Through the WebCam

Will Arnett does Carrie

2009-08-18T15:23:00.000-07:00

&amp;amp;lt;a href="http://videoguide.msn.com/play/?g=d21ba3c1-82fa-4952-b300-e5731409acf3" target="_new" title="Will Arnett and Xavier Cinemash "Carrie""&amp;amp;gt;Video: Will Arnett and Xavier Cinemash "Carrie"&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;

Video

MSN Video!

2009-04-10T16:15:00.000-07:00

<a href="http://beta.video.msn.com/play/?g=ecc93651-892a-4dbd-9be7-258a3bc09dc4" target="_new" title="Vikings cheer tryouts">Video: Vikings cheer tryouts</a>

Your Potential. Our Passion.

2008-08-17T12:26:00.000-07:00

Microsoft rules!

Simon's Cat Animations

2008-07-17T09:49:00.000-07:00

I love these animations! They rule like no other!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rb8aOzy9t4&NR=1

MSN Video Guide 2: Judgement Day

2008-06-18T11:20:00.001-07:00

Hey gang!

If you want to rock out with the web's top video then check out the new Video Guide that I worked on:

http://videoguide.msn.com

Rock!

Ukulele Safari

2008-06-17T14:02:00.000-07:00

This is both the lamest and the coolest show ever. Check it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjcBQ02g25M

Ollie Johnston

2008-04-15T09:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, one of my heroes passed away. If you don't know who Ollie Johnston is check out is bio on wikipedia. Here is a list of Ollie's, and Frank Thomas', work.

Rock!

Seattle Blues Celebrities

2008-03-05T22:55:00.000-08:00

I just got home from blues jam at Connor Byrne. It's a small bar in Ballard, which has a monthly jam. I have only been twice so far, but every time I play with some local blues musicians that are pretty well known. Tonight I played with Daddy Treetops. Here is a video of him:

Last time I went to blues jam I played with the Blue Healers. Here is a video of them:

If you want have a good time and hear some awesome blues music, then come on out to Connor Byrne and rock out with me.

Rock!

The Greatest Product Ever Made!

2008-02-06T12:50:00.000-08:00

TV on the 'puter

2007-10-28T11:41:00.000-07:00

This might be the greatest time in internet history. Now you can watch full episodes of the A-Team, Airwolf, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Kojack, and many other television shows and movies all on one site. That's right! Fox and NBC has partnered with MSN to bring you this collection of awesomeness. Not only are the shows awesome, but the site that they play on is too. I might have had a hand in creating it...I am not sure...I can't remember :)

Check it! http://tv.msn.com/tv/full-episodes

Blog Action Day!

2007-10-15T21:44:00.000-07:00

Hey gang!

It is Blog Action Day. This year's topic is the environment. The good doctor has written about what we do to help the environment. If you want more information about "greening" your house or how the world is doing check out http://liveearth.msn.com.

Rock!

Switching Teams

2007-08-29T22:31:00.000-07:00

I think the title of this post is going to attract some different viewers to my blog. Oh well, welcome everyone who has been thinking about switching teams.

My personal taboo is I have been a PC user since I was 10...That's right!...DOS in full effect...But now I want a Mac. I know what you are saying, "Don't you work at Microsoft?" Yeah! That is where I got the idea. A lot of people have Macs at Microsoft...Just they run Windows on it.

I have several reasons for wanting to switch to a Mac, but they are not the typical ones like Macs have less viruses or nerds have PC's and cool hipsters have Macs. Those reasons are bogus anyway. I can't count the number of high school kids you read about that hack "unbreakable" encryptions, or even the IPhone's dependency on AT&T. I don't care if OS X is based on Linux, people still write worms and virues for it and if it did go mainstream, like Windows, then people would go crazy on it. Also, I know some pretty bitchin' dudes that use PC's and some real loser dorks that have a Mac. It is kind of anti-climatic, but I want a Mac so I can run both operating systems and I heard that the animation software I use, Maya, runs better on OS X.

I know I have probably opened a big can of worms, but what do you guys think? Has anybody out there used Maya on OS X and Windows? Does it run better on OS X? In my line of work, I run into a lot jobs where you need Mac experience. I have used Macs in the past, but I don't think I would impress anybody with my Mac knowledge.

Finally, Steve Jobs was CEO of Pixar...Enough said.

Rock!

Awesomeness!

2007-07-11T22:05:00.000-07:00

Hey gang!

I have been super busy with Live Earth. Who knew that working on a concert, seen by 2 gazillion people, would be so much work. Well...I don't have too much time to write, but here are some things that are awesome and you should check them out immediately.

