I got tagged, and now all my clothes are covered in spray paint. ZING!!! OK, anyway, I’m supposed to say 6 interesting things about myself, apparently stuff no one already knows about me. Well, no one, I repeat NO ONE is going to find out about those things…I covered my tracks and destroyed ALL evidence of—Oh, I mean, OK. How about 6 things you may or may not know about me, with unique details about them.
1. My dead father appeared in a dream and told me where to get cheap internet. It’s true. Not long after he died, I had a dream that he called me on the phone and told me the name of a free web access site called Juno, which I’d never heard of. I looked it up (we had a trial version of AOL at the time) and saw that it was a partner with NetZero. We got Juno web service, and we had internet!
Really, this is the kind of thing my dad would appear to me for. I’d never expect him to give me deep, spiritual insights, or give me guidance along the path of life. But practical info about low-cost internet (especially something for free)—yeah, that’s what my dad would do.
So to return the favor, I’m using the internet to post a clip from a show my dad enjoyed--Benny Hill (there’s also a slight resemblance).
WARNING: bawdy, cheeky British humor ahead:
2. I used to draw Disneyland maps and lists of attractions. In 8th grade, I was really bored with school…OK, so from 5th grade to the time I graduated BYU, I was bored with school. But in 8th grade, I was ESPECIALLY disinterested in school. I did well, pretty much straight A’s, but I had a lot of free time while the rest of the class was “learning.” So I would write lists of all the Disneyland attractions, by land, then draw a Disneyland map and put numbers where each attraction is located.
Here’s a short clip from “Gala Day at Disneyland” from 1959…there were a lot fewer attractions back then, and my map/list wouldn’t have killed nearly as much time. Though I’d have been excited to add the BRAND NEW Matterhorn, Monorail, and Submarine Voyage
3. My brushes with fame: Donny, Marie, John Williams, Mighty Wind Guy, Gallagher, Marvin Payne
I saw Donny Osmond at the doctor’s office. He was wearing a Mulan shirt and the nurse called him back and handed him a urinalysis cup and pointed him back to the bathroom.
I saw Marie when working at Cinnabon. She ordered an Orange Juice for her son. Amanda rang her up at Toys R Us also.
My mom made arrangements with someone from the Tucson Symphony, allowing me to meet John Williams. That was awesome, but I was so nervous I could hardly talk to him. For those reading the blog that don’t know John Williams, he composed most of the popular movie musical scores: Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, E.T., and tons of others. Here’s John (we’re on a first-name basis) conducting the E.T. flying theme:
I met the guy from “A Mighty Wind” (John Michael Higgins) in line to get Disneyland tickets. He was most recently in “Fred Claus”. For other movies he’s been in go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0383422/ or visit your public library…ok, maybe not.
Mormons might know Marvin Payne as the dad from Saturday’s Warrior. And we in the Peterson family know him as “Robot Jaw” because of his most prominent facial feature. I tried to help him once at Officemax, but we didn’t have what he was looking for. You can glimpse him in this ad for “Saturday’s Warrior: Recut”:
And I sat behind Gallagher at Walt Disney World when I went to see Muppetvision 3-D. Luckily, he didn’t have any watermelons at the time.
4. I roll my clothes. Yes, I do not fold my clothes, I roll them. It started once when I rolled them so they’d all fit in a suitcase when I went on vacation, and then I said, “Why not just keep them rolled?” It makes it a lot more roomy in my dresser drawers, and I don’t have shirts on top of shirts, etc.
For no particular reason, here’s sped-up audio of “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast. The guy who uploaded this has a bunch of other funny sped-up audio…
5. I’ve always been a present-peeker. It’s true. I looked for presents every Christmas. Not just that, I also have opened presents, including tapes which I listened to and then re-wrapped. Even today, I will sometimes look in Amanda’s internet History to see what presents she’s looked up. Yes, I’m a child. My most notorious peek? That’s be a group effort when Kevin and I opened our Laser Tag toys from my Dad and opened the batteries, played Laser Tag, then rewrapped them before my mom got home from work (Ahh, to be a latch key kid!). How could we resist when we saw this on TV all the time:
6. Here is a list of all the girls I had crushes on through my life, (first names only to protect the innocent).
Amanda C., Wendy, Jody, Andrea, Charity, Christy, Trisha, Emily, Amanda M.
I only kissed 2 of them: my first crush, Amanda C., and my last crush, Amanda M. (Who is now Amanda P.—she’s my wife, see?) most of the rest of them didn't know about the crushes, except the couple I foolishly sent love notes to.
Here’s a romantic love ballad, courtesy of Mystery Science Theater: “When Loving Lovers Love”:
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Couple's Tag--about Amanda and Me
So, I got "couple's tagged," where I'm supposed to tell all about how my spouse and I met and got married and such. So here it goes:
Ours was an arranged marriage, as many were at the time. We did not have the freedom that modern relationships had. I first saw my bride on our wedding day. A chaperone brought her to...
Wait, that wasn't it...Hmmm...I'll just answer the questions others have:
Where did you meet?
We met in October of 1995, when Amanda got a job at Cinnabon in the mall. I'd already been working there a few months. Amanda remembers that I helped her put on her apron on her first day, but you'll have to take her word for it--I wasn't interested in some silly 16-year-old...
Where was your 1st date?
Our first date, as with many (most?) dates after, was to a movie. Our first was to "James and the Giant Peach." Here's a musical journey from our first date to the movie date where we finally held hands:
Where was your 1st kiss?
Well, once we held hands, it wasn't long before we kissed--only a week or so (OK, 8 days later, to be exact). We were out in the carport, and at first our kisses didn't line up lip to lip, but we eventually worked out the mechanics of that after further practice sessions, study time, and any other school-related terms we could substitute for "making out."
How long did you date?
We dated for about 10 months, then were broken up for about 9 months, then dated again for about 10 months before getting married. The broken up time was very sad. But it all turned out OK.
When/where were you married?
We were married on July 3, 1998 at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple in American Fork, UT. It was hot. And sunny.
How did the reception go?
The reception was held in the spacious backyard of my Aunt Elaine's house in Provo. It went smoothly, excedpt that I spilled a chocolate strawberry on my bride's wedding dress, creating a stain that has pretty much ruined her dress forever.
Honeymoon?
We went to Walt Disney World for our honeymoon, staying at the All-Star Music Resort. Amanda took me on scary rides like the Tower of Terror and Thunder Mountain (making me ride a roller coaster for the first time since I was 5.) And of course the now-gone Alien Encounter, which was awesome but gave me nightmares.
I took her on rides like "It's a Small World" and the "Hall of Presidents," which gave HER nightmares (when she fell asleep during them).
I'll end with another movie about us, that I made (along with the holding hands one) for Valentine's day a few years back:
Ours was an arranged marriage, as many were at the time. We did not have the freedom that modern relationships had. I first saw my bride on our wedding day. A chaperone brought her to...
Wait, that wasn't it...Hmmm...I'll just answer the questions others have:
Where did you meet?
We met in October of 1995, when Amanda got a job at Cinnabon in the mall. I'd already been working there a few months. Amanda remembers that I helped her put on her apron on her first day, but you'll have to take her word for it--I wasn't interested in some silly 16-year-old...
Where was your 1st date?
Our first date, as with many (most?) dates after, was to a movie. Our first was to "James and the Giant Peach." Here's a musical journey from our first date to the movie date where we finally held hands:
Where was your 1st kiss?
Well, once we held hands, it wasn't long before we kissed--only a week or so (OK, 8 days later, to be exact). We were out in the carport, and at first our kisses didn't line up lip to lip, but we eventually worked out the mechanics of that after further practice sessions, study time, and any other school-related terms we could substitute for "making out."
How long did you date?
We dated for about 10 months, then were broken up for about 9 months, then dated again for about 10 months before getting married. The broken up time was very sad. But it all turned out OK.
When/where were you married?
We were married on July 3, 1998 at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple in American Fork, UT. It was hot. And sunny.
How did the reception go?
The reception was held in the spacious backyard of my Aunt Elaine's house in Provo. It went smoothly, excedpt that I spilled a chocolate strawberry on my bride's wedding dress, creating a stain that has pretty much ruined her dress forever.
Honeymoon?
We went to Walt Disney World for our honeymoon, staying at the All-Star Music Resort. Amanda took me on scary rides like the Tower of Terror and Thunder Mountain (making me ride a roller coaster for the first time since I was 5.) And of course the now-gone Alien Encounter, which was awesome but gave me nightmares.
I took her on rides like "It's a Small World" and the "Hall of Presidents," which gave HER nightmares (when she fell asleep during them).
I'll end with another movie about us, that I made (along with the holding hands one) for Valentine's day a few years back:
Friday, November 9, 2007
Flu, Lily, and Halloween
Geez, over a month with no blog entries--what was I doing?! Oh yeah, animating 2 films for online contests!!!!!
And guess what?!?!?! I WON the FLU FLIX contest with my film "Norton Fears the Flu!!!"
So that means my eldest brother, who suggested the title change from "Catches" to "Fears" has earned himself a sawbuck or two, and it means we can pay some bills and buy some Christmas presents. That's of course assuming that our car doesn't break down the week the check arrives, which is what typically happens when we get any extra $.
Next, I entered the Project: Direct competition http://www.youtube.com/projectdirect
Here's my entry for that, "Lily" which contains the 3 requirements for the contest:
-a person doing something beyond his/her maturity level
-the line "I demand an explanation for these shenanigans. What do you have to say?"
-A character passing a photo to another character.
Originally, I was going to do this cut-out style, like "Conqueror Worm" but that wasn't working out how I'd hoped, so I switched to hand-drawn animation, which I added some effect filters to to give it a feel of being finished, even though it's just rough animation (I had to make the deadline somehow!!).
What else happened in October? Ahh--Amanda and Abraham had birthdays--one turned 28, one turned 2--you figure out which is which.
And of course we had Halloween: Here are the kids:
Joel as Audrey 2, the man-eating plant from "Little Shop of Horrors"
Maddy as Molly from the "American Girl" books:
And Abe was Mickey Mouse:
A lot of people thought Joel was a dinosaur, people didn't know who Maddy was except when she had her doll in hand, and Abe didn't want to wear the costume until he saw how cute he was and that people would give him candy if he wore it.
The kids got lots of candy, and it brought back memories to watch them dump out their bags and sort their candy. But I hate Halloween, and I'm glad Thanksgiving and Christmas are almost here.
Wheww!--enough blog for you? I'll try to update more often, now that I'm notr feverishly animating contest entries.
And guess what?!?!?! I WON the FLU FLIX contest with my film "Norton Fears the Flu!!!"
So that means my eldest brother, who suggested the title change from "Catches" to "Fears" has earned himself a sawbuck or two, and it means we can pay some bills and buy some Christmas presents. That's of course assuming that our car doesn't break down the week the check arrives, which is what typically happens when we get any extra $.
Next, I entered the Project: Direct competition http://www.youtube.com/projectdirect
Here's my entry for that, "Lily" which contains the 3 requirements for the contest:
-a person doing something beyond his/her maturity level
-the line "I demand an explanation for these shenanigans. What do you have to say?"
-A character passing a photo to another character.
Originally, I was going to do this cut-out style, like "Conqueror Worm" but that wasn't working out how I'd hoped, so I switched to hand-drawn animation, which I added some effect filters to to give it a feel of being finished, even though it's just rough animation (I had to make the deadline somehow!!).
What else happened in October? Ahh--Amanda and Abraham had birthdays--one turned 28, one turned 2--you figure out which is which.
And of course we had Halloween: Here are the kids:
Joel as Audrey 2, the man-eating plant from "Little Shop of Horrors"
Maddy as Molly from the "American Girl" books:
And Abe was Mickey Mouse:
A lot of people thought Joel was a dinosaur, people didn't know who Maddy was except when she had her doll in hand, and Abe didn't want to wear the costume until he saw how cute he was and that people would give him candy if he wore it.
