Winter In Vancouver

So, I took this picture while heading in to work yesterday. It's the view from outside the entrance of the Xenon building, NWFX headquarters.
Not bad for a cell phone pic.

Garto - An animated short

Wow! What a great piece of work by Spanish artist, Luis Gomez Guzman. The quality of this film is top notch all the way. Character design, fx, textures and lights, animation, music, sound design - it's a wonderfully made film and very enjoyable.
Watch the film and learn more about it at Luis' website www.gartofilm.com

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Diversify your media with TVersity

I came across this nifty bit of software about a month ago. It allows you to connect various computers and other media devices and share media content such as music, pictures and video. You can even subscribe and stream RSS feeds and podcasts from the web.
I have it set up to share media from my laptop, workstation and Xbox 360. So, I can download video from the net and stream it to my Xbox to watch on my TV! I can also play my pictures in a slide show and have music playing behind it for a nice little slide presentation.
You can even access your media from outside your LAN, say from at work or while you are travelling and at a hotel or coffee shop with internet access.
Best of all, it's FREE!!

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Randy Couture is my hero

Randy "The Natural" Couture aka Captain America came out of retirement to hand would be champ Tim Sylvia his ass on March 3rd.
Sylvia, known to love the idea of being crowned champ seems not to know what it takes to be a real champion. He is notorious for doing "just enough not to lose".
Notice I didn't say doing just enough to win. That would be giving him too much credit.
Anyway, Couture, 13 years the senior to Sylvia, put on a clinic. And Sylvia just couldn't take notes fast enough.

Sweet, sweet day. Oh joy!
Now I can't wait to see Canadian champ, George "Rush" St Pierre in action again. He should make quick work of fan fave Matt "the Terror" Serra on April 7. Sorry to see Matt lose as he seems like a really cool guy but I think GSP will be around for a long time to come. He's only 25 and at the top of his game.
MMA rules!

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Next stop...Smallville!

My cousin Glenn just moved to Vancouver from Halifax to work at Entity FX. He'll be doing previs for Smallville. How cool is that?

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Stanley, devastated.

My sister was visiting this past weekend and we decided to go to famous Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Recently, Stanley Park was in the news after a series of wind storms swept through the region, felling many ancient trees.
This was my first time to the park and I didn't know what to expect. It was magnificent and sad at the same time.
The park is densely forested and has a magical, other worldly quality about it. Sad, because we saw first hand how bad some of the damage was to the trees. The pictures don't do it justice and it is after months of the city's cleanup attempts.
The first picture is me standing inside a hollowed-out tree stump. My arms are
outstretched and my finger tips are just touching the inside wall. About a 6 foot span.

Thunderbird by Mozilla - Reclaim your Inbox

Recently (the past year or so) I have discovered the fantastic web browser, Firefox, by Mozilla. It's a terrific alternative to Internet Explorer and it's "open source" with lots of add ons called themes and extensions. I added the Blue Ice theme to customize the look of my browser and I've added some nifty extensions like Skype (makes phone numbers on websites appear as Skype Out links so you can call them directly using Skype), Performancing (blog editor that I am using for the first time with this entry, so we'll see how it goes), ForecastFox (allows me to set up profiles for different areas and gives me up to the minute weather information for those cities and forecasts for the days to come) and there are many more. Very cool.

So now, I just installed a new Mozilla product called Thunderbird. What Thunderbird is, is a email tool like Outlook and Outlook Express.

You can also customize TB with themes and extensions just like with Firefox.

The really COOL thing about Thunderbird? I set it up to be my default email checker and I now have one place to check my various email accounts.

No more logging into Gmail, then Hotmail, then my local ISP, then my webmail.

I can do it all from Thunderbird.

Tres cool.

Check it out. It's sexy.

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If I were a Muppet...

You Are Animal

A complete lunatic, you're operating on 100% animal instincts. You thrive on uncontrolled energy, and you're downright scary. But you sure can beat a good drum. "Kill! Kill!"

The Muppet Personality Test

If I were a BSG character I would be...