Rock!

Team Fortress 2

2007-05-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

Oh mang!

I would love to work at Valve, a video game company here in Seattle. They hired a bunch of film animators to work on their new games Half Life 2 Episode 2 and Team Fortress 2. Here is a promotional video for Team Fortress 2. It rules so much that I have to watch it everday!

Rock!

Character Animation Demo Reel 2007

2007-04-23T00:33:00.000-07:00

Hey gang!

Have you ever wondered why I don't ever call or e-mail you.? It is because I am locked away in a dark room animating like a crazy mad man.

Check out my current character animation demo reel right here.

You will need Quicktime 7 to view it.

Rock!

Day Watch

2007-03-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

I have been super busy working on a new shot for my demo reel and dog sitting Pig Dog. Sorry gang for the lack of posts! I do have time to post a trailer for a totally bitchin' new movie called Day Watch. You will want to see it!

Check it!

Paprika

2007-03-07T18:33:00.000-08:00

Check out this trailer for the movie Paprika. It looks super duper!

Rock!

Jazz Hands and Boomsticks

2007-02-15T14:06:00.000-08:00

This might be the greatest thing ever. It is Evil Dead: The Musical. Whoa! My mind is currently exploding. Check it!

The last show in New York is this Saturday. Oh mang! I hope it comes to Seattle.

Rock!

Purple and Brown

2007-02-11T22:55:00.000-08:00

Whoa!

I can't stop watching these crazy Purple and Brown shorts. They are an untamed beast! If you haven't checked out these hilarious shorts from Aardman do it now!

Rock!

Holy Crap!

2007-02-10T15:09:00.000-08:00

That is all I have to say. Check it!

Dooley!

2007-02-08T23:22:00.000-08:00

Oh mang! So, this Pixar animation test has been popping up in different places on the internet. I saw it and I immediately had to change my NASA diapers. It ruled supreme like no other. Well, today I find out that the person who animated it was my previous mentor Doug "The Bounty Hunter" Dooley. Whoa! Check this Ratatouille test animation out right now. I demand it!

Rock!

I am Famous!

2007-01-23T17:31:00.000-08:00

Whoa! There is a story on Animation World Network's site about the Animation Mentor graduation ceremony. Guess who is mentioned in the article....Wait for it......Wait for it....It's me fools! Look for my name at the bottom of the article.

Rock!

The Beev

2007-01-19T10:35:00.000-08:00

Oh mang! My parents just sent me some pictures that almost blew my mind. Whoa! This guy creates amazing chalk drawings that look like they are "popping" right out of the ground. Nice!

Check out Julian Beever's pavement drawings. They rule supreme like no other.

Rock!

Rabbit

2007-01-18T11:24:00.000-08:00

You may have read on the Good Doctor's blog that we went to the Animation Show last night. It is usually super supreme, but last nights show ruled even more than usual. First off, there was an opening short with Beavis and Butthead, who were in a Masterpiece Theater setting. Awesome! They also had the new Bill Plympton cartoon Guard Dog, which was hilarious as always.

The first film they played was a short called "Rabbit". This film almost made me pass out from the sheer awesomeness of it. Click here to check out the entire film on Atom Films site.

If you get a chance go see the Animation Show and check out Rabbit. It rules supreme like cherry ice cream.

Rock!

Mr. Personality

2007-01-15T12:07:00.000-08:00

Hey gang!

I graduated from the greatest animation school evah! Animation Mentor. Whoa! The team at AM really went all out for the ceremony. They had our names listed on a giant projection screen in the style of Star Wars, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, and Superman. I don't mean they just downloaded the font and slapped our names up there. I mean they recreated the opening credits of those movies with our names. Freakin' awesome! My name had the Superman theme. Nice!

They had the director of Madagascar give an inspirational speech, which really did make me feel good about what I have chosen to do with my life. They also had a history of AM with some hilarious blooper footage of classes and mentors.

I met so many great people at the ceremony. Everyone there was super nice and really super cool people. One thing I did notice was that everyone was either shorter or taller than I had expected. Whoa! I also noticed that Bobby Beck, founder of AM, had the most energy of any single person I have ever met. Awesome! I even was able to meet 2 of my mentors. They were super cool. My mentor from Pixar said that he was going to get my name tattooed on his chest. Just kiddin' Robert :) Rock!

I even received an award for my crazy antics during class. I won the Best Personality in a Q&A award. I had to give an acceptance speech and boy was I nervous. I guess stage freight comes back after you haven't been in front of 300 people in a while. Whoa!

