So like I said before, I’ve been BUSY, but its been epic! Where to begin… well, I started my Screen Novelties gig this week, so now I’m at Shadow Machine 3 days a week working on a movie, and at Screen Novelties working on a TV show episode. HOW AWESOME IS THAT!

Its really cool working at SN because I get to see another scale of company. SM is HUGE, its a warehouse, 15 animation stations, many floors, many rooms, you get it. SN on the other hand, is a garage with 2 animation bays. However, both are EPIC because its not the space, its how you use it, and SN knows how to use it! 

Besides that, I’m learning diffrent scales of operation as far as materials, time budgets, money budgets and so on, so its excellent.

Anyway on to the cool stuff: Seen that film “I Live in the Woods”? The one that is a big inspiration of mine:

http://vimeo.com/14191230

Well I work with Max Winston at SN, the guy who MADE THAT FILM! Yeah, its pretty awesome, I’ve looked up to his work for a while, and now I’m his fucking co-worker! so that’s pretty nuts…

I work with other crazy awesome people too, like the guy who made Fathers head in Coraline, and this guy, Rob, who’s awesome and basically made every stop motion puppet ever, so that’s pretty cool too.

Hmm… what else…. well, there’s so much! so where do I even begin?

Well, at this point I’ve made a shit ton of Armatures, a shit ton of hands for said armatures and at SN I’ve gotten to start casting hands and feed, so its all pretty groovy, and that means when you see these things I’m working on, and you will, those puppets will have MY armatures in them! Cool? Yes, yes it is.

I haven’t said a whole lot recently, and that’s because I’m EXHAUSTED, but in the best way!

Adventures with 75 Year old men!

Part Two: The Un-Adventures

So as some of you may know, last week i went on a righteous quest with a 75 year old man named Paul.  Well, after such an excellent adventure, we certainly weren’t ready to call it quits, and schemed that very day to have more adventures! So this weekend the plan was simple: Friday myself and Paul would galavant down the Sunset strip in the evening and Paul would show me the sights. PROBLEM: My badass internship was planning to show the first snippits of their sound recording that evening. SOLUTION: I called Paul to explain and reschedule for Saturday. Paul said that was fine, as he hadn’t been feeling too hot anyway. Problem solved! Perfect, i was going to have my cake and eat it too!

Fast Forward to today (that very Saturday I mentioned). Seven O’clock is rolling around, our rendezvous time, and no call from Paul, so I decide to give him a call. At first he didn’t answer, so I began to believe that I had been stood up! But just as my doubt was begging to blossom, he called back. Turns out that “I’m not feeling too hot” actually meant massive issues with certain organs resulting in him going to the hospital! 

So Paul is in the hospital… and he said he would call me as soon as he gets out for some adventure! So hopefully he gets out.

Yep, thats right, yesterday was epic! And it was all thanks to a 75 year old man. It all began when I finally decided to stop being a lazy hump and get my ass moving, so I looked up what some cool places to visit were in this area and found Runyon Canyon on Google Maps. After that I was off, on the search for an awesome place! after about an hour, I gave up! Luckily I couldn’t have picked a cooler place to give up.

So as I was in the process of giving up I stumbled on what basically seemed to be a giant, city block sized, enchanted garden. I wandered the perimeter of this Eden for a while(which was fenced in and inaccessible), before i finally found a tree to sit and read under.  

After reading for an hour or so, I spied a man walking through the garden. I got next to the fence and began scheming a way to get him to let me in, but before I thought of anything of use, he was standing right in front of me “Want a tour? Here, you carry my basket and I’ll show you around.” And that is what this 75 year old man did, he led me though this unbelievable forest sized garden, telling me his life story and pointing out the random shit growing all around. There were avacados, bananas, oranges, passion fruit, nuts, herbs, tomatoes, grapes, sunflowers, apples, i mean the list is endless, and every few feet he would pick something and say “Here, smell this” or “Here, eat this”. It was fucking amazing.

Next, i dropped of his basket at his crazy mansion (across the street) and he offered to show me where the park i was looking for was. Well, turns out this wasnt a park, it was a GIANT FUCKING MOUNTAIN. Yeah, like wtf status mountain, and he was all like “Im 75, im half robot, and i will take you to the top of this mountain.” and 3 hours later, we were at the top! and i was more tired than he was, he just kept going up this insane mountain, running and jumping over steep drops and being a badass 75 year old with a robotic heart that was a pacemaker, a defibrillator and an emergency GPS all in one (for serious).

After climbing all up in this mountain i could see for… basically infinity in all directions (it was fucking nuts). Then we climbed down using some secret path he knew that cut the time down in like 1/10th the time it took to go up (but it was like 9000% more danger) and he took me back to his mansion, gave me split pee soup and sent me on my way. Ya. O and were hanging out again next week. Success? Yeah id say so.

So that’s it, I’ve officially been out here one week. Holy shit. Yeah, let me just say that much first and foremost. In this time I’ve learned more, done more, and had my mind blown, pissed on, rebuild, lost, found and pissed on again. Has it been amazing? Hmm… yeah id say definitively! A little bit of unease and discomfort being all alone in the big ass state of California, no doubt, but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger right? Right.

Ok that was a bit ranty… and irrelevant, so let me get to the roots, MY experience. It has been awesome, definitally, but also equally terrifying. Why you might ask? Well for starters, as mentioned earlier, Im way the fuck out in LA all alone, cold and naked in the harsh and brutal world! But in all honestly, it is strange being way away from everything and everyone I know. At times lonely, boring or even a tad bit down right scary. But you know what? Thats real life, and its fucking amazing. And you know what else? With every scary challenge that I face I say “hey, hey you! ya you, FUCK YOU!” and I kick it in the tate. Cuz thats how i do. (also I may receive a nightly, very needed pep talk from a certain Maggie Boyle).

In conclusion to this long winded whatever the fuck rant at midnight, this shit is real, i’m really doing it, and i wouldn’t change a thing (more thoughtful summary coming soon).