Jacob's Semi-Yearly Year's End Review of the Year- 2011

Here we are at the end of another year.  In what seems to be a a pattern, this was a weird year.  As per tradition, let's take a look back at the highlights, lowlights, and in-betweenlights.

2011 started with a mix of excitement and exhaustion after the recent completion of Four Tanks and a Healer.  I took a brief rest, then shifted back into work mode and finished animating The Girl and the Ghost while Marisa and Larry had some big meetings in LA about Four Tanks.

Following completion of the animation for Ghost, I laid low for a while and let myself decompress a bit.

After a long, rainy spring that lasted into the summer, in late June, I took a trip to Niagara Falls and met Teal Sherer.  We spent a few days hanging out, saw Chantal play at Jackson-Triggs and just had a great time.

Sadly, the vacation ended with me getting sick and it took me until the end of July to feel back to normal.

At the end of August, I was ready to donate again, so I went and got my hair chopped.

In September, Mom was out of commission with an infection in her finger and took most of the month to recover.  Before the month was over, Mom was back on track and we took an interesting trip to Toronto, which I still need to blog about.

In October, nearly a year after its completion, Four Tanks and a Healer premiered at TheOneRing.net and received very positive reactions.

In November, Bridget, Mom, and I saw Marketa Irglova in an amazing, intimate concert.  Still need to blog about that one too.

This strangely rainy December saw the release of a great holiday video Teal came up with.  I was happy to have been involved, even if I only lent a small hand.

http://youtu.be/6ZnxWz3NAY4?hd=1

Christmas, though snowless, was nice.  I loved watching Matthew experience the magic and fun of it all.

Overall, 2011 was a slow year that flew by.  It was also, as most years are, a year filled with change.
One big change is that 4Reelz now consists of just Marisa and me, as Larry left to start his own company, Eddy Spaghetti Productions.  I'm sure we'll still team up on plenty of stuff though.

Another notable change is that Matthew has grown from this little guy...

...into this less-little guy.

Entertainment-wise, I'd say it was a decent year.  A brief rundown of what entertained me this year...

Movies:
The Muppets
Super 8
Thor
Captain America
Hugo
Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Music:
Marketa Irglova- Anar
Anna Nalick- Broken Doll & Odds & Ends
Billy the Kid & The Southside Boys- Ours
and even though it wasn't actually released this year, Jenny Owen Youngs- Transmitter Failure, which features probably my most listened-to song of the year, Last Person.

http://youtu.be/vLsV1IWB8nY?hd=1

I don't want to risk jinxing anything, but I have to say, the coming year is looking like it could be pretty outstanding.
In the next few weeks, music and sound effects for The Girl and the Ghost will be done and this seemingly endless project will finally be finished.
Things are in motion for my next project, currently titled Waiting for the Sun, to really get moving.  Fingers crossed, this one could be a dream project.
And without giving anything away just yet, if all goes well, the coming summer could include a trip out west...
Also coming up in 2012, my 30th birthday the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and who knows what else?

Here's hoping 2012 is full of happiness, health, love, and success for all of us.  Happy New Year, everyone!

"Cause This Is What You've Waited For..."

The weeks of anticipation and waiting came to a head on Sunday night as Mom and I headed downtown. It surprised me when I realized I hadn't been downtown since seeing Superman Returns at the Omnimax back in September.
I wish I had the camera handy while we drove. The sun punched through the cloudy sky and created a perfect shimmering reflection on Lake Erie just before we got into the city.

We were sitting in traffic behind the Allen Theatre , waiting to pull into the parking garage, when my filmmaker-sense started to tingle. I caught sight of a boom mic in the distance, then I saw the camera, in front of the equipment were the stars of the night, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. I still don't know what they were filming behind the theatre, but the little glimpse was cool.

Mom was nervous as we approached the 7-foot height limit sign at the entrance of the garage in our behemoth of a van. The woman in the booth assured us we'd be fine and told us to head up to the 5th floor. So we did. Noisily. The van was just low enough to clear the ceiling, but our non-retractable radio antenna wasn't. It scraped on almost every lowered area of the ceiling on our way up to the roof. It was a bit stressful, but the tension was cut when I caught Mom ducking to clear the ceiling. While in the van.

We found our way from the garage to the theatre and met up with Eric and Bridget in a stroke of perfect timing. The usher lady (Usheress?) led us on a twisted path toward our seats. Halfway there, I started having a bit of trouble driving my chair on the somewhat steep incline and actually got stuck against some chairs. Meanwhile, the usheress didn't notice and kept walking all the way down to our seats.
As I battled gravity, the slant, and the chairs, who bumps into us? Adrienne. I couldn't believe it, I haven't actually seen her in about three years. She chatted with Bridget and Eric as I tried to free myself, but once I finally succeeded, the usheress returned and we followed. I really wish I could've talked with her and caught up a little bit.