I will have to post more about graduation and maybe I will even post some pictures.

Rock!

I Am Addicted to YouTube

2006-09-17T22:34:00.000-07:00

Whoa! YouTube.com is a beast! It is an unstoppable beast! If you haven't checked out the goodness of YouTube yet then here are some of my favorite video clips:

The list goes on! Check it out now!

Rock!

The Engine

2006-09-06T22:50:00.000-07:00

Hey gang!

The wife and I just celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. Whoa! I thought she would have killed me in my sleep by now...Who knew? Seriously though, she is the best and she is tired of those mother-bleeping snakes on a plane!

In other news my grandparents just celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. Awesome Grandma & Grandpa! I think the good doctor and I will make it to 60 years. Hey! We are 5% there!

I hope everyone has been rockin' out. I have been super busy with work and school. I am preparing to enter production on my short film at school and production for the game at work started this week. Whoa! I don't think I will be able to sleep ever.

I have been playing around with the game engine at work, trying to get some cut scenes going. If you don't know, cut scenes are storytelling points in a game where a little movie will play and reveal something that the player needs to know to advance. The game engine we are using is new and spiffy, but it still has a lot of bugs in it. Also, the interface seems to have been designed by programmers, not designers. Basically, I am doing a lot of swearing at work. The good thing is everyone else is using the same engine, so they understand :)

I took the good doctor into my work to show her around and she immediately became very jealous. I guess science labs don't usually have scooters, foosball tables, nerdy turn-based games, toys, and every possible console game system on the planet. Oh, did I mention the life size Boba Fett? Freak yeah brother mothers!..Freak yeah!

Hey! I am on MSN Messenger, so if you want to rock out with me then holler back. I will add you to my buddy list and then pretend like I am in a meeting when you send me a message :)

Rock people!

P.S. Watch The Avon Lady Part 1! Look out for Superman...As the cop.

I am Tired!

2006-08-05T23:27:00.000-07:00

Hey people!

If you don't know, I am currently working as a character animator intern at a Seattle video game company. I am getting zero cash right now, but if the company sells their new game then they will hire me on full time. Anyway, I am getting some great experience and finding out a lot about the video game industry.

The interview for this internship was probably the coolest one I have ever had. They sat me down, asked me a couple of simple questions, and then had me play Heroscape with them for 3 hours. Whoa! If you don't know what Heroscape is think Dungeons & Dragons meets chess. I even came in 3rd beating the programming intern and the lead designer.

I quickly found out a perk of being a video game developer. On Thursday, Microsoft reps visited our office and took us out for a fancy lunch. Whoa! I guess they go around and encourage companies to develop games for the XBox 360. The place they took us was super fancy and they even paid for wine. Kick ass!

Another perk is I can wear jeans, shorts, or even a chicken suit to work. See you later corporate dress code. Suck it!

The only bad thing right now, besides the lack of salary, is the hour and fifteen minute drive in "stop and go" traffic. I thought 35W in Minneapolis was bad, but it is nothing compared to the bridge going over to Redmond. Yikes!

On the Animation Mentor front I am in pre-production on my short film. This is the final project that I will be doing at Animation Mentor and I will be working on it for the next 6 months. I am working on the story right now, so I don't have much to share.

Rock people!

Chad Vadar

2006-07-19T19:40:00.000-07:00

This film is hilarious! Watch it now and be a better human for it.

Rock!

The Masters

2006-07-08T07:16:00.000-07:00

Oh mang!

I just found out who my mentor will be for the final 2 classes at Animation Mentor. I won't mention his name, but he works at a little place in Emeryville, CA, which just released a movie about...Automobiles(Said with a Long Duck Dong acccent). That's right! This is the third Pixar mentor that I have had out of five possible mentor choices. Rock!

Over at Cartoon Brew they had a link to a site with a lot of Ken Harris' work posted on it. If you don't know who Ken Harris is then you definitely need to check out this site. I am sure you will recognize the character he is drawing in the picture on the front page :)

Now! Prepare your minds to be penetrated by total and complete rockdom...There is going to be a Tenacious D movie. Whoa! Go to this site right now and prepare for the rock!

Oh by the way, Rock!

You Must Love Chez!

2006-06-09T19:43:00.000-07:00

You have to stop what you are doing and go watch the "Diary of Chez" and "K-Fed". Right now!

Rock!

Status and Being Cool

2006-05-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

Hey people!