The kids got lots of candy, and it brought back memories to watch them dump out their bags and sort their candy. But I hate Halloween, and I'm glad Thanksgiving and Christmas are almost here.
Wheww!--enough blog for you? I'll try to update more often, now that I'm notr feverishly animating contest entries.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Saturday is a Special Day
Right now as I'm typing this, it's 6:31 am on a Saturday morning. I actually woke up at about 5:30am. Why am I up so early on a Saturday? I HAVE NO IDEA! Monday through Friday, I struggle to get out of bed at 7:00, I'm so tired. But every Saturday, I'm lucky if I can sleep past 6. I'll toss and turn for a while, but my brain just starts buzzing with activity. It's really annoying--especially cause the kids sleep til at least 7:30 or 8 on the weekends. Amanda, luckily, has no problems sleeping (especially with a whole bed to herself, now that I'm awake).
In other news, I've spent the past month experiencing my new calling as Ward Building Cleaning Coordinator. So every week I pass around sign-up sheets in Elders, High Priests, and Relief Society, and overall we've had a pretty good turnout and get done in about an hour (we've got a 2-story stake center to clean). Last weeken was Stake Conferfence, so I had tro pass around this week's signup 2 weeks ago, and only got a couple people to sign up. I also never got my sheet back from Elders Quorum, though I asked the Elder's Quorum Prez for it at least 3 times and each time he promised to get it to me.
The kids LOVE going and cleaning at the church. Abe says "vacuum church!! vacuum church!!" Too bad they aren't as enthusiastic about their bedrooms...
At least this is my last day cleaning the church til December.
I'm entering a contest on YouTube about the flu/getting vaccinated.
I'm doing an animated film called "Norton Catches the Flu."
I leave you now with my inspiration for my cartoon, and I'll post a new blog when my cartoon is up and running:
In other news, I've spent the past month experiencing my new calling as Ward Building Cleaning Coordinator. So every week I pass around sign-up sheets in Elders, High Priests, and Relief Society, and overall we've had a pretty good turnout and get done in about an hour (we've got a 2-story stake center to clean). Last weeken was Stake Conferfence, so I had tro pass around this week's signup 2 weeks ago, and only got a couple people to sign up. I also never got my sheet back from Elders Quorum, though I asked the Elder's Quorum Prez for it at least 3 times and each time he promised to get it to me.
The kids LOVE going and cleaning at the church. Abe says "vacuum church!! vacuum church!!" Too bad they aren't as enthusiastic about their bedrooms...
At least this is my last day cleaning the church til December.
I'm entering a contest on YouTube about the flu/getting vaccinated.
I'm doing an animated film called "Norton Catches the Flu."
I leave you now with my inspiration for my cartoon, and I'll post a new blog when my cartoon is up and running:
Monday, September 3, 2007
End of summer RAP-UP
Waddup, all you pimps and ho’s! It’s time fo’ the end of summa RAP-up! I’m all up in yo hizzle with the dizzle on the sizzle! Fa SHIZZLE!
Let’s get it on! [I mean the rap, you dirty-minded fools!]
--start beatbox…
Whoa it’s the end of summer
What a big-time blast;
Is it done already?
Man, it went so fast!
In the middle of May, I got a one-two punch:
I lost my job at Proasis—
Almost lost my lunch!
Then those 8Fish homies came
And saved the day
With a steady job and some decent pay.
Of the summer movies
There were seven shows
That attracted us
To those loge-seat rows:
KICK IT! (in no paticala odah!)
Pirates 3 took us all to the end of the world
But the movie was so long, that Amanda HURLED
Spiderman 3 Filled my heart with glee
Except the editing and pacing and a bad story;
I enjoyed that movie of the Simpsons punks—
Except the guy sitting by me spitting popcorn chunks;
The Bourne Ultimatum—
Man that really rocked—
But the lady sitting by me?
Man she talked and TALKED!
“Oh please don’t be dead!”
“Oh please don’t be dead!”
Man, we almost slapped that woman
straight across the head!
Joely-boy and I saw the SWEET Transformers
Full of tints and smoke and a few performers;
Sorry, you all, I’m a Michael Bay-hater;
Joel fell asleep cause the show was later.
Saw the can’t-spell flick, with the cartoon rat—
What an awesome show, it was totally PHAT!
And my favorite flick was ol’ Potter, Harry—
Funny, sad and sweet and a little scary.
Maddy had a birthday
At the end of June—
She had a lame tea party;
What a crazy loon!
Maddy’s baptism
was an awesome scene
She went in the water and she
CAME OUT CLEAN!
Maddy started third grade—
Oh, I beg your pardon—
Joel also started
into Kindergarten.
Little Abraham
Entertained the fam
With his dancing and his jumping
And his saying “Damn!”
Don’t forget yours truly
Had a birthday, too!
I turned thirty-something
I’m an old, dang foo’.
[OK, I turned 32 but I didn’t want to rhyme "too" with "two," cause that’s awful.]
Amanda decided
U of U could wait
Til the time was right
At a later date;
Well, that ends the rap
As we head into fall;
Catch you later, dudes!
Cause it’s “Peace out,” y’all!
Now, here's a rarely-seen version of the "Return of the King" finale WITH VOICEOVER
Let’s get it on! [I mean the rap, you dirty-minded fools!]
--start beatbox…
Whoa it’s the end of summer
What a big-time blast;
Is it done already?
Man, it went so fast!
In the middle of May, I got a one-two punch:
I lost my job at Proasis—
Almost lost my lunch!
Then those 8Fish homies came
And saved the day
With a steady job and some decent pay.
Of the summer movies
There were seven shows
That attracted us
To those loge-seat rows:
KICK IT! (in no paticala odah!)
Pirates 3 took us all to the end of the world
But the movie was so long, that Amanda HURLED
Spiderman 3 Filled my heart with glee
Except the editing and pacing and a bad story;
I enjoyed that movie of the Simpsons punks—
Except the guy sitting by me spitting popcorn chunks;
The Bourne Ultimatum—
Man that really rocked—
But the lady sitting by me?
Man she talked and TALKED!
“Oh please don’t be dead!”
“Oh please don’t be dead!”
Man, we almost slapped that woman
straight across the head!
Joely-boy and I saw the SWEET Transformers
Full of tints and smoke and a few performers;
Sorry, you all, I’m a Michael Bay-hater;
Joel fell asleep cause the show was later.
Saw the can’t-spell flick, with the cartoon rat—
What an awesome show, it was totally PHAT!
And my favorite flick was ol’ Potter, Harry—
Funny, sad and sweet and a little scary.
Maddy had a birthday
At the end of June—
She had a lame tea party;
What a crazy loon!
Maddy’s baptism
was an awesome scene
She went in the water and she
CAME OUT CLEAN!
Maddy started third grade—
Oh, I beg your pardon—
Joel also started
into Kindergarten.
Little Abraham
Entertained the fam
With his dancing and his jumping
And his saying “Damn!”
Don’t forget yours truly
Had a birthday, too!
I turned thirty-something
I’m an old, dang foo’.
[OK, I turned 32 but I didn’t want to rhyme "too" with "two," cause that’s awful.]
Amanda decided
U of U could wait
Til the time was right
At a later date;
Well, that ends the rap
As we head into fall;
Catch you later, dudes!
Cause it’s “Peace out,” y’all!
Now, here's a rarely-seen version of the "Return of the King" finale WITH VOICEOVER
Monday, July 23, 2007
Reunion, Retreat, and Comic-Con
OK, so Saturday the 14th (ironically, right after Friday the 13th) was aMcTeer family reunion up in some little town 20 miles past Pocatello. As I knew it would, the reunion SUCKED. It was outside in the heat, things got started 2 hours late, Amanda's relatives are all freaks, and they insisted in taking all these group photos. Oh, and some 9 year old boy there puncherd Maddy in the stomach, and believe me, he got yelled at (by yours truly--no one hits MY kids except ME!!!)
It almost makes me happy that there's so much contention in the Peterson family--I don't have to worry about reunions anytime soon.
So then this past Tuesday, my company went on a retreat--and it rivaled the beach retreat from "The Office" for most traumatic. First of all, we went up to the mountains on the way to Park City and took a 2 mile hike (in the rain, most of the time), during which one of the employees slipped on wet rocks, twisted his ankle, and got a bloody nose. So he stayed behind with the secretary, who had split her pants from carrying a watter bottle in each pocket. Then we almost got eaten by a moose.
Then we went to Park City and looked at boring art galleries, and the secretary for some reason showed up later with 10 Burger King hamburgers in her trunk, in case we wanted a snack (it was 45 minutes til lunchtime by this point). We finally went to lunch, which was actually really good (I was mostly just relieved to finally get to pee after 5 hrs without a bathroom nearby).
Then we travelled to Midway, UT, and had our work meeting in a non-air-conditioned cabin, where most of us were starting to nod off.
We took the Provo Canyon exit home, meaning that at one point we were 2 miles from my house, but still had to take the 45 minute drive back to Sandy to get my car.
He says our next retreat will be to Lake Powell...I'm calling in sick that day...
8Fish is getting ready to have a booth this weekend at Comic-Con San Diego http://www.comic-con.org/
I won't be attending, but I've been working like crazy to get some demo videos ready for 3 animated TV series we're trying to sell to a studio. One is a children's series about some girl scout-type kids. The other is for adults and is about a rogue Navy SEAL, and the third is a film noir-type story about gang wars and such in the 20's/30's, but done in a very stylized style. It's called "Broken Crown" and I really hope this one gets sold--I LOVED putting this promo together. Below is a link to the promo. I took the illustrations from my VERY talented co-workers and assembled them into a promo with musuc from "North by Northwest."
It almost makes me happy that there's so much contention in the Peterson family--I don't have to worry about reunions anytime soon.
So then this past Tuesday, my company went on a retreat--and it rivaled the beach retreat from "The Office" for most traumatic. First of all, we went up to the mountains on the way to Park City and took a 2 mile hike (in the rain, most of the time), during which one of the employees slipped on wet rocks, twisted his ankle, and got a bloody nose. So he stayed behind with the secretary, who had split her pants from carrying a watter bottle in each pocket. Then we almost got eaten by a moose.
Then we went to Park City and looked at boring art galleries, and the secretary for some reason showed up later with 10 Burger King hamburgers in her trunk, in case we wanted a snack (it was 45 minutes til lunchtime by this point). We finally went to lunch, which was actually really good (I was mostly just relieved to finally get to pee after 5 hrs without a bathroom nearby).
Then we travelled to Midway, UT, and had our work meeting in a non-air-conditioned cabin, where most of us were starting to nod off.
We took the Provo Canyon exit home, meaning that at one point we were 2 miles from my house, but still had to take the 45 minute drive back to Sandy to get my car.
He says our next retreat will be to Lake Powell...I'm calling in sick that day...
8Fish is getting ready to have a booth this weekend at Comic-Con San Diego http://www.comic-con.org/
I won't be attending, but I've been working like crazy to get some demo videos ready for 3 animated TV series we're trying to sell to a studio. One is a children's series about some girl scout-type kids. The other is for adults and is about a rogue Navy SEAL, and the third is a film noir-type story about gang wars and such in the 20's/30's, but done in a very stylized style. It's called "Broken Crown" and I really hope this one gets sold--I LOVED putting this promo together. Below is a link to the promo. I took the illustrations from my VERY talented co-workers and assembled them into a promo with musuc from "North by Northwest."
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
The Maverik Commercials!!
Here are the 2 Maverik commercials I've worked on so far (I'm currently doing work on a 3rd, and there's another one in pre-production). You can also view them via www.maverikmonster.com by clicking on Maverik Media.
The River/Soda commercial:
On that one, I did a lot of little things that you don't really notice too much. Look for shadows under the squirrel, vehicles, and monster. Also, I did the blinking red light on the GPS and Monster's tracking tag. Additionally, I did the "mist effect" coming off the waterfall. I also animated some of the camera moves.
