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.

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.

Spilled Milk and Other Random Bits

It's only been two weeks since my trip. I'm finding that increasingly hard to believe. Things have been so hectic and nonstop since we got back, it feels like ages. The nasty medicine I took for my cough made that week alone seem like an eternity.

I'm finally feeling better and cough free, which is a relief. As soon as I started feeling better, I began work on a small, secret project I'm helping Larry out with. It was fairly simple and I've already finished my part.

On Wednesday morning, bad luck reared its ugly head in a sudden and unexpected way. It was 5 AM, I was putzing around online as Dad passed through to the kitchen for a drink of water. On his way back to the bedroom, I asked him to give me a sip of the milk I was drinking. He lifted the glass from my tray and that's when it happened.
In slow motion, I saw the glass fumble and its milky contents rain down through the air.
Directly onto the keyboard of my MacBook.
The computer shut itself down and my stomach sank. Mom quickly awoke and did her best to dry it off before any serious damage could be done, but it was too late.
Not knowing what else to do, I went to bed and we placed the MacBook upside down to drain while I slept.

To my surprise, it did turn back on the next day, but things weren't right. Everything was running slow and the computer was frequently restarting itself. It stayed on long enough for me to backup some files, but then it shut down for what appears to have been the last time.

What really gets me is that I paid extra for the 3 year extended warranty which is void if an outside force is what screws up your machine. If that's not bad enough, I'm not even close to paying the thing off yet. I'm gonna spend the next few months paying off my sleek looking Apple iPaperweight.

It doubles nicely as a doorstop. With an Intel Core Duo processor and built-in iSight.

We're still looking into whether or not anything can be done to help me out (credit card protection, house insurance, etc.), but I'm not holding my breath.

I'm currently using my old iBook, which runs off an external harddrive. It's a bit sluggish and pretty outdated, but it's doing what I need it to. Mostly.

I really can't believe Christmas is just a week away. For some reason it just doesn't feel like Christmas to me. Maybe it's the warm weather we've been having, I don't know. I'm not turning into Scrooge here or anything, I'm feeling more like Charlie Brown. I guess I'm just having an unusually hard time getting into the spirit this year.
I have a week to turn it around though.

I guess I'll go get started on that. Stay tuned for some especially exciting news about an upcoming project I'm taking on. It's big and it's cool. Trust me.

Lappy's On Life Support

My laptop's been acting funny for about a week and a half. It was making a strange grinding sound and running really slowly. On Monday night, she gave out and wouldn't start up again.

Seeing if anything could be done, I headed out to the Apple Store yesterday. In a nice change from the norm, I got helped way before my scheduled appointment.
When I mentioned the grinding sound, I couldn't hold back the laughter when the guy actually whipped out and used a stethoscope to listen.

Long story short, my hard drive is shot and I'm now running my system from an external drive. After four long, good years, my lappy's on crutches.

In more cheerful news, Batman's doing great at iFilm! They featured it on their main page today and it's currently been viewed 3,500 times!
Losers is cleaning up too! After being featured yesterday, it's up to 12,300 views!

Keep spreading the word!

Niagara Falls 2006: Day IV

Nursing an achy stomach, I somehow managed to wake up on time for checkout on Thursday morning. The mist was still thick like the night before.

We debated doing more around the Falls after checking out, but with both of us slightly under the weather, we agreed to just hit the road. While waiting for the bellman to come help with our luggage, we took a few last pictures from our room.

Buckled in and loaded up, we started the ride home. A few people had told us that you get money back at the duty free shop if you give them a receipt for at least $50 worth of non-consumable items, so we made it a point to stop on the way.

In a brief moment of confusion, we turned off of the freeway one exit too soon and ended up at the Ontario Welcome Centre.

Apparently we weren't the first ones that day as they quickly drew a simple map with directions to get us back on track. Minutes later, we were at the duty free shop.

We took a little time to shop around, grabbed a bite to eat, converted my casino winnings to US dollars and left a little later with my refund and some souvenirs.

I also bumped into an old co-worker of mine.

Mario & Me

After crossing the Peace Bridge back into the States, the rest of the ride was scenic and uneventful. Unevenftul for the most part, anyway. In an unexpected recreation of another event from last year, I killed a bug. With my face. Involuntarily. I guess that's the risk you run by traveling with an open window.

Again, thanks to some good music, the ride flew by and we were back home a little after 5 PM. Before long, we had gone through the pictures and I was back on my laptop, trying to figure out how to fix her up. In a way, it felt like we never left.

It was a great birthday week and a great little getaway. I needed it.

Niagara Falls 2006: Day I

Our plans to hit the road early were derailed by a bunch of those little things that always pop up at the very last minute. I had trouble sleeping, which resulted in waking up later than I had hoped, then my laptop decided to throw a noisy fit when I tried to check my email before leaving. You know, those kinds of things.

So, after a slightly stressful start to my birthday morning, Mom and I hit the road a little after 1 PM.

It was a nice, uneventful ride on a somewhat overcast day. Occasionally, the sun would peek through and shine down, giving the clouds a really cool look, like paintings.

Again, I whipped up a playlist on my iPod that helped the miles fly by. I included a live performance by Chantal Kreviazuk where she sang some songs from her new album, Ghost Stories, which I was looking forward to picking up in Canada. Though it may not sound it, it was pretty funny when Mom started crying (while driving) as Ghosts of You played. We both had visions of us pulling up to the border with Mom just sitting in the driver's seat, sobbing.

As we always do, we stopped to eat at the rest stop in Angola, New York before heading back onto the road.

