my foot has left the building

I woke up this morning and said to myself "It sure is a good day to be alive!" The sky was a little cloudy as I opened up the curtains. Mr. Sun peeked through a stratus cloud floating way above my window and said "Hello there! Have a pleasant day!" I smiled, politely said "Thank you Mr. Sun" and headed out the door to work. Traffic was smooth after I got over the Williamsburg bridge and I could see Mr. Sun starting to shoo the remaining little clouds out of the way, making the road nice and bright the rest of the way.

For the first hour at work, I moved with determination and vigor. Focused and clear in the blocking of my shot. It's got a long way to go, but it's coming along swimmingly. At 11pm I went in to the production manager's office and handed in my resignation. It's been near 5 years since I started here and at the end of May I will no longer be a feature animator. At least not on a day-to-day basis. It's been an amazingly intense experience and I've learned a lot about what I like to do, what I'm good and bad at, and where I feel I should be.

The future looks filled with new adventures and learning experiences and I'm ready to take it all in. So let's go check it out! But first, I need to finish this 500 frame shot...

running on empty

My apologies for not posting recently. Work has started to kick in to gear and a lot of us animators are furiously scurrying around, following the scents on the ground to our destinations. I hope that we don't come across any more of that deadly fungus. Tom was messing around by the big pile of leaves next to the clover field the other day and disappeared. A day later he stumbled back and was acting all weird. I asked him if he was okay, but he just blinked at me with these blank eyes and walked away. I heard that later that day he climbed up a blade of grass and his head exploded. shudder...

So, anyway, I've just finished my second shot of the film and have been handed a 500 frame doozey that'll be taking up my time for the next three or four weeks. I'll try to post some more for all you faithful readers out there. Until then,

eye candy:
Thank You for Smoking ** - I didn't find it funny or enjoyable. A letdown from a decently mediocre cast.
Ray ** - It's overly dramatic standard music docudrama stuff. Nothing new here, but good if you're in the mood. Personally, I'd skip it and watch Walk the Line instead.
Fast, Cheap, and out of Control ** - There's no real point to this documentary, and the editing is contrived.
Face/Off ** - for some reason abdo digs this flic...
The Hurricane *** - See review for "Ray" above and substitute the word "music" for "boxing". A bit more original, tho.
Yi-Yi ***** - Beautifully shot, acted, and directed. This quiet family portrait of a film is well worth the time.
The Gift *** - It was fun to watch a whateva' thriller at work.

just another day

I wake up to NPR, run, take a shower, kiss my girlfriend, drive to work, grab a breakfast somewhere in WP, check my e-mail, animate, watch a movie, eat lunch, animate more, check my e-mail again, pop in another movie, animate some more, get a game of Guitar Hero in, finish up animating for the day, pack up, drive home, make dinner, eat dinner, chat with m, brush teeth, go to bed, and start it all over again the next day.

Same as any other day...

movies:
Hard Eight*** - PT Anderson's junior effort, with junior results. But it's still PT Anderson.
Life of Mammals **** - Funny
Once Were Warriors *** - gets a little to melodramatic for my tastes, but is worth it's indie fame.
The Maltese Falcon ** - I'm usually a sucker for a good ol' 40's mystery, but this one put me to sleep.

inspiration

There are times in every artists career when you hit an block. Emotional, Psychological, Physical. Whatever it may be it's there. Like an impenetrable wall of steel, mortar, and brick.
My particular block had to do with the arc of a character I was working on. For some reason the conceptual realization of his metaphorical disassociation with the situation he had found himself in was not coming across in the film. It could have been the somewhat banal nature of his lifestyle, although I found it to be quite introspective... in a good way. It could also have been his austere yet demure posturing to his fellow companions. It took me some long pondering to realize that I had no idea where to go with this animation. That was, until I watched this video . It truly summed up all that I was looking for with his character in a few short seconds of beautiful storytelling.

wednesday noon

I've got a posse. Yeah. We don't have matching jackets, but we do hover around like a small school of fish. And every Wednesday afternoon we flap our flippers on over to the mall next door for a burger and some good conversation. Today was particularly busy and the diner we frequent had it's usual parking lot of strollers along side the entrance.
Standing in line with the suburban mommies and grandparents, I started feeling a little out of place. Not that I ever feel really IN place here amongst the avenue long malls and retirement homes that line the streets near my work.
That's it.

peas in the pod:
Gangs of New York*** - More Departed than Taxi Driver.
Slither*** - Hahahaha! beckoning back to the campy horror flics of the 80's

i think my eyes just threw up

Sometimes I think my directors would wish they could do this to me. But I'm sure it would have some long lasting legal consequences.



So what am I getting at? Some people like to say that "fact is stranger than fiction". I prefer the term "fiction COMES from fact". It's only a matter of time before everything that can possibly be imagined is. And everything that can possibly be done comes to fruition. What happens then? The universe implodes and we start all over again. Well, really who knows what will happen a trillion trillion years from now? Or what happened trillions of years before? All I know is that brainwashing fungus' are disgusting, amazing, and inspirational all in one fell swoop.

flics:
7 up series**** -Michael Apatow's social study of the UK, filming a group of people every 7 years of their life. It started in the 50's and has continued every 7 years since. October of 2006 they released 49 up. It's an amazing documentary of life. The ups and downs that come with every one. You only really get the full effect if you watch the entire series.