Jacob's Semi-Yearly Year's End Review of the Year- 2010

Well, kiddos...it's been a crazy year. Who's up for a little recap?

Way back in January, after a hiatus that was much longer than intended, I resumed work on The Girl and the Ghost.

As I animated that, Larry and the gang finished and premiered Dolly Oxem's Traveling Video Circus.

I worked right through February and in March, realized that at some point, the music video for Sex Love and Honey had snuck past 100,000 views without me noticing.

Mom and I took off to Toronto for a few days and attended a pair of amazing back-to-back Our Lady Peace concerts. (A blog entry for this trip is still coming. Really.)

A few days after getting back from the trip, we had The Meeting. The 4Reelz crew came together for a meeting which I consider to be the official start of the journey known as Four Tanks and a Healer.

As work on Ghost continued into April, the schedule for Four Tanks and a Healer began to sink in. I knew I couldn't handle them simultaneously, so I reluctantly put The Girl and the Ghost on hold once again and started animation on Four Tanks.

Toward the end of the month, I took in a fantastic concert by The Swell Season.

The summer was comprised of endless long hours of animation. By the time August rolled around, I was in massive need of a break. Mom and I swung up to Niagara Falls for a few days and saw Chantal & Raine play two shows at the Jackson-Triggs winery.

It was a great break and an unforgettable experience.

August also saw the release of my personal favorite movie of the year- Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. 112 minutes of pure movie fun.

Before the month was over, Superman paid us a visit.

Christopher Dennis, the Hollywood Boulevard Superman, was in town to film a scene for The Long, Slow Death of a Twenty-Something with Larry. After filming, they stopped by my house. Not many people get surprises like that.

September got off to a bumpy start. A fun night out at the wine bar with Corey, Eric, and Beth ended with heavy rain basically frying my wheelchair's controls.

This left me stranded with a dead chair for my birthday and a couple weeks beyond. It sucked, but I got a lot of animation done.

Once my chair was semi-functional, Mom and I spent a day at the zoo. A weekday in late September is definitely the time to go. Everyone's at school and work and you pretty much have free reign of the place. It's pretty nice.

The work continued through October. When Halloween arrived, Matthew was ready. His love for Toy Story was apparent by his costume choice.

In early November, I allowed myself another little break and headed up to Niagara again with Mom. This was a very laid back trip consisting mostly of eating, drinking, and a Chantal concert. It was a short, but sweet getaway.

Upon returning, I buckled down for the home stretch and finally finished animating Four Tanks and a Healer after seven months.

In the following days, I re-learned how to relax just in time to enjoy Thanksgiving and Matthew's 3rd birthday. Still can't believe the little bugger's already three.

In December, I sat down and just wrote for the first time in months and it felt great. I now have a script for a brand new animated short film.

On the 18th, we all gathered at Pufferbelly in Kent for the wrap party for Four Tanks and a Healer and The Long, Slow Death of a Twenty-Something.

A few days later, it was time for Christmas and all the fun that comes with it.

Now, I'm sitting here in the early hours of 2011, just reflecting to myself on 2010 after spending New Year's Eve with Mom and Matthew. If I had to pick a word for the year, I guess it would be "strange." I spent most of the year with my nose in my laptop, racing toward the animation deadline. The working hours seemed to drag on forever and stressed me out to my wit's end. Oddly, that made the rest of the year fly by. I honestly barely even remember the summer. So, it was a productive year, but a strange one.

The highlight? Watching this butthead...

...grow into this butthead.

So, what's up for 2011? First and foremost, I'm jumping in and FINALLY finishing The Girl and the Ghost.

After that, I'll be tackling the new short, which I really think will be amazing. I'm extremely excited about this one.

And what of Four Tanks? Well, Larry has meetings scheduled with some big TV networks out in LA at the end of January, so we'll see.

Here's hoping 2011 is a great one. Happy New Year, guys!

2010: Time to Catch Up

It's been over two months already?

Oops.

I've never claimed to be a punctual (or good) blogger, but I'll always keep coming back and updating. The main problem for me with blogging is that when nothing's happening, there's nothing to write, but when things are happening, there's no time to sit and collect my thoughts into a semi-decent entry.

I'm pretty busy these days, but I want to get an update out before it gets too out of control.

Let's do this.