The Nestle Commercial:
OK, I did a lot on this one--first of all, I took everyone's backgrounds and animation and composited them into shots. I did the movements of all the boats, and any motion of the backgrounds. My biggest success with the commercial was the water effects--notice the rippling water surfaces and the wake coming off the back of the boats? That's mine. (Not the hand-drawn animated spray that's in contact WITH the boat, just the water trails). I also did the smoke effects in the final shot. Again, I did the blinking light on the Monster, and I also animated Britney and Ron in shot # 2, where she says "It led us right to him!"
Well, that's all for now, hope you like my work, and I'll let you know when the next ones are up. Now I'm going to relax for a little then go see Harry Potter 5 by myself at the 10pm show. Yes, I'll be REALLY tired at work tomorrow, but I'm excited for it, and it's favor #2 Amanda owes me for making me go to her stinking family reunion this weekend.
The River/Soda commercial:
On that one, I did a lot of little things that you don't really notice too much. Look for shadows under the squirrel, vehicles, and monster. Also, I did the blinking red light on the GPS and Monster's tracking tag. Additionally, I did the "mist effect" coming off the waterfall. I also animated some of the camera moves.
The Nestle Commercial:
OK, I did a lot on this one--first of all, I took everyone's backgrounds and animation and composited them into shots. I did the movements of all the boats, and any motion of the backgrounds. My biggest success with the commercial was the water effects--notice the rippling water surfaces and the wake coming off the back of the boats? That's mine. (Not the hand-drawn animated spray that's in contact WITH the boat, just the water trails). I also did the smoke effects in the final shot. Again, I did the blinking light on the Monster, and I also animated Britney and Ron in shot # 2, where she says "It led us right to him!"
Well, that's all for now, hope you like my work, and I'll let you know when the next ones are up. Now I'm going to relax for a little then go see Harry Potter 5 by myself at the 10pm show. Yes, I'll be REALLY tired at work tomorrow, but I'm excited for it, and it's favor #2 Amanda owes me for making me go to her stinking family reunion this weekend.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
9th Anniversarry and some quick tidbits
Today's the 9th Anniversary of the day Amanda and I got married. For some reason, 9 years seems a lot longer than 8 years. At any rate, I'll spare you all the gushing details about how sweet, wonderful, beautiful and sexy my wife Amanda is. I won't make you read a big long blog entry about the many ways she's improved my life, from being my best friend to being the mother of my children, to getting my to stop wearing pegged pants. And you definitely won't have to read about how excited I am to spend the rest of eternity with my wonderful bride, Amanda.
I love my wonderful wife with all my heart...o' course (don't ask me why it's easier to write o' course than of course, just deal with it, pink-boy) I'm still angry that she's making me go to her family reunion in a couple weeks...grrr...the things you do for love.
And considering it's a McTeer reunion, either I'm a saint or she's really the devil...maybe both.
I got Amanda a spice rack and the Apollo 13 DVD for anniversary presents, and she got me the newest "Mystery Science Theater 3000" DVD collection. We're having a date Friday night and Saturday day, and Amanda's sister Molly is watching the kids (including overnight!) We'll probably go see "Live Free or Die Hard" since amanda thinks the stunts look awesome.
speaking of summer movies, here are my mini-movie reviews of Ratatouille" and "Transformers":
"Ratatouille": A really great PIXAR film. Seriously, it was a feast for the eyes, and watching it was like eating a deliciously French pastry (including the fact that by the end of it, you feel like maybe I took one bite too many.) The visuals were amazing, and it was a fun story with lots of humor. We went to see this at a sneak preview on the 16th, and the kids loved it. Joel was laughing non-stop during the short cartoon "Lifted" (about an alien who's training to abduct humans). A+
"Transformers": OK, just to set the record straight, I can't stand the director, Michael Bay. He's obsessed with smoke effects, slow-motion, and sepia color filters--not to mention his love of over-the-top action. But here, my only goal was to see giant robots fighting, and it definitely had giant robots fighting. And it was pretty funny. All I was expecting was a kids-movie-quality plot, and it had that (except for some sexual references which really didn't belong in the movie). I took Joel to see it last night, and he loved it (well, until he fell asleep at the end, it didn't end til 10:30, so he missed the big battle between Optimus Prime and Megatron--oh well, he still had fun.) His favorite part was when one of the Transformers pee'd on an guy.
For those of you in Utah, the newest Maverik commercial should be airing on TV in the next week or so.
When I can provide a link to the commercial on 8Fish, I'll Write more about it--basically, I did all the water/lake ripple effects and smoke trails.
Have a great 4th of July!!
Here's the preview for PIXAR's next film "WALL-E." Apparently, there will be no dialogue for the first 1/2 of the film (except for some rumored audio clips from "Hello Dolly"). Anyway, it looks good, and Joel LOVES the music in the last 1/2 of the trailer.
I love my wonderful wife with all my heart...o' course (don't ask me why it's easier to write o' course than of course, just deal with it, pink-boy) I'm still angry that she's making me go to her family reunion in a couple weeks...grrr...the things you do for love.
And considering it's a McTeer reunion, either I'm a saint or she's really the devil...maybe both.
I got Amanda a spice rack and the Apollo 13 DVD for anniversary presents, and she got me the newest "Mystery Science Theater 3000" DVD collection. We're having a date Friday night and Saturday day, and Amanda's sister Molly is watching the kids (including overnight!) We'll probably go see "Live Free or Die Hard" since amanda thinks the stunts look awesome.
speaking of summer movies, here are my mini-movie reviews of Ratatouille" and "Transformers":
"Ratatouille": A really great PIXAR film. Seriously, it was a feast for the eyes, and watching it was like eating a deliciously French pastry (including the fact that by the end of it, you feel like maybe I took one bite too many.) The visuals were amazing, and it was a fun story with lots of humor. We went to see this at a sneak preview on the 16th, and the kids loved it. Joel was laughing non-stop during the short cartoon "Lifted" (about an alien who's training to abduct humans). A+
"Transformers": OK, just to set the record straight, I can't stand the director, Michael Bay. He's obsessed with smoke effects, slow-motion, and sepia color filters--not to mention his love of over-the-top action. But here, my only goal was to see giant robots fighting, and it definitely had giant robots fighting. And it was pretty funny. All I was expecting was a kids-movie-quality plot, and it had that (except for some sexual references which really didn't belong in the movie). I took Joel to see it last night, and he loved it (well, until he fell asleep at the end, it didn't end til 10:30, so he missed the big battle between Optimus Prime and Megatron--oh well, he still had fun.) His favorite part was when one of the Transformers pee'd on an guy.
For those of you in Utah, the newest Maverik commercial should be airing on TV in the next week or so.
When I can provide a link to the commercial on 8Fish, I'll Write more about it--basically, I did all the water/lake ripple effects and smoke trails.
Have a great 4th of July!!
Here's the preview for PIXAR's next film "WALL-E." Apparently, there will be no dialogue for the first 1/2 of the film (except for some rumored audio clips from "Hello Dolly"). Anyway, it looks good, and Joel LOVES the music in the last 1/2 of the trailer.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Maverik Commercial, Weird habits, and Swearing Time
OK, if any of you want to see the Maverik commercial I worked on, you can go to www.8fish.com and if you click on Animation, it should bring up a commercial called "Monster vs. Trakker pt. 2." Or click on the blonde girl with the shocked look on her face at the bottom left side of the screen under "portfolio" on the main page and it'll take you to the same ad. On this commercial, I did a lot of stuff that you probably won't notice: shadows under the characters (like under the squirrel in the first shot) and I did the blinking red lights near the end. I also did some of the "assembling" of the shots, as in, people give me animation and backgrounds and I put them together in After Effects. So nothing too glamorous on that one. But I've seen the commercial on TV 4 times in the past week, on all different channels from Fox to the Travel channel to channel 34, whatever that one is!
But the commercial that comes out in July will have a TON of my work--including some cool water effects.
This morning I was thinking about some of my strange habits. For instance, as most of you know, I ROLL my clothes to put them in my dresser instead of FOLDING them...that hearkens back to my early teens when I learned rolling clothes as a travel tip to fit more in your suitcase.
Another thing Amanda and I do in the shower (hey, watch it!!!!) is that we get the edge of the shower wet and "stick" the shower curtain to the side of the shower wall to "trap in" the heat and not let a draft blow in.
Also, when I go to the movies, (I think this is more a nervous compulsion instead of a strange habit) I check to make sure my wallet and keys are in my pockets every 10-15 minutes.
So, what are some of your strange habits?
Next Sunday, the 24th, my primary class is in charge of Swearing time...I mean SHARING TIME. Ugh, I always hate doing it. This time, the theme has to do with baptism. Any ideas from anyone? Is it sacreligious to do a game where the 2 teams answer questions to make their character on the board go all the way under the water?
Oh, and in other news, we got a new computer!!! Here are the specs, compared to our old computer:
Old monitor: 17 inch, big freakin huge box monitor
New monitor: 20.1 inch widescreen flat-panel monitor
Old memory: 224 MB
New memory: 2 GB
Old hard drive: 80 GB
New hard drive: 320 GB
It also has USB/Firewire ports on the front, and a slot for our camera memory card. Oh, and the DVD drive doesn't get knocked into the CPU casing like our old one did. Now if I could just afford to get the Windows Vista versions of all my animation/Video software...oh well, I'm not at home enough to work on anything nowadays anyway. I do have MS Word, though, so I can get back to screenwriting/playwriting.
OK, to end with, here's a cartoon that is SO COOL-LOOKING. Visually, it's like Conqueror Worm on Catnip!
But the commercial that comes out in July will have a TON of my work--including some cool water effects.
This morning I was thinking about some of my strange habits. For instance, as most of you know, I ROLL my clothes to put them in my dresser instead of FOLDING them...that hearkens back to my early teens when I learned rolling clothes as a travel tip to fit more in your suitcase.
Another thing Amanda and I do in the shower (hey, watch it!!!!) is that we get the edge of the shower wet and "stick" the shower curtain to the side of the shower wall to "trap in" the heat and not let a draft blow in.
Also, when I go to the movies, (I think this is more a nervous compulsion instead of a strange habit) I check to make sure my wallet and keys are in my pockets every 10-15 minutes.
So, what are some of your strange habits?
Next Sunday, the 24th, my primary class is in charge of Swearing time...I mean SHARING TIME. Ugh, I always hate doing it. This time, the theme has to do with baptism. Any ideas from anyone? Is it sacreligious to do a game where the 2 teams answer questions to make their character on the board go all the way under the water?
Oh, and in other news, we got a new computer!!! Here are the specs, compared to our old computer:
Old monitor: 17 inch, big freakin huge box monitor
New monitor: 20.1 inch widescreen flat-panel monitor
Old memory: 224 MB
New memory: 2 GB
Old hard drive: 80 GB
New hard drive: 320 GB
It also has USB/Firewire ports on the front, and a slot for our camera memory card. Oh, and the DVD drive doesn't get knocked into the CPU casing like our old one did. Now if I could just afford to get the Windows Vista versions of all my animation/Video software...oh well, I'm not at home enough to work on anything nowadays anyway. I do have MS Word, though, so I can get back to screenwriting/playwriting.
OK, to end with, here's a cartoon that is SO COOL-LOOKING. Visually, it's like Conqueror Worm on Catnip!
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Why should I-KEA?
Commuting from South Orem to Sandy every day is a pain in the butt.
It takes about 35-45 minutes each way, (longer if I don't leave at the perfect time or get behind rows of semi's) and it's just a little too congested to use Cruise Control for more than a couple miles at a time. Not to mention that we have to get gas every 6-7 days, racking up another $55+ per week in bills.
But the WORST driving problem of the commute has been all the traffic jams due to the new IKEA store (ironically, right near the prison). I could not understand why there was all this fuss over a stupid Home Furnishings store. They even had signs at said "Event Access, next exit," etc. and there were police cars out on side roads. The IKEA parking lot, nearly the same size as Disneyland's (OK, not really, but close) was TOTALLY FULL.
I just kept asking myself, "Why would so many Utahns care about a stupid IKEA store?" Then I went to IKEA's website, and it all made sense.