Now at our seats, we looked around at the impressive interior of the Allen Theatre for a few brief minutes before a burly Irishman walked onto the stage. It was the opening act, Damien Dempsey. I had heard his name before, but that was all I knew of him before Sunday night. Despite his suffering from hay fever, he really impressed me. He had a great sound that occasionally consisted of a unique blend of Irish music with a dash of Bob Marley. It was his last night accompanying Glen & Marketa on the tour, so the band snuck out and surprised him by joining him on his final song.

After a brief intermission, Glen Hansard took the stage by himself at 9:15. He stood at the very front of the stage with his eternal sidekick, the holey guitar. Minus microphone and guitar unplugged, he gestured for the audience to quiet down. Seconds later, the theatre was complete silence and Glen played Say It To Me Now. No matter how hard I try, it would be impossible to put that performance into words. The closest I could come up with, and I know it probably sounds a bit over-the-top, would be to say it was a transcendental experience, he removed us from our daily worlds and brought us into theirs with that song and would keep us there for the rest of the night. The song was met with an uproar of applause.

Marketa Irglova joined Glen and took center stage, singing All the Way Down and sounding amazing.
They were then joined by the rest of the band, who I realized were Colm Mac Con Iomaire, Rob Bochnik, and Joe Doyle of The Frames. This made what would have already been an incredible concert even better.

They went on to play a fantastic mix of songs from Once (Lies, Falling Slowly, If You Want Me), some Frames songs (True, What Happens When the Heart Just Stops), and even a handful of new songs. Marketa sang one I particularly liked, called I Have Loved You Wrong.
She blew me away when she sang Lullaby from The Wicker Man (the original of course, as she referred to the remake as "kind of shit").
Glen went crazy on guitar for his awesome rendition of Van Morrison's Astral Weeks.
Colm even got his moment in the spotlight, performing a beautiful solo piece on the violin.

As usual, a highlight of the night was Glen's talking between songs and introducing them. He's a hilarious storyteller, he even got so into it at one point that he reenacted the classic near/far bit from Sesame Street, repeatedly running from the front to the back of the stage.
He briefly reminisced about how crazy these last couple years have been with the huge success and Oscar win of Once. His thoughts reflected my own when he expressed amazement at how the venues they're playing have changed from the venues they played before the film, giving the example of going from the Beachland Ballroom last time they were in Cleveland to the Allen Theatre this time.

After more thunderous applause, they all returned for a nice long encore which included Star Star, Fitzcarraldo, and a traditional Irish song, The Auld Triangle, for which Damien Dempsey returned to the stage. That rounded out the night of great music. I can't speak for anyone else, but I was left in awe after the show and still feel it when I think about it.

Bridget and Eric made their way to us, battling against the current of audience members leaving the theatre. We all talked about how much we loved the show before heading out to the merch booth in the lobby, where I grabbed Damien Dempsey, Rob Bochnik, and Colm Mac Con Iomaire's CDs along with a Swell Season tee-shirt.

We said our goodnights and parted ways, making our way back to the van, then scraping and ducking all the way down to the street.

That was a night I'd love to revisit, and thanks to technology I'll be able to once PlayedLastNight.com puts the show up.

Pure greatness.

Back to Earth

As of Wednesday, my work in space is done. I finished that scene just a couple hours before Larry and Derby stopped by for a visit, so I got to show them the footage while it was still fresh out of the oven.
I'm extremely proud and happy with how these shots came out and I guess I'm not the only one. Larry's loving it and says the rest of the Bullcrank guys and gals are impressed.
We ended up talking about the rest of the movie and the big shots still ahead of me throughout most of the visit. It helped pump me up a bit and got the creative juices flowing, we even came up with a few amazing ideas I'll be including.

Aside from a few extra pick up shots, filming of The Wimp Whose Woman Was a Werewolf wrapped this weekend. It's looking to be excellent and a real step up for Bullcrank. You don't have to just take my word for it though, being the crazily driven madman that he is, Larry has already put together a trailer. Check it out here:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zYGzUJBmoUU

And you can take a look at the creation of the werewolf here:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=PLo8btWkj40

I've been ridiculously amused at how dark, depressing, and continuously hilarious Garfield comic strips are when you remove Garfield from them and it's all thanks to Garfield Minus Garfield. I'll never look at John Arbuckle the same way again.

Our tickets to see Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova arrived a couple of days ago and the seats look great. This is going to be a fantastic show.

On to the next scene I go. We're expected to have between one and two feet of snow on the ground by tonight, so the weather's right for animating.

Stay warm.

The Hundred-Year Winter

I woke up today feeling like I had somehow been transported to Narnia. A big snow storm hit last night and boy did it hit hard. Take a look for yourself.

See? Told you.

I'm still pumped up about Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova's Oscar win on Sunday night. I've been following Glen since I saw him and his band, The Frames, back in 2004. I had gotten used to most people being unaware of who I was talking about, so it's been really cool to see Glen, Marketa, and Once getting all of this much deserved attention and recognition.

I recently heard they'll be playing in Cleveland in May. It's been a while, so I'm really looking forward to that.

And now I retreat to under a blanket and get back to work. Still in space.