Christmas was a great time. Lots of long-running traditions failed to come together, which was a bummer, but Christmas Day made up for that. Kris, Jessi, Hanna, and Matthew came over on Christmas morning and we did presents here. I loved watching Matthew have the whole experience, that was the highlight for me.

Keeping with tradition, the afternoon and evening were spent over Grandma's, just hanging out with the family.

Matthew spent the night on New Year's Eve, so I hung out with him and Mom all night. Ate some cheese and crackers, had a little drinky drink, it was nice.

The highlight of that night was the pudding episode. Matthew was sitting next to me as I putzed around on my laptop. He was eating pudding, so I asked "Is that good?"

He looked at me, gave it some thought, and said "Have some."

He then grabbed his spoon and stretched, trying to get it to my mouth. Half of it smeared across my cheek, the rest across my teeth. He said "uh oh", grabbed his napkin, climbed up, and started wiping my face. I was laughing too hard to make a sound. When he started wiping my teeth, I closed my mouth to avoid getting a mouthful of paper napkin. He then proceeded to grab my beard and pull down, trying to open my mouth.

The kid's a trip.

2009 got off to a rough start and never really seemed to recover. There were highlights and bright spots, but the overall tone of the year wasn't all that great, so I was happy to see '09 go so 2010 could get a shot at not sucking.

So far? I suppose it's been okay. The winter weather's been pretty rough, so I haven't been able to get out much. Honestly, I've pretty much gone stir-crazy at this point.

I've been using my indoor-time to catch up on some of the movies I missed last year. I've recently watched The Hangover, 9, District 9, and Zombieland. All were good, but my favorite movie I've seen recently was easily Moon. Blew me away. See it.

I also saw Avatar in 3D. I can't say I fell in love with it, but I definitely liked it.

I've mostly been spending my time working to finish animating The Girl and the Ghost. It's been a big test, trying to push myself without burning out on the process more than I already am. But I'm moving forward. I wouldn't say I'm in the home stretch just yet, but it is in sight. This movie's almost done.

Want something to watch now? Dolly Oxem's Traveling Video Circus premiered a few weeks ago! Check it out!

DOLLY OXEM'S TRAVELING VIDEO CIRCUS!
Uploaded by Bullcrank. - See more comedy videos.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbvvtu_dolly-oxem-s-traveling-video-circus_fun

Production for Four Tanks and a Healer begins next month. Craziness, I tell ye.

I better get back to work.

Jacob's Yearly Year's End Review of the Year- 2007

If you're just joining us, howsabout a brief recap of 2007?

Creatively, the year jumped off with an amazing start. January started with Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face being voted the 4th Best Short film of 2006 by FilmThreat.com
I also finished my work on Harvey Daggit and the Devil's Olives as well as the music video for Raine Maida's Sex Love & Honey.
Personally speaking, things were rough, as things were a bit turbulent in Kris' life.

February saw an amazing trip up to Windsor to see Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida.

March brought Harvey Daggit's acceptance to the website for Spielberg's show, On the Lot. Sadly, that's as far as it went.
It was also in March that we announced The Greatest Fan Film of All Time and The Girl and the Ghost.

April started with my very first newspaper interview about our films and continued with Tootsie Blow Pop exploding after being featured on MySpace.

The summer was mostly quiet as I worked away on Fan Film and Ghost until late August, when Mom and I embarked on another Canadian adventure.

More animation led me into November, which brought my first experience in live action filming. In a complete turnaround from the way the year started, Kris became a father and I became an uncle.

December was mostly more animation, enjoying being an uncle, and prepping for Christmas. Which leads me to now.

As I type this blog with the arrival of a new year at hand, I find myself feeling more optimistic than I was at this time last year. Though busy working on things I love, I spent most of 2007 frustrated and stressed out. In recent weeks, things have changed and I feel I've changed (for the better) too.

2008 will bring the completion of Ghost and Fan Film and, if my hopes become reality, the start of some wonderful new things.

I wish you all joy, health, and prosperity in the year ahead. Happy New Year!!!

New Year, Same Jacob

It's tough to believe it's just over a week ago I rang in 2007 with my nerdiest New Year's celebration yet (I drank lots of wine and champagne with Mom and watched Short Circuit at 2 AM). It feels like ages ago. And Christmas was only two weeks ago? I'm telling you, time's gone all wonky.

Kris had surgery last week following the incident at the bar two weeks ago and is recovering nicely.

I've still been keeping busy with my project, which is rapidly nearing completion. I'm hammering out a few last details with the boss right now and I should wrap things up within the next few days. I'm pumped.