IKEA specializes in CHEAP. If you want low-prices home furnishings, that's the place to go. Additionally, they have a free babysitting/kids play area. AND they have a restaurant with cheap food, like a 99-cent breakfast. Oh, and of course they were giving away free stuff for the grand opening. Those 4 factors instantly answered my question.
Thankfully, the thrill has died down, and now I just have the stretch of "construction area" traffic to deal with--oh, and the rubberneckers who like to slow down my southbound traffic to look at an accident in the northbound lane--2 days in a row!!!!!!!
Work is good. I've been doing a lot of sound recording (since my computer is the one next to the sound booth) and I've been doing some video graphics. I do get confused going between my Windows PC at home and the Mac at work. I hate Macs. I can never find anything on them.
Maddy's done with school, and will now be bored (and probably whiny) all summer long.
Pirates of the Caribbean 3 mini-review: (it's a mini-review to make up for the movie's 3-hour length) Not as fun as the first 2. Like me, the movie needed to slim down its mid-section. I loved the last hour or so, and there were occasional moments of greatness, like the frozen toe and the upside-down boat. I wish that Davy Jones' Locker had been even more bizarre, but I bet "normal" people wouldn't have "gotten it." (You should do "finger quotes" when you read quotes in my blog, by the way)
However, I've been slightly disappointed with each of the Pirates movies my first time through, but then they grow on me when I re-watch them. And I'm even hankering to see this one again.
Well, hope you enjoyed my Pirates 3-sized blog.
Now, mostly for Libby, here's a blast from the past: "Today's Special."
It takes about 35-45 minutes each way, (longer if I don't leave at the perfect time or get behind rows of semi's) and it's just a little too congested to use Cruise Control for more than a couple miles at a time. Not to mention that we have to get gas every 6-7 days, racking up another $55+ per week in bills.
But the WORST driving problem of the commute has been all the traffic jams due to the new IKEA store (ironically, right near the prison). I could not understand why there was all this fuss over a stupid Home Furnishings store. They even had signs at said "Event Access, next exit," etc. and there were police cars out on side roads. The IKEA parking lot, nearly the same size as Disneyland's (OK, not really, but close) was TOTALLY FULL.
I just kept asking myself, "Why would so many Utahns care about a stupid IKEA store?" Then I went to IKEA's website, and it all made sense.
IKEA specializes in CHEAP. If you want low-prices home furnishings, that's the place to go. Additionally, they have a free babysitting/kids play area. AND they have a restaurant with cheap food, like a 99-cent breakfast. Oh, and of course they were giving away free stuff for the grand opening. Those 4 factors instantly answered my question.
Thankfully, the thrill has died down, and now I just have the stretch of "construction area" traffic to deal with--oh, and the rubberneckers who like to slow down my southbound traffic to look at an accident in the northbound lane--2 days in a row!!!!!!!
Work is good. I've been doing a lot of sound recording (since my computer is the one next to the sound booth) and I've been doing some video graphics. I do get confused going between my Windows PC at home and the Mac at work. I hate Macs. I can never find anything on them.
Maddy's done with school, and will now be bored (and probably whiny) all summer long.
Pirates of the Caribbean 3 mini-review: (it's a mini-review to make up for the movie's 3-hour length) Not as fun as the first 2. Like me, the movie needed to slim down its mid-section. I loved the last hour or so, and there were occasional moments of greatness, like the frozen toe and the upside-down boat. I wish that Davy Jones' Locker had been even more bizarre, but I bet "normal" people wouldn't have "gotten it." (You should do "finger quotes" when you read quotes in my blog, by the way)
However, I've been slightly disappointed with each of the Pirates movies my first time through, but then they grow on me when I re-watch them. And I'm even hankering to see this one again.
Well, hope you enjoyed my Pirates 3-sized blog.
Now, mostly for Libby, here's a blast from the past: "Today's Special."
Friday, May 18, 2007
My Fish Story: The one that DIDN'T Get Away
I don't like to eat fish, but I 8Fish. www.8fish.com
As you all know, I got the job at 8Fish. Which was a good thing, because on Thursday night when I went into work at my old job, my boss told me he was going to be laying me off due to a lack of money anyway. Apparently it was down to a choice between whether to pay me, or pay his family's bills, so you can guess what the best choice was. Really, I feel like the universe converged to a point to give me this job right now. But it's proof that once again, the Lord often waits til the VERY LAST SECOND to bless you with things.
Anyway, I start Monday, doing motion graphics and compositing, with some animation thrown in for good measure.
Right now I'm working in a pseudo-freelance capacity, making less money (but still plenty more than I HAD been making) while they evaluate my skills/performance. Then after a couple of months I'll have a performance review and (since I always do a great job) I'll get a raise and benefits and such and be hired on as an official employee.
The reason he's doing this is because he's had too many bad experiences where he pays an untested employee a lot (based on their demo reel or what they SAY they can do)and they don't deliver quality results. I was expecting this approach to hiring anyway, because that's what has happened at several of my other jobs--90 day performance review, etc.
They have a TON of work to be done, and I basically can work as many hours as I want.
They have done a lot of advertising for Maverik convenience stores, and they have a DVD series "FHE on DVD" www.fhedvd.com that he gave me some copies of to test out with my family.
They also did animation for "Baby Signing Time" www.babysigningtime.com, meaning that my first and my latest job are both tied into that video series.
Their office is really nice. If I pay 10 bucks a week, they provide lunch and lots of snacks and drinks--the secretary actually cooks lunch for all the employees every day!! (all that have paid for the lunches, that is)
The computer station I'll be working at has 2 monitors as well as a huge flat-panel screen up above that you can watch footage on.
Next Friday is apparently a company retreat. I don't know the details, but I assume it's not a Booze Cruise or a "Beach Retreat".
Now, because Amanda and I keep referring to 8Fish as "Big Fish" (as a side note, Roy from "The Office" is in the movie, which ties into my "retreat" comment), and because it's just a really good movie, here's the trailer for the movie, "Big Fish."
As you all know, I got the job at 8Fish. Which was a good thing, because on Thursday night when I went into work at my old job, my boss told me he was going to be laying me off due to a lack of money anyway. Apparently it was down to a choice between whether to pay me, or pay his family's bills, so you can guess what the best choice was. Really, I feel like the universe converged to a point to give me this job right now. But it's proof that once again, the Lord often waits til the VERY LAST SECOND to bless you with things.
Anyway, I start Monday, doing motion graphics and compositing, with some animation thrown in for good measure.
Right now I'm working in a pseudo-freelance capacity, making less money (but still plenty more than I HAD been making) while they evaluate my skills/performance. Then after a couple of months I'll have a performance review and (since I always do a great job) I'll get a raise and benefits and such and be hired on as an official employee.
The reason he's doing this is because he's had too many bad experiences where he pays an untested employee a lot (based on their demo reel or what they SAY they can do)and they don't deliver quality results. I was expecting this approach to hiring anyway, because that's what has happened at several of my other jobs--90 day performance review, etc.
They have a TON of work to be done, and I basically can work as many hours as I want.
They have done a lot of advertising for Maverik convenience stores, and they have a DVD series "FHE on DVD" www.fhedvd.com that he gave me some copies of to test out with my family.
They also did animation for "Baby Signing Time" www.babysigningtime.com, meaning that my first and my latest job are both tied into that video series.
Their office is really nice. If I pay 10 bucks a week, they provide lunch and lots of snacks and drinks--the secretary actually cooks lunch for all the employees every day!! (all that have paid for the lunches, that is)
The computer station I'll be working at has 2 monitors as well as a huge flat-panel screen up above that you can watch footage on.
Next Friday is apparently a company retreat. I don't know the details, but I assume it's not a Booze Cruise or a "Beach Retreat".
Now, because Amanda and I keep referring to 8Fish as "Big Fish" (as a side note, Roy from "The Office" is in the movie, which ties into my "retreat" comment), and because it's just a really good movie, here's the trailer for the movie, "Big Fish."
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Spider-Man 3 Review
OK, so this is a little late. But as most of you know, I've been a little busy lately looking for (and hopefully getting) a new job.
But here's my first movie review of the Summer Movie Season: Spider-man 3.
Overall: B+
I thought the first Spider-man movie was OK. When I saw it in the theater, I was like, "Eh. Not sure what all the hype was about." But watching it on DVD (especially since Joel LOVED it) I gained a bigger appreciation for it.
I LOVED Spider-man 2. I thought the story was really strong and had an improtance to it that gave a silly comic book movie meaning and depth. I loved the Doc Ock villian, and the reveals were great, as far as who sees Peter is Spider-man, etc.
Spider-man 3 is fun, but does feel like they were trying to put too much into the movie. I didn't mind that it was busy, but it felt like some of the transitions from plotline to plotline were a little clumsy.
A lot of reviews have complained about "Bad Peter," especially his dance number. Personally, that was one of the highlights of the movie for me. It was a perfect realization of what a nerd would think was "cool." (Maybe stylized a little to fit a comic-book world).
I thought Topher Grace did a good job, except I didn't like him as Venom--he seemed like 2 completely different people, instead of an angry extension of the 1st personality. I also liked the black goo idea, but again, I thought that the introduction of it was a little clumsy, but that may change after watching it a couple times.
As far as the scariness factor, I didn't think it was any scarier for Joel/Maddy than the first one, though Venom's creepy looking.
Anyway, that's my review, and my next one, for Pirates 3, should be up in a couple weeks...once I see the movie...
I didn't do a Star Wars Fan Film this time around, but this is my favorite of the new ones so far, don't ask me why.
But here's my first movie review of the Summer Movie Season: Spider-man 3.
Overall: B+
I thought the first Spider-man movie was OK. When I saw it in the theater, I was like, "Eh. Not sure what all the hype was about." But watching it on DVD (especially since Joel LOVED it) I gained a bigger appreciation for it.
I LOVED Spider-man 2. I thought the story was really strong and had an improtance to it that gave a silly comic book movie meaning and depth. I loved the Doc Ock villian, and the reveals were great, as far as who sees Peter is Spider-man, etc.
Spider-man 3 is fun, but does feel like they were trying to put too much into the movie. I didn't mind that it was busy, but it felt like some of the transitions from plotline to plotline were a little clumsy.
A lot of reviews have complained about "Bad Peter," especially his dance number. Personally, that was one of the highlights of the movie for me. It was a perfect realization of what a nerd would think was "cool." (Maybe stylized a little to fit a comic-book world).
I thought Topher Grace did a good job, except I didn't like him as Venom--he seemed like 2 completely different people, instead of an angry extension of the 1st personality. I also liked the black goo idea, but again, I thought that the introduction of it was a little clumsy, but that may change after watching it a couple times.
As far as the scariness factor, I didn't think it was any scarier for Joel/Maddy than the first one, though Venom's creepy looking.
Anyway, that's my review, and my next one, for Pirates 3, should be up in a couple weeks...once I see the movie...
I didn't do a Star Wars Fan Film this time around, but this is my favorite of the new ones so far, don't ask me why.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Finally, a new blog! With pictures!!!
OK, sorry it's been so long since I blogged. I'll blog more often now that summer movie season has started up--get ready for Andy's Summer Movie Reviews!!! The first one will be tomorrow (or shortly thereafter), after I see Spiderman 3.
News from the Peterson's place--Last week, Amanda's mom moved out of her house into an apartment. Since none of her other siblings would help (except Mikey, who was also moving) Amanda had to take the 3 kids over and help move while I was at work. Well, while Amanda was helping load in the washing machine, Abe (who was in the back of the moving truck) fell out onto his face. Luckily he only had minor scratches and a swollen nose the first day. It was really sad.
Because she moved into an apartment, she decided to get rid of her food storage, so Amanda and her sister split it, so here are some pictures of our pantry,
one of our cupboards,
and under Abe's crib.
This past Friday, Amanda's younger sister, Molly, got married. Maddy was a bridesmaid (wearing a dress Amanda sewed) and Joel wore a tuxedo. Here are pics:
Other than that, we've just been plugging along through life, hoping life works out for us OK.