Click here for the blocking of my new shot. I am trying to convey that the tan female character has a higher status in the relationship, because she wants to break up, and the green male character has a lower status, because he has to fight to keep the relationship going.

My mentor and a guest lecturer at school, both from Pixar, have been talking about status and how each character is portrayed on screen or in our everyday lives. One thing that is totally mind blowing to think about is people with status hardly do anything. For example, picture a king on his throne in a room full of his subjects. The king is the most important person in the room and therefore he will not move. Jesters will entertain him, people will bring him food, and people will bow when they come before him. The lower the status of person, the more "stuff" they have to do for the higher status person. That contrast in character types tells the audience who is the most important and who has less status.

The guest lecturer also brought up the point that in high school you could pick out the "cool" kids, because they were the ones that were basically standing around doing nothing. People would try to impress them, wish to be like them, or avoid them. That gives status to them, because you are endowing them with some kind of action.

I know this is way over-simplifying human psychology, but if you want to be cool then just hang around and do nothing. Someone will think that you are important and will come make-out with you.

Rock!

You Better De-Claw Those Kittens!

2006-04-23T19:06:00.000-07:00

Why do I have dark circles under my eyes and chronic computer hunch back you ask? This is the reason right here. Check out my latest shot!

Oh mang! There is a new Les Claypool album coming out on May 30. I have been waiting for news from the mothership and now Les has rewarded me. Let the rock begin! Listen to the sample of "One Better". The bass is unbelievable!

If you love awesomeness then you will love Skater Matt! If you love super awesomeness then you will love The Bastard!

Rock!

B Long

2006-03-21T19:22:00.000-08:00

Hey gang! Check this out! I had a slight error with the character that I am animating with. No worries though. After some corrective surgery, Bishop is fine.

Check out my latest shot right here. Yes I know that the box is floating in mid-air. Dang! I need to watch some New Yankee Workshop action on PBS and build a table for it. Help me Norm!..You're my only hope.

Oh mang! I started listening to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Whoa!(Joey style) They rock hard like a stone cold masochist. I just love bands with rockin' chicks in them.

Well, I need to go watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer and then go to bed.

Rock!

Arctic Monkeys

2006-02-26T19:36:00.000-08:00

Whoa!

My uncle turned me on to this band from Sheffield, England called the Arctic Monkeys. They are the shizknackinick! They have some really wicked guitar riffs and totally bitchin' lyrics that make me get up and dance like a mother brother like no other. I am going to go out and buy their album tomorrow. Also, they are going to be on Saturday Night Live on March 11th.

Rock!

Let's See How Many Cookies I Can Eat!

2006-02-21T18:48:00.000-08:00

Oh mang! I just bought 200 boxes of Girl Scout cookies from my adorable nieces. Their cuteness and surprisingly good sales techniques made me do it. I soon will be very over weight and smell like Caramel Delights.

I need to post my final marriage proposal animation, but I have to take out my character's annoying thumb movements first, so stay tuned.

I don't usually post about my job, but I recently created a golf hole for a corporate sponsored mini golf extravaganza and I have to tell you about it. I built a motion detector with my webcam and Flash and I hooked it up to our sweet LCD at work. I pointed the camera inside a box where the hole was hidden. To get the ball in the hole you have to shoot it through an opening in the front of the box. Since you can't see the hole you have to watch the video on the LCD screen. Whoa! Finally, when the ball does enter the box, Flash uses the webcam to detect movement and depending on the position of the ball certain messages and sounds play. Wow! That was hard to explain. Maybe I will post some pictures. Blah!

I have been looking through my music collection and listening to music from junior high and high school. Of course Primus is always on my playlist, but I have also been listening to a lot of Nirvana, Life Sex and Death, and Devo. I also can't get enough of that L7 song "Pretend We're Dead". Man! That song is a beast. Next I think I will dig into my Kraftwerk CDs.

I have to get back to sketching. Rock people!

Calling All Movie Buffs!

2006-02-07T19:38:00.000-08:00

Hey gang!

I need to pick out three 8-12 second audio clips from some movies or shows. I am going to animate over the audio clip so it has to be something interesting with a basic beginning, middle, and end. It can't just be someone saying "Whoa dude". It also can't have any swearing or other naughty bits in it.

Any ideas? Just leave them in the comments section.

Rock!

A Diamond is Forever...Or At Least 250 Frames

2006-02-05T19:26:00.000-08:00

Hey people who visit my blog!...Or psychics who have some freaky RSS feed straight to their brains!