You scored as Capt. Lee Adama (Apollo). You have spent your life trying to life up to and impress your Dad, shame he never seemed to notice. You are a stickler for the rules. But in matters of loyalty and honour you know when they have to be broken.

Capt. Lee Adama (Apollo)
81%
CPO Galen Tyrol
69%
Commander William Adama
69%
Tom Zarek
50%
Lt. Sharon Valerii (Boomer)
50%
President Laura Roslin
31%
Lt. Kara Thrace (Starbuck)
31%
Number 6
31%
Col. Saul Tigh
25%
Dr Gaius Baltar
6%

What New Battlestar Galactica character are you?
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You have to love a dog named Jellyroll

I was doing some surfing of the ol' internet and I came across a weblink to the TV show I'm working on, Jibber Jabber.
A lot of friends and family have been asking me about the show and I have tried to explain to them what it was about and what it will look like.
But pictures and text, mashed together into a dweeb page, always seem to be a better tool to get the point across.
So I provide you with this link.
I know, not a whole lot of info but it gives you an idea. I think the show is looking pretty sweet so far. We're almost done episode three of 26.
The show is tentatively scheduled to air on YTV this September. With a little good fortune, the show will get picked up in some other territories around the globe.
Oh, and here is a link to the creator/director of Jibber Jabber, David Bowes.

Never Nervous

So, a good friend of mine is visiting Vancouver in a couple of weeks. All the way from sunny San Diego, Darryl Purvis.
Now, Darryl probably has one of the most interesting and scary jobs you could possibly have.
No, not an Alaskan crab fisherman. Not a bomb squad technician. And no, not a ghost buster either. Although that possibly is even cooler.
He's a stand up comic. Or comedian. Not sure if one or the other is offensive or not. Kinda like I don't know if I should say midget, dwarf or little person. One or all of those is offensive to somebody.
Kind of like the word 'retard'. I use it a lot. More than I probably should. I mean no offense to people who are mentally handicapped and who at one time would have been described as mentally retarded. But I understand the connotation is still there and there for it's insensitive to use the word (around some people).
But if the term retarded is no longer used to describe somebody who is mentally handicapped, doesn't that "free" up the word to use in my own slang? I think it jsut might. I think I made a case for it right there. It's now ok to use the word retard, guilt free. If somebody gives you shit for using it, cite this blog entry and use it as proof that the word has been emancipated from those politically correct and over-sensitive types who would vilify it's use in an attempt to feel morally superior. Retards.(joke)
But, I digress...
It ain't easy being funny. Sure, it can be easy to make your friends laugh. People of like mind and similar senses of humour tend to gravitate towards eachother.
But it's a different thing entirely to make a stranger laugh. And more specifically, a GROUP of strangers.
And more specific still, make them laugh when you want them to laugh.
Add to that, what people identify as the most common phobia: the fear of speaking in public. You've got one hell of a hard way to make a living.
Darryl's been doing it for quite some time now and has had some very good success, including his own half-hour special on Comedy Now.
He's lived in Toronto, New York and now San Diego.
He's coming up to do a short tour in Vancouver at the Funny Bone and then on to the Cave in Calgary.
So if you are in either of these two cities in the next few weeks, be sure to check out Darryl's show.
You can see Darryl's upcoming schedule and a few videos of his routine here.
After Darryl's set (I'm so hip with the show biz lingo) we're going to check out the Matt Mays concert and slurp down a few golden bevvy's.
Good times. Good times.

Happy Birthday Tim!

Today is Tim's birthday.

See Seaweed. Ci?

Hey Folks,

Just a quick post to let you know about a project a good friend of mine is spearheading.
Darryl Wright, hipster, local scene and programmer extraordinaire, is developing a website and promotional resource to help bring indie artists to the South Shore area of Nova Scotia.
The website is called Seaweed
Here is an excerpt from the site:

Seaweed Events is the brainchild of Darryl Wright, a musical zealot from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. It is the goal of Seaweed to arrange events and create opportunities for great musicians and performers both locally and from across Canada to experience Nova Scotia's South Shore and take advantage of some of the great venues and audiences that share enthusiasm for Canadian music.