Here's a picture of Maddy as a Horse (she made the horse-snout for her face)
Hmm...video clip...OK, here's one of my all-time favorite Sondheim songs, "I Remember"
News from the Peterson's place--Last week, Amanda's mom moved out of her house into an apartment. Since none of her other siblings would help (except Mikey, who was also moving) Amanda had to take the 3 kids over and help move while I was at work. Well, while Amanda was helping load in the washing machine, Abe (who was in the back of the moving truck) fell out onto his face. Luckily he only had minor scratches and a swollen nose the first day. It was really sad.
Because she moved into an apartment, she decided to get rid of her food storage, so Amanda and her sister split it, so here are some pictures of our pantry,
one of our cupboards,
and under Abe's crib.
This past Friday, Amanda's younger sister, Molly, got married. Maddy was a bridesmaid (wearing a dress Amanda sewed) and Joel wore a tuxedo. Here are pics:
Other than that, we've just been plugging along through life, hoping life works out for us OK.
Here's a picture of Maddy as a Horse (she made the horse-snout for her face)
Hmm...video clip...OK, here's one of my all-time favorite Sondheim songs, "I Remember"
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Boomerang, Wii got troubles, Portfolio blog
OK, so last night we had a scare--our Wii shut off in the middle of a game and said "remove your game disc and consult your user manual" and it said we'd have to probably send it out for repairs. The Wii would not turn back on at all, and when we called the service number they suggested we test it with a different AC adapter, to see if it powers up. Well, we tested the Wii in a different outlet first this morning, and it seems to be working again, so we'll see. Although it thankfully has a 1 year warranty through Nintendo, we really didn't want to have to get it repaired after 2 weeks of play.
But when the Wii broke last night, the kids were both crying and said "Now what are we going to do during the day?!"
My company's current venture, Boomerang Videos, has started up officially. If you order a pizza from BlackJack Pizza in Provo, you can also call us and rent a video, which you can pick up with your pizza (or have it delivered with the pizza if you get it that way). Business is starting slow, but should pick up once we get more advertising done for it. Anyway, you can click the link to the right to visit our site.
Also, I created a second page on blogspot:
http://pose2poseanimation.blogspot.comwhich is my low-budget version of an online portfolio. I prefer to send potential jobs a CD/DVD of my work, but for those that request an online version, this will do for now, I guess.
Anyway, that's about all for now.
Here's a clip from this coming Thursday's episode of "The Office". It cracked me up--well, you know us Petersons and our tradition of doing impressions of people...
But when the Wii broke last night, the kids were both crying and said "Now what are we going to do during the day?!"
My company's current venture, Boomerang Videos, has started up officially. If you order a pizza from BlackJack Pizza in Provo, you can also call us and rent a video, which you can pick up with your pizza (or have it delivered with the pizza if you get it that way). Business is starting slow, but should pick up once we get more advertising done for it. Anyway, you can click the link to the right to visit our site.
Also, I created a second page on blogspot:
http://pose2poseanimation.blogspot.comwhich is my low-budget version of an online portfolio. I prefer to send potential jobs a CD/DVD of my work, but for those that request an online version, this will do for now, I guess.
Anyway, that's about all for now.
Here's a clip from this coming Thursday's episode of "The Office". It cracked me up--well, you know us Petersons and our tradition of doing impressions of people...
Friday, April 6, 2007
We Wii? Oui!!!
OK, we're now one of those select few in the world who own a Nintendo Wii...And by select few, I mean over 4 million people...
We'd pondered getting a Wii for Christmas, but figured it was too pricey and too hard to find in stores. Plus we'd never played it and hadn't seen much about its features. So we got the kids a Nintendo DS (that's the hand-held game system) and games for Christmas, ironically spending about as much money as a Wii costs anyway.
Fast forward to March--the DS is too hard for the kids to play, and since late January or early February it has sat next to our computer, virtually unused after only a month or 2 of play.
After playing the Wii at Kevin's a couple weeks ago, I saw how fun it was and saw that it was easier for the kids to play. So we put our DS and the games for sale on Amazon (And they basically all sold within a couple days) giving us enough $ to afford a Wii--once I could find one. I kept checking Amazon and other sites using a couple inventory tracker websites, but with no success. We also casually looked for it at stores when we went shopping or running errands.
So on Wed or Thurs of this week, I called Gamestop in the University Mall and asked when they were expecting some (after a website tipped me off that those stores would be getting some in this week) and the guy said they were coming on Fri or Sat. So this morning (Friday) I went in about 10:30 and he said they hadn't come and to check back at 1:30. So at 12:30 I went back and kept checking every 15 minutes. At 1:00, while heading out of Deseret book, I saw the UPS guy leaving GameStop, so I headed over there ASAP and was 2nd in line to get one of their 12 Wii systems.
So there you have it, my not-so-tough quest to get a Wii. Now my next quest is to get a chance to play it--the kids have been hogging it ALL afternoon--and the safety warnings are valid--Joel's already knocked Abe with the controller while playing the boxing game.
Now, to celebrate my fun new toy, (one that Kevin introduced me to), here's Kevin from "The Office" using his favorite electronic gadget.
We'd pondered getting a Wii for Christmas, but figured it was too pricey and too hard to find in stores. Plus we'd never played it and hadn't seen much about its features. So we got the kids a Nintendo DS (that's the hand-held game system) and games for Christmas, ironically spending about as much money as a Wii costs anyway.
Fast forward to March--the DS is too hard for the kids to play, and since late January or early February it has sat next to our computer, virtually unused after only a month or 2 of play.
After playing the Wii at Kevin's a couple weeks ago, I saw how fun it was and saw that it was easier for the kids to play. So we put our DS and the games for sale on Amazon (And they basically all sold within a couple days) giving us enough $ to afford a Wii--once I could find one. I kept checking Amazon and other sites using a couple inventory tracker websites, but with no success. We also casually looked for it at stores when we went shopping or running errands.
So on Wed or Thurs of this week, I called Gamestop in the University Mall and asked when they were expecting some (after a website tipped me off that those stores would be getting some in this week) and the guy said they were coming on Fri or Sat. So this morning (Friday) I went in about 10:30 and he said they hadn't come and to check back at 1:30. So at 12:30 I went back and kept checking every 15 minutes. At 1:00, while heading out of Deseret book, I saw the UPS guy leaving GameStop, so I headed over there ASAP and was 2nd in line to get one of their 12 Wii systems.
So there you have it, my not-so-tough quest to get a Wii. Now my next quest is to get a chance to play it--the kids have been hogging it ALL afternoon--and the safety warnings are valid--Joel's already knocked Abe with the controller while playing the boxing game.
Now, to celebrate my fun new toy, (one that Kevin introduced me to), here's Kevin from "The Office" using his favorite electronic gadget.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
April 3: A basketful of stuff
OK, it's been a while since I updated my blog here, so here's all the dirt:
On Saturday (in-between conference sessions) we saw Meet the Robinsons in 3-D. I have to say, I really enjoyed it. I thought it had a lot of heart, was funny, and had some fun animation. Sometimes you can tell that it was scripted by 7 people, but it was still a fun time at the movies. And you know, me, I LOVE 3-D. Amanda thought there was too much "let's throw stuff at the camera" but I thought there was actually a lot less of that than other 3-D movies.
My Aniboom contest entry is going pretty strong--it's been viewed over 800 times (and not all by me!!) and has a fairly decent 3 1/2 bomb rating (I WAS 4 1/2 for quite a while). Don't know if I'll even get into the final 8, but we'll see.
I'm still planning on doing a blog about our Disneyland trip, with lots of pictures of the kids, but blogspot's photo upload thing is annoying (makes me wish I had my MSN space instead). Joel still gets sad and cries sometimes, wishing we were still at Disneyland.
Amanda only has a couple more weeks of her Physics class, then she'll be starting at the U of U in August.
Abe loves to dance, and we'll try to post video of him when we can. He is also talking up a storm and last night we taught him to point and say "Deal!" (We were watching Deal or No Deal).
My job is still going--I'm working nights, and it looks like we'll be starting the video rentals this week. Here's our website:
www.boomerangvideos.com
With input from my boss, I designed the logo and website (well, the images and look of it, I didn't do the html coding or anything, I ain't that smart. I'm not much of a graphic designer, but I thought the logo especially turned out nice.
I've applied to a couple different animation/motion graphics jobs, but I'm not that optimistic about either of them, so we'll just see. The next few weeks we'll be making some decisions about what we're doing for the next while job-wise.
Well, that's the update. Oh, and for the video, here's a very funny clip from The Office--trust me, you'll want to watch the whole thing. New episode of the Office this Thursday!!!
On Saturday (in-between conference sessions) we saw Meet the Robinsons in 3-D. I have to say, I really enjoyed it. I thought it had a lot of heart, was funny, and had some fun animation. Sometimes you can tell that it was scripted by 7 people, but it was still a fun time at the movies. And you know, me, I LOVE 3-D. Amanda thought there was too much "let's throw stuff at the camera" but I thought there was actually a lot less of that than other 3-D movies.
My Aniboom contest entry is going pretty strong--it's been viewed over 800 times (and not all by me!!) and has a fairly decent 3 1/2 bomb rating (I WAS 4 1/2 for quite a while). Don't know if I'll even get into the final 8, but we'll see.
I'm still planning on doing a blog about our Disneyland trip, with lots of pictures of the kids, but blogspot's photo upload thing is annoying (makes me wish I had my MSN space instead). Joel still gets sad and cries sometimes, wishing we were still at Disneyland.
Amanda only has a couple more weeks of her Physics class, then she'll be starting at the U of U in August.
Abe loves to dance, and we'll try to post video of him when we can. He is also talking up a storm and last night we taught him to point and say "Deal!" (We were watching Deal or No Deal).
My job is still going--I'm working nights, and it looks like we'll be starting the video rentals this week. Here's our website:
www.boomerangvideos.com
With input from my boss, I designed the logo and website (well, the images and look of it, I didn't do the html coding or anything, I ain't that smart. I'm not much of a graphic designer, but I thought the logo especially turned out nice.
I've applied to a couple different animation/motion graphics jobs, but I'm not that optimistic about either of them, so we'll just see. The next few weeks we'll be making some decisions about what we're doing for the next while job-wise.
Well, that's the update. Oh, and for the video, here's a very funny clip from The Office--trust me, you'll want to watch the whole thing. New episode of the Office this Thursday!!!
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Andymation!!!!
OK, a short blog today because we've all got stomach flu and I could need to barf any second now (a lovely thought, huh?)
Anyway, I've entered an animation contest on www.aniboom.com. It's an American Idol parody called Aniboom Eyedoll. My entry is called "O.C. Dee: Really Clean" and is a parody of Billy Jean. I've put a link down below, but you should go vote for it, too.
The direct page link is: http://www.aniboom.com/Player.aspx?v=8362
Anyway, be sure to tell everyone you know to vote for it and view it.
Anyway, I've entered an animation contest on www.aniboom.com. It's an American Idol parody called Aniboom Eyedoll. My entry is called "O.C. Dee: Really Clean" and is a parody of Billy Jean. I've put a link down below, but you should go vote for it, too.
The direct page link is: http://www.aniboom.com/Player.aspx?v=8362
Anyway, be sure to tell everyone you know to vote for it and view it.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
We're back from Disneyland! Now for a job...
We're back. It was a really fun trip. For the most part, the crowds were pretty manageable, and though we didn't strictly follow the schedule (especially the first day when Space Mountain and the Indiana Jones ride were both not working the first few hours), we still saw as many rides per day as I'd planned. Maddy chickened out and didn't go on California screamin', but she rode all the others she wanted to. Joel, who's usually scared of everything, ended up loving Haunted Mansion (except where the vehicle goes backwards into the cemetary and when the ghosts pop up from behind the tombstones). Abe's favorites were the teacups and Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. We STILL have never been to the Golden Horseshoe.
