosts of You, Surrounded, and a recently reworked version of Wayne.


After leaving the stage, Chantal returned to the stage for an encore minus the band and completely unplugged. She sat, legs dangling over the edge of the stage, with just her guitar and her voice, no microphone or amp, and performed a hauntingly beautiful rendition of Far Away. This was my sixth time seeing her in concert and I was blown away by her ability to hold such a large crowd in awe with her voice alone.


I've always loved the song, but this was the best it's ever sounded. Obviously, I wasn't the only one who thought so, as the song was interrupted by applause for about thirty seconds before it ended.

The band returned to join Chantal for the remainder of the encore and close out an incredible show.


Mom and I quickly went back to thank Raine & Chantal and say our see-you-laters before heading back to the hotel.

We decided to stop in the lounge for a drink, but found it was closed. Before midnight. On a Friday. After a concert. In a casino town. Does that make sense to anyone? Cause it sure seemed odd to us.

So we went with Plan B and went back to the room and hit some snacks Mom packed. Some pretzels and a few cookies later, we called it a night and got some sleep before the drive home in the morning.

What an amazing day. All that without ever even going outside.