There is already a fantastic amount of support for traditional folk music in the maritimes. Seaweed aims to ensure a place for artists and performers appealling to an even broader audience.

Darryl is a fantastic guy and really wants to "give back" to the community and culture that is the South Shore.
He has an artist, Craig Cardiff, playing this Sunday at the Pearl Theatre in Lunenburg. Advance tix are $10 and just $12 at the door. Support live music. Check it out!

Happy Feet? Really?

I recently had the opportunity to see the animated feature, Happy Feet.
Let me start off by saying I had a preconceived notion that this movie was going to be terrible.
What led to me dreading this musical mush-fest of animated schlock was based entirely on the marketing campaign. The trailers they decided to show leading up to the movies theatrical release left me shaking my head. Who would want sit through an hour and a half of penguins doing song and dance numbers?
It was official. Hollywood had finally gone off the deep end and were willing to produce any piece of crap that was 3D animated in hopes of cashing in on the money train that is computer generated animation.
But, then the box office numbers came in. It was number one. Doing really good numbers.
What could it mean? Probably just the throngs of families taking their kids to the next animated show. People who don't necessarily care about the animated film as an art form but consider it "for the kids".
Fair enough.
But them some friends started telling me how good it was. Then my wife went to see it with some friends and their little boy. She said it was really good too! Now, my wife and I have very similar tastes in movies and I trust her above everyone else.
My resolve was starting to crack.
Just to be sure, I checked rottentomatoes and sure enough, it had a 70%. Pretty good score.
Ok, you win. I'll go see for myself.
Bo am I glad I did. What the marketing campaign failed so completely to convey was that there was an actual story beyond the mocapped dance routines. There were characters to relate to and care about. There was even some moral and social commentary if you don't mind that sort of thing (I don't as long as it isn't preachy and condescending - and this isn't)
The look of the film was some of the best rendering and cinematography I have ever scene in a computer generated film. Visuals were done by Animal Logic out of Australia. Holy cow guys! FANTASTIC WORK!
I won't get into the details of the movie but I will say it's worth checking out. It's absolutely visually stunning. A masterpiece.
The writing and vocal performances were also very solid. It's definitely a purchase for me when it comes out on DVD.
I was a little concerned about all the popular music selections they included in the film. I generally hate pop culture references as they tend to be week writing and are an easy hook based on nostalgia or current affairs. Think of a rock band saying the name of the town they are playing in. Guaranteed cheer. Or a standup comic mentioning they just got married or had a baby. Cue applause. No jokes required!
But it works in this film. And do you know why? Because it serves the story. The main plot device centers around penguins choosing their soul mates by having a unique song that attracts that one special aquatic bird for them.
The music wasn't a cheap gag that sidelines the story and takes the audience out of the film for a few moments. The songs were RELEVANT.
Good on ya George Miller.
So, go check out Happy Feet. Do a little dance...make a little love...Get Down Tonight!

Vancouver or Bust!

Well, I've been in Vancouver for almost two weeks now. In that time, I've managed to find a great apartment and started an awesome new job!
That's right, my first animation job at a professional studio. Wahoo!
What a breath of fresh air it is to go into your job and actually love to be there, love what you're doing. I'm animating every day (for the first time in my career) and I feel great about it.
I'm still shaking off a bit of animation rust but things are really going well. I had my first two scenes approved yesterday and another two approved today.
The show is called Jibber Jabber and will air on YTV this September.
It has a bit of a Jimmy Neutron feel to it but the lighting and rendering is(IMHO) some of the best I've seen for a TV production.
I'm working with some very talented animators and my supervisor really knows his stuff. I feel like I am going to improve greatly while working on this production.
Vancouver is great too. The locals are complaining about the weather as it is unseasonal for this area but I must say, it's the mildest winter I have ever experienced. Anywhere from 8 degrees to minus 7. Not too shabby for Canada, eh?
I am really looking forward to being a short 2.5 hour drive to Seattle and a mere 4.5 hours to the Gorge Amphitheater! DMB 2007 - Yippee!
And to top it all off - The 2010 Winter Olympics! Go Canada!