When I was in line to pick up our tickets the evening we arrived, I recognized a guy in front of me. It was the actor in "A Mighty Wind," "Best in Show," and a number of other films: John Michael Higgins http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0383422/
He dropped his ticket, and I picked it up for him, then later as he was leaving, I asked him is he was the guy from "A Mighty Wind" and he said yes. Of coure I didn't stand there and chat him up, but it was fun to see a celebrity.
We also all got FREE Mickey Mouse ears while I was walking Joel to the bathroom.
We probably won't be going back for a couple years--we want kids to be OUT OF STROLLERS and willing to go on more rides without prodding.
Anyway, now that we're home, I have an announcement--Amanda got accepted to the Occupational Therapy Master's Degree Program at the University of Utah for this fall. She's really excited and I'm very proud of her. Now we just need to get through the next 3 1/2 years and we'll be set for life--OT's are in high demand, and it pays really well. But those next 3 years...
...My company's struggling to stay afloat, with the political thing still in need of sponsors (and a bigger election year) and film/commercials being such a tricky business anyway. They've started a video rental thing where you can pick up a video (or have it delivered) when you order pizza from a local pizza place. Then you return it by mail, like Netflix. So for the next little while, I'm working nights (which means we're needing babysitters because Amanda works nights, too) taking rental orders over the phone. Meanwhile, I'm also actively looking for a NEW job, and assuming that for now, the dream job is officially DEAD. I've created a new Animation demo reel to send out to companies. I've included it below. Enjoy:
When I was in line to pick up our tickets the evening we arrived, I recognized a guy in front of me. It was the actor in "A Mighty Wind," "Best in Show," and a number of other films: John Michael Higgins http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0383422/
He dropped his ticket, and I picked it up for him, then later as he was leaving, I asked him is he was the guy from "A Mighty Wind" and he said yes. Of coure I didn't stand there and chat him up, but it was fun to see a celebrity.
We also all got FREE Mickey Mouse ears while I was walking Joel to the bathroom.
We probably won't be going back for a couple years--we want kids to be OUT OF STROLLERS and willing to go on more rides without prodding.
Anyway, now that we're home, I have an announcement--Amanda got accepted to the Occupational Therapy Master's Degree Program at the University of Utah for this fall. She's really excited and I'm very proud of her. Now we just need to get through the next 3 1/2 years and we'll be set for life--OT's are in high demand, and it pays really well. But those next 3 years...
...My company's struggling to stay afloat, with the political thing still in need of sponsors (and a bigger election year) and film/commercials being such a tricky business anyway. They've started a video rental thing where you can pick up a video (or have it delivered) when you order pizza from a local pizza place. Then you return it by mail, like Netflix. So for the next little while, I'm working nights (which means we're needing babysitters because Amanda works nights, too) taking rental orders over the phone. Meanwhile, I'm also actively looking for a NEW job, and assuming that for now, the dream job is officially DEAD. I've created a new Animation demo reel to send out to companies. I've included it below. Enjoy:
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Sunday: 2 days til Disneyland--we told 'em
OK, this morning (Sunday morning) Amanda and I decided that it would save us a heck of a lot of trouble packing if we just went ahead and told the kids we were going to Disneyland. No sneaking around, the kids could help pack, and plus, the anticipation for the trip is part of the fun. So before church, I put their new suitcases on my bed, along with the new shirts, then told them to come in the room. (watch the video of it below).
Things to notice: As they're entering the room, I'm walking backwards filming them and trip. It hurt. But watch Maddy's mocking "point-and-laugh". Later, Joel says we could have put it on America's Funniest Home Videos. Every once in a while over the past few months, we've said, "Guys, we should go to Disneyland." But Maddy always says "No, we don't have enough money." So that's where that comment comes from in the video.
So anyway, the cat's out of the bag, and we're leaving bright and early Tuesday morning. See you all when we get back next weekend!!
Things to notice: As they're entering the room, I'm walking backwards filming them and trip. It hurt. But watch Maddy's mocking "point-and-laugh". Later, Joel says we could have put it on America's Funniest Home Videos. Every once in a while over the past few months, we've said, "Guys, we should go to Disneyland." But Maddy always says "No, we don't have enough money." So that's where that comment comes from in the video.
So anyway, the cat's out of the bag, and we're leaving bright and early Tuesday morning. See you all when we get back next weekend!!
Thursday, March 8, 2007
5 Days left--Bottom 5 List
Since I did a top 10 list at 10 Days, it's only fair I do a "botton 5" list on the 5-Days day. You find some similarities among the attractions. All these rides require long waits in line for very short, very plain rides. Most of them just spin you around, too. I also lumped similar rides into the same ranking.
5. King Arthur Carousel/Fish Carousel: Pretty to look at, nice music, boring ride. As a parent, I usually end up standing next to my child, who is seated on a horse (or on a fish at the King Triton Carousel).
4. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride: I don’t know what the big deal is with this ride. Maybe it was fine and thrilling back in the 50’s—I think it’s the absolute worst Disney dark ride (and I went on Superstar Limo!) Most of the figures look like cardboard cutouts, and it’s so frenetic you don’t even know WHAT’s happening.
3. Teacups/Francis Ladybug Boogie: Spinning. Woooooo. Better than the others because the Teacups music really makes me feel like I’m at Disneyland.
2. Dumbo/Astro Orbiter/Flik’s Flyers: These rides are #2 on the list because not only are lines long, but there are only 8 or so ride vehicles running at a time. That means they’re REALLY slow-moving lines, plus the only sights you see are whatever buildings you fly by—not the greatest. Of course, kids LOVE riding Dumbo (Maddy at least—Joel didn’t like it at all.)
1. Autopia: I’ve already explained how much I hate this ride. But I’ll list the reasons again...Long lines, loud cars, stinky exhaust, unless you’re a little kid, driving just isn’t that big of a deal (and most little kids are too short to reach the pedals/drive on their own on the ride anyway). Plus, it’s a huge waste of space—they should level it out and build a couple new rides in it’s place—heck, you could almost put a whole new land there between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.
Runners Up:
Tarzan’s Treehouse: OK, I kind of like walking around the treehouse (though the Swiss Family version had some cooler stuff to see), but there’s a lot of steps to climb and the person in front of you is always the SLOWEST person on earth. But at least you don’t usually have to wait in line (though the attraction itself is basically one big line, huh?)
Honey, I Shrunk the Audience: My least favorite 3-D movie at the Disney parks. I saw it once, on my honeymoon, and haven’t gone again. Maybe we’ll try it again sometime. Some fun effects—like the rats crawling up your legs and the shaking floor when people onscreen walk past—but it’s just not as fun as the others.
So there you have it.
Now take a ride on those dang teacups:
5. King Arthur Carousel/Fish Carousel: Pretty to look at, nice music, boring ride. As a parent, I usually end up standing next to my child, who is seated on a horse (or on a fish at the King Triton Carousel).
4. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride: I don’t know what the big deal is with this ride. Maybe it was fine and thrilling back in the 50’s—I think it’s the absolute worst Disney dark ride (and I went on Superstar Limo!) Most of the figures look like cardboard cutouts, and it’s so frenetic you don’t even know WHAT’s happening.
3. Teacups/Francis Ladybug Boogie: Spinning. Woooooo. Better than the others because the Teacups music really makes me feel like I’m at Disneyland.
2. Dumbo/Astro Orbiter/Flik’s Flyers: These rides are #2 on the list because not only are lines long, but there are only 8 or so ride vehicles running at a time. That means they’re REALLY slow-moving lines, plus the only sights you see are whatever buildings you fly by—not the greatest. Of course, kids LOVE riding Dumbo (Maddy at least—Joel didn’t like it at all.)
1. Autopia: I’ve already explained how much I hate this ride. But I’ll list the reasons again...Long lines, loud cars, stinky exhaust, unless you’re a little kid, driving just isn’t that big of a deal (and most little kids are too short to reach the pedals/drive on their own on the ride anyway). Plus, it’s a huge waste of space—they should level it out and build a couple new rides in it’s place—heck, you could almost put a whole new land there between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.
Runners Up:
Tarzan’s Treehouse: OK, I kind of like walking around the treehouse (though the Swiss Family version had some cooler stuff to see), but there’s a lot of steps to climb and the person in front of you is always the SLOWEST person on earth. But at least you don’t usually have to wait in line (though the attraction itself is basically one big line, huh?)
Honey, I Shrunk the Audience: My least favorite 3-D movie at the Disney parks. I saw it once, on my honeymoon, and haven’t gone again. Maybe we’ll try it again sometime. Some fun effects—like the rats crawling up your legs and the shaking floor when people onscreen walk past—but it’s just not as fun as the others.
So there you have it.
Now take a ride on those dang teacups:
Saturday, March 3, 2007
10 Days Top 10
Alright, we're down to 10 days...so it's a RULE that there must be a "Top Ten" list. So, here are my top 10 Attractions (since it includes rides and movies) at Disneyland and Disney's california Adventure. Feel free to disagree with me and submit your own top 10 lists. Heaven knows, my wife would disagree with most of my list--she's a coaster-freak (same with Madison).
10. Splash Mountain: This one made it into the top 10 because it’s a happy, colorful, well-designed ride. I love seeing Brer Bear dangling from the rope, and the big steamboat/”Zip-a-dee-doo-dah” finale is great. But I DON’T like getting wet, and the big drop always scares me. Plus, I’m not much for the “sitting in each other’s lap” seating arrangment. FUN FACT: many of the animals in this ride were originally in the “America Sings” attraction in Tomorrowland.
9. It’s Tough to Be a Bug: Lower on the list only because it scares the crap out of my kids, but this is a great 3-D movie. PIXAR did an awesome job with this, and the in-theater effects are great. I especially love the spiders descending from the ceiling and the last effect, where the bugs all leave the theater first (apparently you’ve been sitting on them the whole time). FUN FACT: The voice of Hopper in the attraction isn’t Kevin Spacey—it’s a dead-on impression of him by one of the attraction’s creators.
8. Star Tours: I’ve been on it so many times that the ride has lost a little of its thrill for me, but as a huge Star Wars fan, this ride is still a must-see attraction. FUN FACT: One of the droids in the queue area is a goose from the “America Sings” attraction—they just stripped it down to its innards and added some droid-looking attachments (like binocular eyes). BONUS FUN FACT: Before your first drop inside the spaceport, you can see the “Mighty Microscope” on the right side of the screen.
7. Twilight Zone Tower of Terror: The scariest ride on my list. This ride, I go on once then debate about going on again in the same trip. The DCA version is more streamlined than the Disney World version, but that makes it all the more intense. FUN FACT: The library contains props from old “Twilight Zone” episodes.
6. It’s a Small World: Yeah, yeah. Everyone loves to bag on this ride. But after 40 years, it’s still a very popular attraction. It’s got great design/style to it, and my kids LOVE it. It’s a long, relaxing ride that I’ll never get tired of. FUN FACT: This ride was originally part of the 1964 New York World’s Fair, and was sponsored by UNICEF.
5. Muppetvision 3-D: Still the most enjoyable 3-D movie at the Disney parks. Funny, highly-detailed, and not as scary for the kids. Even the wait for this attraction is nice—the pre-show videos on the 3 side-by-side screens are classic “Muppets.” FUN FACT: Waldo, the living 3-D Muppet from the film, was not strictly animated on computer—there was a puppeteer performing Waldo’s actions with a special puppet that was connected to the computer, like “motion capture.”
4. Alice in Wonderland: The best “dark” ride in Fantasyland. Very detailed, and riding up hills, down holes, and over leaves and mushrooms makes it more than just the typical “spook house” ride the others are. FUN FACT: They recently upgraded some of the effects in this ride—just for the fun of it—a sign that Disney management is finally deciding to spend $ on the rides instead of just adding another shop.
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: A classic attraction—this one “feels” like Disneyland for me. Highly-detailed, and a long ride, worth a wait in line. FUN FACT: The costumes for the pirates got ruined right before the attraction was to open. Luckily, the costume designer had already made an extra set of costumes (even though management had told her not to).