I wanted to hop on the blog machine and post an animation that I have been working on. Click here to check it out old school style. I am still polishing it up. I need to fix the timing and add some secondary action. Comments and critiques are welcomed. I need to know if all of my acting choices are reading clearly. Rock!

The Good Doctor and I are going to go see Swan Lake. I don't know what it is, but I just love that crazy ballet. I think it is probably my sister's influence. She loved dance and she always dressed up our dog like a jazz/tap dancer. Freaky deaky! It might also be that ballet is very "artsy fartsy" and I just love the arts and farts.

I haven't been listening to a lot of music lately. I have been animating like a crazy man and I don't listen to music while I animate. It messes with my timing and concentration. Blah! Doctor Gonzo did download some sweet Audioslave songs and I did listen to Out of Exile a couple times. I love that song. Whenever that song comes on I have to immediately play air guitar. I am listening to The Dandy Warhols as I write this blog. I think I may switch it over to Hard-Fi. Cash Macine is the shiznack! I feel like I am in a Guy Ritchie movie everytime I listen to it.

Fistful of rock!

Rock n' Roll Mother Bleepers!

2006-01-16T19:56:00.000-08:00

Hey gang!

Here is a picture of one of the birthday presents that my parents gave me. That's right! A set of totally bitchin' chrome skull potentiometer knobs. Rock! I have noticed that my rocking has increased by 300%, because of these babies.

Man! I can't even imagine a time when I could whip out some "Crazy Train", Ozzy style, without these babies on my guitar. It blows my mind. Even smooth and soulful blues riffs are raised to a level of pure ear bleeding rockdom with a simple turn of a skull.

Thanks Mom & Dad!

What is that Filth?

2006-01-10T19:45:00.000-08:00

So people have been asking me about the picture of Yoda and the nutcracker on my previous post. That picture was taken during the holidays at my sister's house. Her studly hubby is a super Star Wars guru and was granted a Santa Yoda by the great Jedi Masters of Hallmark...or Target...or something like that. I thought it was pretty cool that the two religions, Jedi and Christians, could come together for the holidays and be civil to each other. It kind of makes me teary eyed and really hopeful for the future of the republic.

My special lady friend bought me a Napoleon Dynamite toy for my birthday. You can see a picture of it on her blog. Check it out here...Dang!

So Animation Mentor has started and I found out who my new mentor is. I won't reveal his name, but I will tell you that he worked on a little independant film about a gigantic gorilla and a tiny lady who meet, fall in love, and make medium size ape babies. Freaky deaky! Then the gigantic gorilla climbs up a tall building, because the lady said there was some Chipotle up there, and he falls off because of his intense gigantic gorilla hunger. Whoa!

Mang! I can't stop listening to the Ramones song "Main Man". It just rocks so hard that it turns me into a jello shooting octupus man every time I listen to it. Also, my little bros from Illinois turned me onto the Gorillaz. I just love that "Feel Good, Inc" song. Speaking of my little bros, they started listening to Primus. That is my freakin' favoritise band ever. I could give you a list of my favorite Primus songs, but there isn't enough memory or hard drive space to hold that mammoth collection of 1's and 0's.

Well, I have to get back to sketching out my animation,

Rock!

Funk-o-tron Boombastic

2006-01-03T19:39:00.000-08:00

Hola amigos! I know it's been a long time since I rapped at ya, but I have been in super lazy holiday mode. I would probably continue through 2006 in this mode, but I now have some major Flash projects at work, Animation Mentor is going to kick in soon, and I have to design my wife and I's thank you cards. My computer calls to me and I must obey...Oh yes!..I must obey.

I was told during the holidays that I don't update my blog enough. I will try and remedy that in the future, but I have been kind of down on blogging lately. We were told at Animation Mentor last quarter that spies from other art schools were looking in on our blogs to try and steal AM secrets. I guess that is to be expected. When you have something good everybody wants it. That is what happened with my car stereo a couple of weeks ago. Happy f'ing holidays to me.

Well, they won't get any secrets from me. Those punk ass art school freaks can go suck on my balls and eat the hot fire acid that I spit in their faces. I won't even charge you $25,000 a year, like you do your students, for it.

To fight the machine known as "Big Art" I will not go into details about my assignments I post on this blog. I will just post them for you people to enjoy and that is it.

I am listening to The Ramones right now. "Somebody Put Something in My Drink" and "Wart Hog" are freakin' awesome songs! I am still loving the Dandy Warhols too. They rule supreme like cherry ice cream. You should love them too!

Fight the machine people!

