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.

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.

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

One of Those Weekends

It's been one of those weekends where things just don't go smoothly. And they don't just not go smoothly, they tend to go badly or plain old weirdly.

Earlier in the week, I happily popped online and booked a hotel room for this Monday in Niagara Falls. All was well, I was excited.

As the week progressed, we were taking care of all those little pre-trip things that need to be handled, like making sure the van is all ready to go. We've had the van for eight years now and I've been noticing for a little while that the wheelchair lift sags a bit when I'm on it, so we thought it wise to take it in and have it looked at.

Dad took it in on Friday. He sat and waited for a couple hours before they came out and told him everything looked good. Making sure, Dad asked if they had checked the hinge pins, which hold the lift level and steady. They went and took a look, stating that they should be good for another one to ten years. Having seen how it sags, Dad wasn't convinced, so they offered to remove a pin so he could get a better look.

Upon removal, the pin broke, rendering the lift useless.

Of course, they had none of those pins in stock, but they could order them and have them shipped on Tuesday. Installation would be $700. Dad raised a bit of a fuss and they came down to $400, at which point he got in the van and left.
(Further research revealed the pins to cost only $30 a piece.)

Having worked in a steel mill for thirty years, Dad resolved to fix it himself.

So, I've been nervous about whether or not that'd be fixed or if the trip would be canceled. To add to it, Friday was the last day I could have canceled the reservation without having to pay any fees.

Later that day, we ended up stumping the phone repairman. We just upgraded our phone, internet and TV services with a package deal a few weeks back. Earlier this week, our phone service stopped working right. While still able to make calls, we haven't been able to receive any. They were finally able to get someone here, but after much troubleshooting, he concluded he had never seen an issue like this before. He said the source of the problem wasn't on our end though, and it should hopefully be fixed by Tuesday.
Seeing a pattern here?

Things got relaxed as the evening came and brought game night with it. Corey and Eric came into town for some early birthday fun and Mikey joined us. That's when the surprise came. Everyone secretly chipped in and got me an XBox 360 for my birthday. I'm still surprised and it's Sunday now. Thanks again, guys!
For the rest of the night, we played Rock Band. And we ruled.

Eventually, game night came to an end. Mikey was the last to leave, taking off a little after 1:30 AM. A few minutes later, Mom and I heard the whooshing sound of a car speeding down our street. From the sound of it, he was easily doing 60 or over. Then came the series of thuds.
Mom immediately dialed 911 and ran outside.
At some point during the swerving of the vehicle, one of the tires blew out. Out of control, the car jumped the curb, roared across three lawn, and crashed into the side of an empty house, maybe 7 or 8 houses down from our own. A few minutes later, a police officer handcuffed the driver as he was loaded into the ambulance and taken away.
Word is that there were no skid marks, so the guy didn't even attempt to hit the brakes.

Definitely one of those weekends.

Now, to end on a lighter note, Dad and his buddy Jimmy were able to fix the lift earlier today. Trip's on.

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.

"...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

Meanwhile, Deep in Space...

It's tough to believe I was in Windsor a year ago today, seeing Chantal and Raine play. I remember checking my email in the hotel and getting a note from Larry about a bunch of ideas he and the guys were coming up with for a new animated short. It's hard to explain, but when Larry's in his creative groove, you can somehow see his excitement in how he types his emails and IMs. He was in his groove that day as he asked me if I'd be up for taking on the project.

Fast forward a year. Those ideas evolved into The Greatest Fan Film of All Time and I'm animating like a kid in a candy shop (that is if kids could animate and chose to do so in a candy shop, which, as far as I know, they can't and don't, but I'm doing it anyway, so nyah).
I'm currently working on a recent addition to the script, which is a scene that takes place on a certain alien world. It's been interesting creating my own version of a world from scratch.
I'm having fun playing with lighting to set the mood. It can be tricky, but I'm really happy with the results so far.

A little peek

I'm really excited about this. The look and feel from Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face is still there, but the actual animation itself is vastly improved. I can't wait for this puppy to be ready for unveiling.

Last week's Rock Band weekend was awesome. We played for three nights and I loved it, even with the songs I'm not into. Except Suffragette City. And Brainpower. Friday was the big night of the weekend, we played through until 4:30 AM. Corey's our guitar guru, Brendan rocks out on the drums, and Mikey and Eric usually alternate on bass while I sing. Maria even hung out for a bit on Saturday and classed things up with some boxed wine.


Now I must return to space. Goodnight, Reykjavic!

Really, Who DOESN'T Like Turtles?

The wayward blogger returns. I really do need to stop disappearing like that.

I suppose I'll start by wrapping up the loose threads I left in my last entry. A month ago.
Cloverfield was a fun time. I ended up going on opening night with Mikey, Corey, and Brendan and we ended up sitting in nearly the front row. The movie itself was a ride. Cool idea, nice visuals, and I'm glad I went. I wouldn't mind catching it again before it leaves theaters.