The clouds became more and more ominous looking as we approached Buffalo and images of Independence Day popped into my mind. They had no bite to them though, only producing a brief drizzle.

Before long, we crossed the Peace Bridge into Canada and arrived at the hotel overlooking Niagara Falls a little after 6 PM. We settled in and I returned a couple birthday calls I missed while on the road, including one particularly amusing rendition of Happy Birthday.

I decided to see if any birthday luck would find me at the casino.

Grandma had given me some birthday money and told me it had to be used in the casino, so I used it. In my first ten minutes there, I hit. Granted, to 90% of the people in there, my winnings would probably be considered pocket change, but I was ecstatic.

I figured I'd splurge a little to celebrate my day, so we went to the Terrapin Grille. We split an order of bruschetta and had some wine. I think this may have been the best wine I've ever had. Sadly, I can't remember what it was called. All I know is it was the last one listed on the menu for Niagara white wines. Delicious.
After we finished, our awesome server surprised me with a piece of cake with "Happy Birthday" written in chocolate on the plate. That was a nice little surprise that ended my birthday and the first day of the trip on a great note.

Tipsy (and extremely giggly) from the wine, I followed Mom back to the room and hit the hay.

The Dance of Creativity

It's come to my attention over the past few days that creativity controls you, not the other way around.

I've been sitting here with my trusty ol' iBook trying to force my brain into screenwriting mode. I have a lot of the groundwork laid for this script. I love the idea and think the finished product could be amazing. I've been playing with this story in various forms for a long time and I'm really eager to deliver this baby. There are just a few patches that need smoothed and a few gaps that need filled.

So, I sit here trying to get it going, get the story to flow from my fingers. I start typing and what comes out?

Poems.

I've written three poems this week so far. I'm not complaining, I really like two of them and the third one's not bad, I'm just saying creativity doesn't always cooperate. But hey, as long as it's giving me something, I'm happy.

Toon Soon

This past Monday, I finally saw the final cut of the cartoon. The DVD came in the mail early in the day and I found myself unexpectedly nervous. I sat with the DVD on my desk all day, wondering how it was going to look and how I was going to feel about it. At about 6 PM, I popped it into the DVD player and my family gathered around.
From the moment it started until long after it ended, I sat and grinned like a dork.
I really can't wait for thing to go up on ifilm so you can check it out. It'll be online soon.

I'm happy to say I'm typing this entry from my newly repaired iBook. Once we finally got an appointment, everyone was helpful and the service was super fast and smooth.

I'll update you guys on the cartoon ASAP.

One Bad Apple

So, my beloved iBook died on me last week. It's happened before, but it's never been a big deal, I'd take it to the Apple Store and my extended protection plan would cover the cost. Simple as pie, right?

Not this time.

It's now become clear to me that though I love Apple computers, I hate the Apple Store.

Last Friday, the day after the iBook crashed, Mom and I drove up to the Apple Store to get things sorted out. Upon arrival, an employee of the store helped us sign in for an appointment at their self proclaimed "Genius Bar."

We waited paitiently as time passed. A seemingly endless amount of customers were called up to get their problems sorted out. 90% of the problems came down to people not knowing how to work their iPod they got for Christmas. One lady's big dilemma was...I kid you not..."How do I charge it?"
Are the instruction booklets that complex nowadays? I recall mine quite simply instructing me to...y'know...plug it in.

Time began to drag. Two hours had passed. We decided to ask if it was getting close to our turn. Turns out we were somehow put on a standby list, so basically if everyone else decided to leave, they'd call me up. Fantastic.

One of them had seen us waiting and knew they had messed up, so he snuck us up there a few minutes later. He tells me my logic board is a goner and needs to be replaced. $300 and 1-2 weeks.
I just had my logic board replaced last year. Apparently a bunch of the logic boards they made were defective, so they replaced them for free. Kind of odd that my defective one lasted longer than its replacement.
I asked if my protection plan covered this and found out it expired in August. I argued that I renewed it and was told it doesn't go beyond 3 years after the original purchase.
Wonderful.

I headed home with my dead laptop to debate whether I should have it fixed or just get a new one.

After a few days, I decided to get the repair now and look into a new one when I can better afford it.

Mom and I headed back earlier today to have the laptop shipped out. We signed in at 2 PM and saw we'd be helped at...7:30?! A 5 and a half hour wait?!
It didn't look crowded, so we decided to wait a bit and see if we might get in sooner. After an hour (and countless more iPod "problems"), I said "Screw this." We asked if we could get an appointment for tomorrow and he said I'd have to do it online. Works for me. With that, we were out of there.

So, I'm sitting here tonight and decide to head to Apple's site to schedule myself for tomorrow. What message do I get?

"We're sorry, due to higher than expected support traffic in our store, we will not be able to provide you with assistance at this time."

I am not a happy customer right now.

Why I’m Angry Today

• Tiger

In two years of owning my iBook, it’s frozen a total of maybe five times. Since installing the new OS, Tiger, it freezes about three times a day.

• Telephone Customer Service

I called to activate my first credit card today. The lady at the other end of the phone was nice as could be, but I’m convinced she was some kind of cyborg, as she talked faster than what I believe is humanly possible. It was like she was reading from a script that had no spaces or punctuation. I got so frazzled, I had to have her repeat one bit three times and I still don’t know what she was talking about.

• The Heat

I love summer. I love the heat. The problem? Nobody else can handle the heat, so I’m often left with nobody to do anything with.

• Lack of Motivation

It seems I can want and want and want to do something, then as soon as I have to do it, I just don’t feel like it.

• This Town

Boring.

• People

Bleh. They’re all nuts.

*I’m having a bad day. Please forgive the negativity.

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