I am The Eggman

2005-11-22T08:41:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone is ready to be impregnated with food babies this week. I know I am. I plan on eating a crazy amount of my grandma's noodles and 4 pies. Whoa!

Hey! I am working on my emotion test right now and I have my rough blocking done. Check it out right here and tell me what you think.

Rock people!

Push It!

2005-11-06T19:03:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody!

I just wanted to jump on the blog machine and post my heavy push assignment. Check it out right here.

My next assignment should be pretty interesting to animate. I have been given four emotions, relaxed, alert, engaged, and rejected. I will have to create a scene where my character pantomimes their way through all four of those emotions. Whoa! Now I am not going to go into details about my idea, but I will tell you that the character Stewie in my push assignment is about to become a mommy.

So! Some people in the class ahead of me at Animation Mentor have been offered jobs at Disney and Blue Sky. I just want to say congrats to them and if anybody from a Seattle studio or video game company is out there, why don't you give "The D" a call? Especially if you are working on a project that requires a big 'ol heavy push.

Rock!

Jimmy!

2005-10-12T10:22:00.000-07:00

All I have to say is new Jim Anchower article.

Happy Birthday Dad!

2005-09-29T19:53:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Dad!

Have a blast tomorrow. Yeah!

New Quarter, New Mentor

2005-09-25T18:51:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody!

I started the new quarter at Animation Mentor and I have finished my first assignment. It was to create a walk with "Stewie" the no arm animation puppet. You might say, "Hey! Your puppet needs some arms", but I would reply that fewer body parts means fewer things to animate. Freak yeah! I am a lazy lazy animator.

Here is my animation. It is just in blocking mode right now. In the next couple of weeks I am going to be adding an anticipated start and smoothing out the animation. Rock!

I have also had my first Q&A with my new mentor. He seems like a rockus dude that has the skills to pay the bills. He works at Tippett Studio as a character animator. Here is the web site for Tippett Studio. He has worked on The Matrix: Revolutions, Hell Boy, and he was the animation supervisor on one of the coolest shots in the movie Constantine. It is the scene where Keanu gets attached by the demon made of garbage, rats, crabs, etc. Whoa! That scene is wicked good.

I was going to go see Corpse Bride this weekend, but I have had the Andromeda Strain for about a week now and I am just getting over it. Blah! It is going to be Wallace and Gromit time soon and I won't have even seen Corpse Bride yet. Argh!

Hey! Happy 18th to my little bro-in-law Justin and feel better Bruce.

Rock!

Finally!

2005-09-04T12:01:00.000-07:00

Mang! It's been forever since I posted on this Blog thinger. Sorry about that gang! I have been animating for work and I have been animating for school, so that leaves zero time to Blog.

I have my personality walk to show. Click here to check it out. The personality that I was trying to show was "jaunty".

This is the final assignment for my first class at Animation Mentor. The second class starts in 2 weeks and it covers bipdedal body dynamics.

Rock!

Congrats!

2005-08-14T21:10:00.000-07:00

Hey! Congratulations to my main man Bill for getting married this past Tuesday. Courthouse weddings in Illinois are the best, especially when you are marrying your sterile 50 year old cousin :)

I am sorry that I haven't posted in a while. The good doctor and I have had house guests for the past 2 weeks. I have been entertaining and animating like a stone cold masochist. Rock!

So, I have three animations to post tonight. My latest animation is with the two-legged ball character "Ballie". This is a blocking animation, so it is just a rough draft. Next week I will refine the motion and post it. Click here to watch the Ballie blocking walk cycle movie.

The second is a one-legged ball jumping and coming to a rest. Click here to check that shiznit out.

The third and final animation for tonight is a ball with a tail. Click here to groove to the smooth beats.

Rock people!

Anticipate I Can't Wait!

2005-07-26T20:35:00.000-07:00

Hey gang! This week we were suppose to create an animation, with our ball, that demonstrates......wait for it......Anticipation! We were given an obstacle course and we had to have our ball anticipate jumping, by squashing, and burst through it. Here is my animation. Enjoy!

Hey! For you Maya animators out there. I just downloaded Jason Schleifer's Grease Pencil MEL script. Basically, you can draw thumbnails, like a grease pencil on glass, in any Maya window and have it play back in the timeline. It is awesome for blocking out and timing your shots. If you don't have it click here to download it. Rock!

Right now I am drawing thumbnails for my "ball with a tail" animation. It is kind of foxy and kind of squirrelly. I just hope in the end it won't be...ahh...Assy!