Eric joined us the following days as we had a Rock Band weekend. I really didn't expect to be into it, but I had a blast playing that game. We played for hours on end for two days, which resulted in my voice taking a couple days off to recoop.
Round 2 is this coming weekend and I can't wait.

The weather's been crazy, varying from freezing temperatures to oddly warm to ridiculously rainy to producing Hoth intensity snow storms, the latter being what we've had for the last couple days. We even had some unusually bright lightning during Saturday night's snow.

There haven't been many openings to get out to anywhere lately, but that's actually been helpful to my animation. I've been getting quite a bit done, especially this last week. I'm not one to toot my own horn, but the last shot I finished is quite possibly the best four seconds of animation I've ever created.
Tonight was a mini-milestone. As of 2:00 AM, I finished work on one of the more important scenes in The Greatest Fan Film of All Time. I won't spoil what happens in the scene, but I'll say this...someone does something to someone. Excited yet?

It'a after 6 AM, so I guess I'll do the logical thing and go get some sleep. I'll leave you with a video that has made me crack up every time I've watched it. I still don't know what's funnier, the kid or the reporter's awkward reaction.

"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.

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.

Holiday Recap

I hope anyone reading this had themselves a nice holiday. Mine was enjoyable, I'd say it started for me on the Wednesday before Christmas with the Bullcrank Christmas party.

It was about an hour's drive and we got lost along the way, but we eventually found the place. Due to some miscalculations regarding the door to the house and my wheelchair, the party was moved out to the garage, which was surprisingly enjoyable. It was really nice just hanging out with the whole crew, chit chatting and watching Aaron's new short film.
A lot of the gang has been a bit down lately, so Larry secretly cut together a video to rally the troops and showed it at the party. I gave him a hand with some animation for it. It's funny, I wasn't even present for most of the stuff in the video and it still makes me sentimental. You can check it out here.

Corey drove in from Pittsburgh on Thursday, so we chilled out several times throughout the weekend. We had ourselves a big Christmas-time game night on that Friday, the last one with the whole gang for a while as Brendan moved down to Florida this weekend for an internship at Disney World. He'll be down there until August. Not a bad gig, eh?

On Saturday night, Eric and Aaron visited along with Corey for a bit before they headed out for a night of barhopping. Aaron was the hero of the night, letting us have his old TV to replace the tiny one we've had standing in for our broken one.
Sharon visited on Christmas Eve and then Corey swung by for a little Madden football and a couple episodes of Trailer Park Boys.

Christmas morning was nice, everyone seemed to be happy with their gifts, I know I was. You can't go wrong with CDs (Gnarls Barkley, Regina Spektor, KT Tunstall, and Our Lady Peace), DVDs (Justice League Unlimited: Season 1, The Chronicles of Narnia: Extended Edition Gift Set, and Short Circuit- also, Corey got me Over the Hedge and The DaVinci Code), Superman stuff, and iPod accessories.

After unwrapping, we ate and Kris & I played The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, courtesy of Brendan and Mikey. A little bit later, we were off to Granny's.

It was a good time hanging out with everyone there and just relaxing. I'd have to say the highlight of the night was Jeff messing with Aunt Karen. He broke out some classic word play and wrote down "I am sofa king wee Todd did" and had her read it out loud. It was hilarious listening to her read it over and over until it finally sunk in. The moment of realization was priceless.

This Christmas was nice, but it felt slightly...off. Everything we did was 100% Christmas, but for some reason it didn't really feel like Christmas. I can't quite put my finger on it. Even so, I did have fun and I hope you all did too.

And in this corner...

Fight Night for the Xbox 360 should become the official workout for disabled people. I was a sweaty mess after going a few rounds with Mikey last night. Actually managed to make myself dizzy at one point.
I want more.

Birthday Cookout

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm now officially 23...and a little bit drunk.
After a late night last night, I miraculously managed to somehow wake up in time for today's festivites. People started arriving around 3:00 and it was just a blast. Tons of food and tons of family and friends.
My little cousin, Faith, is growing up so fast. It was so crazy watching her walking around already, she's so adorable.
After filling myself up with fruit and a hot dog, the sun started to go down and we started to get a little goofy. Sitting around in a little circle with Maria, Renee, Mikey, Jeff, and Brendan resulted in endless amusement. We just sat there ripping on each other and being dorks. I had an appletini, which left me a little buzzed, then Renee made my second one. I'll tell ya, she made it strong. I've had plenty of drinks before and I've been buzzed before, but I believe this was the first time I've actually felt drunk. I guess I get slap happy when drunk, cause everything was just hilarious, we had a ridiculous amount of fun with the cameras. I'll be posting some pictures up soon!
This is my third birthday party in four days, this is gonna spoil me. Spoil me, I tells ya!
I just want to say thanks to everyone who's been a part of making this weekend so special. You guys are the best!