2. Soarin’ Over California: The happiest attraction at California Adventure. Just as “Pirates” feels like Disneyland, “Soarin’” feels like California Adventure. A thrill ride that isn’t scary, with a GREAT musical score. FUN FACT: The idea for the simulator’s lift mechanism was originally designed with an old Erector Set. BONUS FUN FACT: The golf ball that whizzes past you has a Mickey Mouse on it.
1. The Indiana Jones Adventure: As detailed inside as Pirates of the Caribbean, with a really innovative ride technology, with the Indiana Jones theme—a really great ride. Even the queue area is awesome—I love setting off the “spike ceiling” and pulling the rope in the well—if you haven’t done that, you’re missing out. A little too wild, maybe, but still, it’s the most enjoyable ride at the California Disney parks. FUN FACT: In the “rolling boulder” scene, your car doesn’t actually reverse—it’s a visual trick. You know, like when you’re sitting in your car and the car next to you moves and it feels like you’re moving? That’s kinda like what happens. Seriously.
Honorable Mentions:
Disneyland Railroad: The most relaxing ride at Disneyland, now that the Peoplemover is gone.
Jungle Cruise: I love corny jokes, and the new piranhas effect is great.
Haunted Mansion: Another classic ride, but it’s not as fun with little kids on your lap.
Now, since the top 3 have videos that are too dark, here's #4, Alice--still a little dark in parts, but deal with it, pink boy!
10. Splash Mountain: This one made it into the top 10 because it’s a happy, colorful, well-designed ride. I love seeing Brer Bear dangling from the rope, and the big steamboat/”Zip-a-dee-doo-dah” finale is great. But I DON’T like getting wet, and the big drop always scares me. Plus, I’m not much for the “sitting in each other’s lap” seating arrangment. FUN FACT: many of the animals in this ride were originally in the “America Sings” attraction in Tomorrowland.
9. It’s Tough to Be a Bug: Lower on the list only because it scares the crap out of my kids, but this is a great 3-D movie. PIXAR did an awesome job with this, and the in-theater effects are great. I especially love the spiders descending from the ceiling and the last effect, where the bugs all leave the theater first (apparently you’ve been sitting on them the whole time). FUN FACT: The voice of Hopper in the attraction isn’t Kevin Spacey—it’s a dead-on impression of him by one of the attraction’s creators.
8. Star Tours: I’ve been on it so many times that the ride has lost a little of its thrill for me, but as a huge Star Wars fan, this ride is still a must-see attraction. FUN FACT: One of the droids in the queue area is a goose from the “America Sings” attraction—they just stripped it down to its innards and added some droid-looking attachments (like binocular eyes). BONUS FUN FACT: Before your first drop inside the spaceport, you can see the “Mighty Microscope” on the right side of the screen.
7. Twilight Zone Tower of Terror: The scariest ride on my list. This ride, I go on once then debate about going on again in the same trip. The DCA version is more streamlined than the Disney World version, but that makes it all the more intense. FUN FACT: The library contains props from old “Twilight Zone” episodes.
6. It’s a Small World: Yeah, yeah. Everyone loves to bag on this ride. But after 40 years, it’s still a very popular attraction. It’s got great design/style to it, and my kids LOVE it. It’s a long, relaxing ride that I’ll never get tired of. FUN FACT: This ride was originally part of the 1964 New York World’s Fair, and was sponsored by UNICEF.
5. Muppetvision 3-D: Still the most enjoyable 3-D movie at the Disney parks. Funny, highly-detailed, and not as scary for the kids. Even the wait for this attraction is nice—the pre-show videos on the 3 side-by-side screens are classic “Muppets.” FUN FACT: Waldo, the living 3-D Muppet from the film, was not strictly animated on computer—there was a puppeteer performing Waldo’s actions with a special puppet that was connected to the computer, like “motion capture.”
4. Alice in Wonderland: The best “dark” ride in Fantasyland. Very detailed, and riding up hills, down holes, and over leaves and mushrooms makes it more than just the typical “spook house” ride the others are. FUN FACT: They recently upgraded some of the effects in this ride—just for the fun of it—a sign that Disney management is finally deciding to spend $ on the rides instead of just adding another shop.
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: A classic attraction—this one “feels” like Disneyland for me. Highly-detailed, and a long ride, worth a wait in line. FUN FACT: The costumes for the pirates got ruined right before the attraction was to open. Luckily, the costume designer had already made an extra set of costumes (even though management had told her not to).
2. Soarin’ Over California: The happiest attraction at California Adventure. Just as “Pirates” feels like Disneyland, “Soarin’” feels like California Adventure. A thrill ride that isn’t scary, with a GREAT musical score. FUN FACT: The idea for the simulator’s lift mechanism was originally designed with an old Erector Set. BONUS FUN FACT: The golf ball that whizzes past you has a Mickey Mouse on it.
1. The Indiana Jones Adventure: As detailed inside as Pirates of the Caribbean, with a really innovative ride technology, with the Indiana Jones theme—a really great ride. Even the queue area is awesome—I love setting off the “spike ceiling” and pulling the rope in the well—if you haven’t done that, you’re missing out. A little too wild, maybe, but still, it’s the most enjoyable ride at the California Disney parks. FUN FACT: In the “rolling boulder” scene, your car doesn’t actually reverse—it’s a visual trick. You know, like when you’re sitting in your car and the car next to you moves and it feels like you’re moving? That’s kinda like what happens. Seriously.
Honorable Mentions:
Disneyland Railroad: The most relaxing ride at Disneyland, now that the Peoplemover is gone.
Jungle Cruise: I love corny jokes, and the new piranhas effect is great.
Haunted Mansion: Another classic ride, but it’s not as fun with little kids on your lap.
Now, since the top 3 have videos that are too dark, here's #4, Alice--still a little dark in parts, but deal with it, pink boy!
Sunday, February 25, 2007
The New Submarine Ride
OK, Libby's comment on my last blog about the Finding Nemo Submarine Ride (opening this Summer) deserves its own blog in response. This is the first ride in a long time that really deserves the title "An e-ticket ride." From everything I've heard and seen about it, this new version of the submarine will turn it from "that cheesy ride with the fake fish" to a "how did they DO that? Can we go on it again??" must-see ride. I'm very upset that it won't be open when we go (16 days til DL, by the way), but I don't want to deal with the summer crowds. But maybe next year (if we go to Disneyland for our 10th anniversary instead of Disney World).
At the end of this blog is a You Tube link to the Finding Nemo ride at Epcot Center in Florida. They've been calling this "Finding Nemo Subs-Lite" because it uses thet same 3-D projection technology and has some of the same show scenes. You should watch it, and especially take a look at thte last minute or so, where the Finding Nemo characters are swimming in a REAL tank with REAL fish near them. It's some sort of 21st century, high tech version of the Haunted Mansion ghosts effect, and it looks SO AWESOME.
However, the Submarine version (instead of riding in clamshells) is going to be a 14-minute big-budget experience--not to spoil anything, but I hear there will even be a scene where your sub shakes. Apparently PIXAR head John Lassetter made them add in a bunch of extra stuff to make it even better than they'd planned originally. Of course, they were only able to add in a few extra seats to each sub, so unless you ride it first thing in the morning, expect to wait for HOURS or miss out.
At any rate, Libby, and any others who are skeptical about this ride--just wait til you see it.
At the end of this blog is a You Tube link to the Finding Nemo ride at Epcot Center in Florida. They've been calling this "Finding Nemo Subs-Lite" because it uses thet same 3-D projection technology and has some of the same show scenes. You should watch it, and especially take a look at thte last minute or so, where the Finding Nemo characters are swimming in a REAL tank with REAL fish near them. It's some sort of 21st century, high tech version of the Haunted Mansion ghosts effect, and it looks SO AWESOME.
However, the Submarine version (instead of riding in clamshells) is going to be a 14-minute big-budget experience--not to spoil anything, but I hear there will even be a scene where your sub shakes. Apparently PIXAR head John Lassetter made them add in a bunch of extra stuff to make it even better than they'd planned originally. Of course, they were only able to add in a few extra seats to each sub, so unless you ride it first thing in the morning, expect to wait for HOURS or miss out.
At any rate, Libby, and any others who are skeptical about this ride--just wait til you see it.
Friday, February 23, 2007
18 Days--No Schedule?????
Yes it's true, I did NOT make an itinerary for our last day at Disneyland. What? Super-OCD Andy, the obsessive guy that wishes he could schedule bathroom breaks didn't plan out the last day at Disneyland? Well, no, I didn't, and here's why. Assuming that the parks aren't TONS more crowded than expected, we should be able to see almost everything we want to in the first 2 days, so the third day is our "catch-up/ride again" day. Anything we missed or want to go on again, we can do that day.
And that works out well for us, because it's a Friday, the most crowded day of our 3 days there. So we can take it easy, avoid crowds, and just relax on our last day. We're even planning on staying as late as the kids will let us, because then they can sleep in the car the next day on the trip home.
These rides are not in the schedule, that we can fit in on earlier days if there is time/changes to schedule; otherwise, ride on Friday:
Animation Building
Turtle Talk with Crush
Tough to be a bug
Tortilla Factory
Rides I don’t mind skipping:
Mullholland Madness
Jumpin Jellyfish
Aladdin
Autopia
Golden Horseshoe
Honey, I Shrunk the Audience
Now, here's a video of the most boring, annoying ride ever that I will do everything in my power to avoid. But, to make it more interesting, here's Autopia in 3-D!!!! (Red/Blue 3-D glasses Required for 3-D viewing)
And that works out well for us, because it's a Friday, the most crowded day of our 3 days there. So we can take it easy, avoid crowds, and just relax on our last day. We're even planning on staying as late as the kids will let us, because then they can sleep in the car the next day on the trip home.
These rides are not in the schedule, that we can fit in on earlier days if there is time/changes to schedule; otherwise, ride on Friday:
Animation Building
Turtle Talk with Crush
Tough to be a bug
Tortilla Factory
Rides I don’t mind skipping:
Mullholland Madness
Jumpin Jellyfish
Aladdin
Autopia
Golden Horseshoe
Honey, I Shrunk the Audience
Now, here's a video of the most boring, annoying ride ever that I will do everything in my power to avoid. But, to make it more interesting, here's Autopia in 3-D!!!! (Red/Blue 3-D glasses Required for 3-D viewing)
Thursday, February 22, 2007
19 Days--Into the Teens
OK, we're down to the teens...it's getting close. Here's what Thursday's plan looks like (and remember, these plans are really more like guidelines)
Thursday
Disneyland: 9-11
DCA 10-8
(Get Fastpasses for any convenient attractions)
06:15 Wake Up
07:15 Leave Hotel
08:00 Early Entry to Fantasyland
08:10 Dumbo
08:20 Casey Jr.
08:35 Peter Pan
08:50 Alice
09:00 Carousel
09:20 Tea Cups
09:40 Small World
10:00 DCA Opens
10:05 Soarin’—Andy gets Tower of Terror FPs
10:30 CA Screamin’/Triton’s Carousel
11:00 Tower of Terror/
Monsters Inc
11:30 Grizzly River Run/
Redwood Creek Trail
12:30 Back to Hotel
02:30 To Disneyland
03:00 Mark Twain
03:30 Pooh
04:15 Thunder Mt.
04:50 Roger Rabbit’s Cartoon Spin
05:15 Gadget’s Go Coaster
05:45 Dinner
06:30 Storybookland Boats
07:00 Matterhorn
08:00 Back to Hotel
Now it's TIME for the Small World clock!!!
Thursday
Disneyland: 9-11
DCA 10-8
(Get Fastpasses for any convenient attractions)
06:15 Wake Up
07:15 Leave Hotel
08:00 Early Entry to Fantasyland
08:10 Dumbo
08:20 Casey Jr.