In other awesome news, the folks over at FilmThreat.com chose Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face as the 4th best short film of 2006! Check out the article here! It was pretty awesome news to wake up to yesterday. Thanks, guys!

I've been daydreaming about Niagara Falls again. Anybody wanna move there with me?

Today I'll leave you with a new commercial I'm enjoying quite a bit. It's a spot for Old Spice featuring a personal favorite of mine, Bruce Campbell. I'm really tempted to copy the decor (especially the neverending painting) when I redo my bedroom...

2006: The Year it Hit the Fan. Again. Hard.

Tonight, we find ourselves on the eve of 2007. All I can say is "it's about time."

I don't mean to be a downer, but I'm so happy to see 2006 go. I'm not saying nothing good has happened this year, but it sure has seemed everything good has come with a complimentary kick to the groin.

Behold.

The year started with the premier and surprisingly large success of Nintendo: OldSchool Revolution, but also with having to pay for repairs to my dear old iBook.

I spent a lot of time being creative and working on films, but ended up losing touch with friends, sometimes for months at a time, as everyone got caught up in their own lives.

I finished my work on Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face and our TV died after only 5 years.

I saw the fantastic final cut of Batman and the flood hit.

I went to Niagara Falls for my birthday and my iBook died. Again.

I caved in and bought a shiny new MacBook. Four months later, it had a drink and left me with the bill.

I went to Canada and had an amazing time with Chantal Kreviazuk & Raine Maida, but I was miserably sick the whole time.

My favorite holiday of the year, Christmas, came along and my brother had a nasty run in with some drunken, cowardly, lowlife thugs.

See what I mean?

2006 has left me drained, but I have high hopes for 2007. I'm going into the year working on a big, great project which will soon be revealed. It'll be followed up by more excellent projects, including helping Larry out on the upcoming sequel to Zombies in My Neighborhood.

Here's to a fantastic 2007 for everyone, filled with love, happiness, and success. Adios '06, see you in the funny papers.

Y2K...5 Years Late

Happy New Year, everyone!



Well, I don't know about you, but my 2005 has gotten off to a hectic start. We had a nice Christmas, Jolly Ol' Saint Nick was good to me. After a quiet New Year's Eve at home with Mom, I had a nearly constant flow of company visiting. Over Winter Break I even met three new friends!

Uh oh, what's this? I think...yep...I feel a shoutout coming on, watch out! Hey Bridget, Adrienne, and Eric!

Okay, the shoutout's over, is everyone okay?

So this weekend was the big finale game night before everyone headed back to college and it was good. Hands were tested, thumbs were blistered, and Jeff was named the new commissioner of our Playstation 2 wrestling league.

The following day I was just in a bad mood, feeling a bit down. 11 PM rolls around and I decide to get comfy, watch a DVD, and chat a bit on my laptop. So I get comfy, I get my laptop...it won't start, it just shows a blinking question mark. Obviously the work of the Riddler. So I give Batman a quick call to see what's up, but apparently the Riddler prefers Windows. That blows that theory, so I immediately call Corey, a fellow Mac user, to see if I can get a nugget of wisdom from him.

"You're screwed." Not exactly what I was hoping for, but hey, at least he's honest.

I went on my PC to see what help I might be able find online. I found a few things, tried them all, none worked. I worked until 3 AM before quitting for the night, not knowing whether or not I had just lost everything I had spent so much time working on. No, I didn't have backups. I know, I know, shoosh.
Oddly enough, I had been planning all last week to buy a nice big external harddrive, just incase anything like this would happen. The day I had decided would be good to order it...yesterday. Irony. Ha.

Yesterday, the first thing I did after waking up was call the Apple help line. The lady was very helpful, but extremely dry. This was a prime example of why I hate phones. I tried to lighten things up with a couple quick one-liners and I'm pretty sure I heard crickets chirping at the other end of the line. I swear I heard her sigh a couple times like I was interrupting something. What a fun conversation.

Anyway, after a fifteen minute phone call and about an hour of work, my laptop's back on track and none of my info is lost. I DO have to re-update my system though. 97 MB on a dial up connection, I'm getting excited just thinking about it.

Y'know, I've had this laptop for a while now and aside from a few hiccups, she's been really good to me. I think she deserves a name, anyone got any name suggestions? C'mon, consider it an assignment, folks. Bring on the names!

-Jacob