They Punk'd Me

So this coming Sunday's my 23rd birthday. I've been planning a little get together with a handful of friends for Saturday night at the wine bar and Mom's planning a cookout for Sunday. Really cool plans sure to be a lot of fun, but I've had one of those weeks and haven't been feeling as excited as I should be. With so many friends so far away, it just seemed like my little party would be lacking a lot because of their absence.

I went to bed late last night and had to get up early today. Feeling like a zombie, I rushed to the License Bureau with Mom so I could renew my ID before next week's trip. We waited forever and they took easily the worst picture ever taken of me. I look like a hobo.

As I was running errands with Mom, my cell phone rang. My aunt had coupons for Friday's and wanted us to meet us there. I wasn't feeling into it at all and tried to get out of it, but everyone was adamant, so I gave in.

We went into Friday's and I couldn't see a damn thing. No, I wasn't suffering from a sudden case of grumpy blindness, my sunglasses are just that ridiculously dark. I had Mom pull them off as she pointed to where my aunt was seated. Bleary eyed from the sudden change of light, I went around the corner. I hear voices yell "Surprise!" and my first thought was that I was in the way of a surprise for someone behind me. As my eyes focused I saw...

Corey? "But he's in New York City!" I thought to myself. Sara? "But her car's acting up!" Bridget? Maria? Renee? Mikey? Brendan? "What the hell?" Yes folks, they pulled a fast one on me. The sneaky, crafty, magnificent bastards.

I sat in disbelief looking at all these smiling faces I hadn't expected to see. Turns out Corey had been secretly planning this for weeks and flew in this morning. Even as I type this now, I'm still in a state of shock. How much do these people rock? Seriously.

After we all ate (and I had some kind of giant margarita,) we headed back to my house to hang out. I was surprised to find Mom even had a cake n hand. This was freakishly well orchestrated. While they all sang "Happy Birthday" to me, I let out a small laugh which somehow managed to blow out all but one of the candles.

Upon the song's finish, I blew...and blew...and blew, but the last candle stayed lit. I jokingly said "Watch, I just need to laugh again." I let out another tiny laugh and sure enough, that did the trick. The power of laughter? Or expertly engineered trick candles? You decide.

To my surprise, there were even presents, as if that surprise wasn't enough. Brendan got me WaveRace for the GameCube, Mikey & Maria got me a gift card for Suncoast, Sara got me a Marjorie Fair CD (which I'm chilling to right now), and Corey got me the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Vol. 1 DVD set. #1 in the hood, G.

One by one, everyone went home until it was just Corey, Bridget, and me relaxing and catching up with each other.

This may sound sappy, but who cares? You really know how to make a guy feel loved. You're the best. Thanks guys.

A Blog For Adrienne

Tonight Adrienne told me, and I quote, "you need some more blogs." Who am I to argue? So here we go!

I'll begin with a little update on things. As of last weekend, the rough draft of my screenplay is finished! Right now, Zoe's looking it over and she'll be letting me know what areas I need to work on. I'll keep you posted as things progress!

It's been one hell of a week here in JacobLand! It's Spring Break around here, so everyone who's more motivated than yours truly and going to college has the week off. That means tons of catching up with old friends and getting to know new ones.

On Saturday night I was lucky enough to have the company of Corey and Adrienne. We chilled out, watched Garden State, and ate mint chocolate chip ice cream, courtesy of Corey. Let me tell you, that's an accurate name, it was in fact minty, chocolate chippy, icy, AND creamy. Delicious. Great movie, yummy snack, and the company wasn't too shabby either.

Sunday I met the cutest poodle on Earth and had a mini game night with Corey and Mikey. *sings* Madden '05 and Mario Party, TimeSplitters 2 and Soul Calibur also, playing those games until my fingers sting, these are a few of my favorite thiiiiiiiings.

Monday- Slow day. Corey left for Oregon, I worked on a cartoon for Adrienne.

Tuesday, Adrienne made a return visit! We basically just sat and talked from 8 PM to 1:30 AM and had such a great time. We watched American Idol and the judges contradicted everything I said. Jerks. Plus tonight my girl was voted off! Amanda got robbed. Anyway, after Adrienne went home, she came online and we chatted til 5 AM. She's definitely cool, plus she has some strange kind of superhuman tolerance for my rambling.

And the fun doesn't end there, folks! I'm hoping to fill out the rest of the week with more company, special guests may include such fan favorites as Bridget, Maria, and maybe a super special third visit from Adrienne!*
*card subject to change

I can tell all my readers are wetting themselves with excitement. Well, go clean yourselves up. that's all I've got for now. More soon...if you behave.

-Jacob