Nirvana's song Return of the Rat is in my mind 24/7 these days. Listen to it now and it can be in your mind too.

In Rock-tero!

Cute Battery

2005-07-21T11:30:00.000-07:00

This is what my horoscope said today:

"Your energy's like a charged battery. And you're cute! You're like a cute battery!"

Freak yeah brother mothers! The universe never lies.

Look At My Balls!

2005-07-19T20:34:00.000-07:00

So last weeks assignment was to make a light and heavy ball come to a stop. Click here to ch-ch-check it out.

I am really enjoying this Animation Mentor thing. It is great to be doing so much animation every week. Plus I am learning, unlike my previous "gorilla" style of animation where I would just throw my feces everywhere and hope that it looked good at the end. I admit that I learned a lot from experimenting on my own, but you can only go so far with that action before you run out of ideas.

I would also like to announce that I am on chapter 7 of the 6th Harry Pooper book. Freak yeah brother mothers! If Harry doesn't throw down Hermione, Cho, or somebody in this book I am going to get into a scrape. F the kids, I want some action in this book. So far it is beating down the 4th book which was my favorite. I thought the 5th book sucked a little, but I still read it like a rabid donkey on speed anyway.

Rockess!

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

2005-07-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

Sunday I turned in my first animation assignment for Animation Mentor. The assignment was to animate a bouncing ball without squash and stretch. Click here to view my AVI movie file.

This week I am suppose to animate two balls that come to a stop and have different weights. Maybe I will do chicken ball vs sumo ball...What am I talking about?

Rock!

Bounce

2005-07-07T20:26:00.000-07:00

As we speak I am trying to make a ball bounce in Maya. Bounce you round bastard! Bounce! I will post a movie later so you people can give me your critique.

On a side note, make sure to check out Gabby La La on Itunes or whatever. She rules supreme like cherry ice cream. Plus, she has Les Claypool backing her up. Backpack rules!

Wait! Before you go, check out this trailer for the new Tim Burton animated feature Corpse Bride. It will make you urinate with pleasure.

Rockus!

Strike a Pose

2005-06-30T19:21:00.000-07:00

Our first assignment at Animation Mentor was to pose Stu, the 3D Model. I did some sketches, checked out some people doing Yoga, and then began to drink heavily. This is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it...and no this is not some Cirque Du Soleil sex act. Rock!

Grievous, Jar-Jar, The Emperor, and Yoda

2005-06-29T09:54:00.000-07:00

Monday night there was a Q&A session with 3 animators from ILM that worked on Star Wars Episode III. They had worked on the scenes with General Grievous scurrying away on all six appendages, the fight between The Emperor and Yoda, general Jar-Jar goodness, and many more. It was awesome to hear them talk about the process they went through and how organized the production was. They had a million billion shots to do, but they were actually ahead of schedule. Awesome!

Someone asked the animators if they ever took the Jar-Jar model and performed violent, painful acts on it. They said no. I would probably create an animation where Jar-Jar was super smooth with the ladies. He would be out to dinner with a hot Gungan and he would try and woo her with his Robert Goulet like voice. Goulet!

Next week is our first animation assignment. I am super excited about that. I can't wait to get feedback from my mentor about my animation. I hope he has a lot of Pixar goodness to pass along to me. Bouyah! I will be adding my assignments to this Blog and I will be looking for feedback, so get ready!

This is a side note, but I got drunk on Saturday night and watched Transformers The Movie. Whoa! I never realized that Judd Nelson, Leonard Nimoy, and ORSON WELLES were voices in it. I could not imagine calling up Orson Welles and asking him if he wants to be the voice for Unicron, a planet size robot that eats other worlds. Freaky deaky!

Unicrock!

2D Animation is Beautiful

2005-06-23T19:24:00.000-07:00

I watched two lectures tonight. One was on 2D animation and the other one was on Spacing. The 2D lecture was given by a Pixar animator. Woo hoo! She drew this mouse jumping roap and I thought I was going to put on my "O" face right there. It was so beautiful. The whole process of blocking out the key drawings and then breaking down the inbetweens was just amazing. The final animation was just so cool. I love the look of 2D animation. The medium itself just makes for a great looking image.

The spacing lecture was great too. It brought me back to my physics days and how these things that we are creating in the computer need to act like they are living and breathing in our world. So far 2 great lectures.

It is so hot, by Minneapolis standards. It was 97 degrees today. It might have been 98, but I don't want to get sued by Nick Lashay. I have the AC pumpin' in the bedroom, but unfortunately my computer is out in the dry, hot desert known as my living room. I hope we get some cold Canadian winds soon or I may have to start going to my Q&As naked.

