So after a month away, I’m back! School is out, I’m still hard at work, and I’m getting ready to travel…again. That’s the one thing I hate about the holidays. You never actually get to go…on holiday. Instead of ticking off days on the calendar, I find myself keeping track of the time by how far my odometer has rolled in my car. And that just ain’t cool. I can’t wait for the day when I can just sit on the couch and do nothing. Oh it’s going to be awesome. But until that day…I seem to be living on the road.
I just got back from New Orleans for Thanksgiving with my beautiful girlfriend Jess, and I have to tell ya. For the most part I found it to be rather…normal. Which, to be honest, I secretely suspected. News crews seem to love to crown around one pile of rubble, smear some dirt on their faces, and over hype the facts to the camera. Shocking isn’t it? But one thing that was not over hyped was the racism. In the first half and hour I was there I heard pretty much every ethnic slur that could be imagined. And it was more funny than anything else. I guess it’s because when you’re bombarded by that much racism so quickly, all you can really do is laugh and just say, “Damn, that was racist.” I won’t sully the web with all the words I heard, but I’m pretty sure you can find them on any white supremicist website out there.
And now for a huge change of gears, I just got done watching “March of the Penguins”. And I must say…it sucks to be a penguin. All you do is walk…sit in the cold starving…watch your babies die…and then walk some more. After the credits rolled I finally figured out it was a French film, and I wasn’t too suprised. Say this in a snotty French accent and you’ll get the gist of the film. “Life is shit…get used to it.”
On a more visual effects note, I’m almost completely done with the Pirate Ship. I know, could it really be true?! But yes, I am. And I’m really proud of it. December seems to be the month of turned out shots. In the coming weeks we’ll have the Pirate Ship, Rocky Ridge, the First Forest, the Second Forest, and the mattes for the Witch’s Hut…DONE. We’ll also FINALLY be getting the shots for the White Room in. So I’m pretty excited. I just can’t wait to be completely finished so I can start working on my own stuff. There’s only so many times you can see a 6 foot Garden Gnome, without wanting to blow something up. Digitally of course. But I will say it’s going to be hilarious to cut my demo reel with a cutesy kids film and with a black and white 1950′s PSA about zombies. God it’s going to be glorious. What music should I use? I’m leaning towards some Brian Adams “If you really love a woman,” but I think the joke would be lost on ILM. But who knows.
Well that’s it…I probabaly won’t be writing for another month since I’m getting ready to leave for Indiana. But who knows, I’ll try. Ok…I’m tired.