Rock it man!

First Q&A

2005-06-22T21:02:00.000-07:00

I just finished up my first ever Q&A with my mentor Stephen Gregory from Pixar. He is a really cool guy and he has a lot of animation experience. We were able to ask him questions about how he landed at Pixar and what kind of stuff should we expect this term. It was good times.

Man! It was weird talking to someone over a WebCam. I kept wanting to look at my monitor instead of looking into the camera. Maybe I should put a cutout of The Good Doctor's face on my WebCam and pretend like I am talking to her. Do you think my mentor would be weirded out if I gave my camera the tongue? Maybe I should leave Dr. Pistachio out of it.

I can't wait to start animating.

Rock the Casbah!

What Would You Animate?

2005-06-21T20:06:00.000-07:00

So! I had my first Q&A experience at Animation Mentor last night. The Q&A session was hosted by the three guys that started Animation Mentor, so almost the whole school showed up. Man! There had to have been almost 400 people logged on at once. The video was super choppy, because of all the users, but I could still hear the audio. There were some really good questions asked, especially one about "What would you do if you could animate anything?".

The three guys said that they would like to try some kind of drama. One of them said that they would want to make the audience cry. That is very interesting, since a lot of animation is geared toward kids, if you don't count tentacle porn or Worker and Parasite :) What if more animation took on serious themes? What if Pixar did a drama?...action?

I would love to do a Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, Three Stooges, or Abbott and Costello type animation. I think the character interactions and the gags would be awesome to animate. Plus, you would really have to nail down your character's personalities to make it work.

On a side note, I have my first Q&A with my mentor tomorrow. There I will actually hop on the WebCam and travel down the rabbit hole to see what I can see. Wish me luck internet world. I have a tendency to get nervous and start swearing uncontrollably. I better check my mic volume.

Rock to your mothers!

WebCam Etiquette

2005-06-20T19:32:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here waiting for my first live Q&A WebCam session at Animation Mentor. The three guys who started it are leading the presentation.

I am kind of nervous. There are going to be around 600 people in this chat and at any time the leaders could call on me and bring up my WebCam feed. It is all very 1984 man. I can see it now. They bring up my feed and all of a sudden my mouth goes numb. I can't turn my head. The tension builds and builds until finally I explode updwards, ripping off my clothes and passing gas until finally my WebCam is clouded by shreds of clothes and noxious gases. It takes me back to junior high.

Whoa! I just noticed someone from europe in the chatroom. His clock reads 3:22 am. Wow! That is dedication. I usually start to halucinate around 1:00 am. You know? The kind of halucination, brought on by sleep deprevation, that has you seeing bugs crawling all over you and aardvarks nibbling at your legs. Crap that is late!

Well, the server clock says that I have 10 minutes to go until the presentation. I think I will get into some freaky yoga pose and try and calm myself down. Wish me luck people.

The true test will be Wednesday when I meet with my mentor. That is when I actually have to start wearing pants to the WebCam conferences.

Rock of ages!

What?!

2005-06-19T19:17:00.000-07:00

What?! You have to actually post stuff to these blog things? That is crazy talk my friends. I don't know if I am ready for this. I am possibly the worst writer that has ever wroten :)

Well, there are 2 reasons why I started this blog. They haven't made it to the subtitle yet, but they are definitely the foundation of what I am trying to do here. The first reason is to report, to the world, about my Animation Mentor experience.

"What is Animation Mentor D-man", you ask? That is an excellence question.

Basically, Animation Mentor is an online animation school created by three animators from ILM and Pixar. You receive animation assignments and then you interact with a mentor, who is a professional animator, over a WebCam. I was assigned a Pixar animator who has worked there since Bug's Life. Wicked! So, each week I will complete some kind of animation exercise and then my mentor will "rip me a new one", breaking down all the self confidence I ever had and wished to have. Then the process will repeat the following week. I feel a Disney song coming on...The circle of life or something.

I will upload my weekly assignments and you, the world, can comment on my "progress"...(cough).

The second reason I started this blog is to defend myself against what my wife, Dr. Pistachio, says on her blog. I think the whole World Wide Web thinks that I never do the dishes or wipe after I poop. Well! I do...sometimes :)

Oh crap! My wife has put the Lord of the Dance song on my Itunes playlist. I must go and first dance to it, undulating my legs like no other, and then finally delete the song so that I never have to listen to that horror again.

Rock people!