08:35 Peter Pan
08:50 Alice
09:00 Carousel
09:20 Tea Cups
09:40 Small World
10:00 DCA Opens
10:05 Soarin’—Andy gets Tower of Terror FPs
10:30 CA Screamin’/Triton’s Carousel
11:00 Tower of Terror/
Monsters Inc
11:30 Grizzly River Run/
Redwood Creek Trail
12:30 Back to Hotel
02:30 To Disneyland
03:00 Mark Twain
03:30 Pooh
04:15 Thunder Mt.
04:50 Roger Rabbit’s Cartoon Spin
05:15 Gadget’s Go Coaster
05:45 Dinner
06:30 Storybookland Boats
07:00 Matterhorn
08:00 Back to Hotel
Now it's TIME for the Small World clock!!!
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
20 Days 'til Disneyland
Three weeks from right NOW (7:00am California time) we'll be waking up for our first day at Disneyland. We're staying at the Castle Inn, which is within walking Distance (as if you don't walk enough AT Disneyland). And as I mentioned before, I've got the day planned out. And since I KNOW you're all as facinated with this as I am, here's the agenda for Wednesday March 14th. Now before you start throwing vicious critiques at me about over-scheduling ruling all the fun of Disneyland, keep in mind that Disneyland is not a relaxing day at the beach. It's seeing shows, riding rides, and keeping 3 kids happy. That means spending less time in line and keeping kids from having breakdowns. So remember, this is my plan to avoid big lines and to stike a balance between wild rides and calm shows. And the times are approximate, just to give me a basic reference point for how much to do in a day. Going back to the hotel mid-day is a MUST to give us all a break. Of course things like snack time and bathroom breaks aren't scheduled in (So when you see "Pooh" on Thursday's list, that means Winnie the Pooh, not a bathroom break), but I gave healthy estimates for some of the rides to make up for that. Plus, Friday will be a catch-up day for anything we missed on the list.
So here's Wednesday: (FP=Fastpass)
Operating hours
Disneyland: 9am-11pm
Disney's California Adventure: 10am-8pm
07:00 Wake up
08:15 Leave Hotel
09:00 DL Opens
09:10 Space Mountain—Andy gets Indy FP
09:30 Buzz Lightyear Ride
09:50 Star Tours
10:40 Jungle Cruise
11:00 Indiana Jones Ride—when time/
Tarzan’s Treehouse
11:45 Pirates
12:10 Haunted Mansion
12:45 Tiki Room
01:15 hotel for lunch/nap
03:30 Leave hotel for DCA
04:00 Playhouse Disney
04:45 Heimlich’s Chew-Chew Train
05:00 Flik’s Flyers
05:20 Tuck and Roll Bumper Cars
05:40 Dinner
06:40 Sun Wheel
07:15 Muppetvision 3-D
07:45 Back to Hotel
Now here's a rather odd video of Johnny Depp riding Pirates of the Carribean, checking out the new changes to the ride.
So here's Wednesday: (FP=Fastpass)
Operating hours
Disneyland: 9am-11pm
Disney's California Adventure: 10am-8pm
07:00 Wake up
08:15 Leave Hotel
09:00 DL Opens
09:10 Space Mountain—Andy gets Indy FP
09:30 Buzz Lightyear Ride
09:50 Star Tours
10:40 Jungle Cruise
11:00 Indiana Jones Ride—when time/
Tarzan’s Treehouse
11:45 Pirates
12:10 Haunted Mansion
12:45 Tiki Room
01:15 hotel for lunch/nap
03:30 Leave hotel for DCA
04:00 Playhouse Disney
04:45 Heimlich’s Chew-Chew Train
05:00 Flik’s Flyers
05:20 Tuck and Roll Bumper Cars
05:40 Dinner
06:40 Sun Wheel
07:15 Muppetvision 3-D
07:45 Back to Hotel
Now here's a rather odd video of Johnny Depp riding Pirates of the Carribean, checking out the new changes to the ride.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Valentines 2007, Etc.
OK, Valentines stuff first:
Amanda had to work Wednesday, the actual Valentine's Day, so on Tuesday night we had our family Valentines, with pink crepes and strawberries for dinner and a trifle-like dessert made with Twinkies (thanks to Judy for the Twinkie Cookbook). The kids made Valentine's cards for Amanda, (for some reason Joel's said Happy Valentines AND Merry Christmas). I gave Amanda a shirt (that I made) that says, "You can't spell HOT without O.T." (Occupational Therapist, what she's going to school to be) We agreed we wouldn't spend much on Valentine's this year. We bought season 3 on "Mad about You" on DVD for a shared present, and then she got me the movie "Contact"...
And, she surprised me with a 2GB iPod Nano. The troublemaker...She claims she needed to buy it because HER mp3 player broke and she wanted my old one, so she got me the iPod. I'm not complaining (I got tired of re-filling my 500MB mp3 player every freakin' day) although I wish she wouldn't buy me expensive things...oh well, the tax return is on its way...
Speaking of which, her interview for the program is this Friday, so keep her in your prayers, although we already feel like she'll get in no problem.
Today, Thursday, Libby and Ethan are watching the kids so Amanda and I can go on a date. We're going to Macaroni Grill, getting Amanda a haircut, and probably just hanging out at the mall for a while.
We're down to 26 days on the Disneyland countdown. Amanda says my last entry about my touring plan obsession was really dorky, so I won't bore you with it this time...I'll save that for another entry.
They're having a reading contest at Maddy's school, where she has to keep track of her reading hours for 2 weeks. She's read 460 minutes in the past 8 days. (that's almost 8 hrs for you slow calculators).
Now in honor of Valentine's, here's a touching song from MST3K "Loving Lovers Love"
Amanda had to work Wednesday, the actual Valentine's Day, so on Tuesday night we had our family Valentines, with pink crepes and strawberries for dinner and a trifle-like dessert made with Twinkies (thanks to Judy for the Twinkie Cookbook). The kids made Valentine's cards for Amanda, (for some reason Joel's said Happy Valentines AND Merry Christmas). I gave Amanda a shirt (that I made) that says, "You can't spell HOT without O.T." (Occupational Therapist, what she's going to school to be) We agreed we wouldn't spend much on Valentine's this year. We bought season 3 on "Mad about You" on DVD for a shared present, and then she got me the movie "Contact"...
And, she surprised me with a 2GB iPod Nano. The troublemaker...She claims she needed to buy it because HER mp3 player broke and she wanted my old one, so she got me the iPod. I'm not complaining (I got tired of re-filling my 500MB mp3 player every freakin' day) although I wish she wouldn't buy me expensive things...oh well, the tax return is on its way...
Speaking of which, her interview for the program is this Friday, so keep her in your prayers, although we already feel like she'll get in no problem.
Today, Thursday, Libby and Ethan are watching the kids so Amanda and I can go on a date. We're going to Macaroni Grill, getting Amanda a haircut, and probably just hanging out at the mall for a while.
We're down to 26 days on the Disneyland countdown. Amanda says my last entry about my touring plan obsession was really dorky, so I won't bore you with it this time...I'll save that for another entry.
They're having a reading contest at Maddy's school, where she has to keep track of her reading hours for 2 weeks. She's read 460 minutes in the past 8 days. (that's almost 8 hrs for you slow calculators).
Now in honor of Valentine's, here's a touching song from MST3K "Loving Lovers Love"
Monday, February 12, 2007
29 Days 'Til Disneyland
This is the countdown day I've really been waiting for (besides the obvious zero days til Disneyland). Once you're down to the 20's, it officially close to the end (especially when it's been almost 2 years since the last Disneyland trip). We still haven't told the kids, although I suspect that Madison might be slowly putting pieces together--that's the burden of having really SMART kids. And when I picked up Maddy from school, her teacher (Amanda's mom) was like, "But aren't you going to Disneyland next month?" and I had to quickly conver with a firm "No, we're not." then explain later that it's a secret trip.
I take my Disneyland trips very seriously. When you spend more than $1500 on a trip, you want to be able to get your money's worth. For years now, I've used the "Unofficial Guide to Disneyland" as my reference. They have researched and studied crowd patterns at the parks and give plans that allow you to save time in line for rides. I take their plans and modify them to fit my family's interests and apply it to our touring days. Basically, the key is to go on the "big" rides that get most crowded first thing in the morning (or use Fastpass). We have the added wrinkle of a baby that can't go on those rides (and another son that avoids some of them) so we need to determine what to do while the others of us are on those rides. It's really a very sophisticated process.
For instance, on Thursday, Fantasyland opens at 8, the rest of Disneyland opens at 9, and California adventure opens at 10. So that's the day we'll be going to those long-line rides that the kids like (Dumbo, Casey Jr. Train, Peter Pan, etc.) until California Adventure opens 2 hours later--we can then head over there. After entering, Amanda and Maddy will head over to Soarin' over california (which Abe can't ride). Joel, Abe and I will head over to the Tower of Terror to get Fastpasses (which, for those readers who don't know--a Fastpass is basically a little ticket you get at the ride that gives you a "ride time" for later in the day, such as "return between 10:05 and 11:05", letting you skip past the long line and get on the ride)
Anyway, so then I can return to Soarin' and ride it, then we can do other rides (like letting Maddy and Amanda go on California Screamin') until our Tower Fastpass time. There are kids rides like Monsters Inc. or the King triton Carousel that the non-riders can go on while the others are on the rides. Not "The Others." They're on "Lost."
OK, enough of my Disneyland rambling.
How about the opening of the Gummi bears cartoon in GERMAN?!?! Gummibaren!
I take my Disneyland trips very seriously. When you spend more than $1500 on a trip, you want to be able to get your money's worth. For years now, I've used the "Unofficial Guide to Disneyland" as my reference. They have researched and studied crowd patterns at the parks and give plans that allow you to save time in line for rides. I take their plans and modify them to fit my family's interests and apply it to our touring days. Basically, the key is to go on the "big" rides that get most crowded first thing in the morning (or use Fastpass). We have the added wrinkle of a baby that can't go on those rides (and another son that avoids some of them) so we need to determine what to do while the others of us are on those rides. It's really a very sophisticated process.
For instance, on Thursday, Fantasyland opens at 8, the rest of Disneyland opens at 9, and California adventure opens at 10. So that's the day we'll be going to those long-line rides that the kids like (Dumbo, Casey Jr. Train, Peter Pan, etc.) until California Adventure opens 2 hours later--we can then head over there. After entering, Amanda and Maddy will head over to Soarin' over california (which Abe can't ride). Joel, Abe and I will head over to the Tower of Terror to get Fastpasses (which, for those readers who don't know--a Fastpass is basically a little ticket you get at the ride that gives you a "ride time" for later in the day, such as "return between 10:05 and 11:05", letting you skip past the long line and get on the ride)
Anyway, so then I can return to Soarin' and ride it, then we can do other rides (like letting Maddy and Amanda go on California Screamin') until our Tower Fastpass time. There are kids rides like Monsters Inc. or the King triton Carousel that the non-riders can go on while the others are on the rides. Not "The Others." They're on "Lost."
OK, enough of my Disneyland rambling.
How about the opening of the Gummi bears cartoon in GERMAN?!?! Gummibaren!
Saturday, January 27, 2007
The Return of the Secret Disneyland Trip!!!!!!!
OK, so because of Amanda's Student Loans, our impending tax return, and my job's bright outlook, we decided to go ahead and take a trip to Disneyland. We'll be leaving March 13 and heading home the 17th. Like before, we're keeping this trip a secret from the kids. We'll be waking them up at 6am on the day we leave. We'll bring them out to the front room where their packed suitcases will be waiting by the door, along with some T-shirts I've made. Here's what they look like:
Here's Joel's, our Buzz Lightyear/Star Wars fan.
Here's Maddy's shirt--Maddy LOVES the wild rides.
Of course, Abe's has "It's a Small Word" and says "My First Trip to Disneyland"
I also made him one that looks like mine:
In case the image is to small to see the details, My shirt is made up of Disneyland attraction posters.
Manda's looks like this:
Take a wild guess where those antenna topper mickeys are positioned on the shirt...
We are very excited to go, and we're glad it's only a month and a half away. It's going to be so much fun. Maddy will be a little annoyed that her favorite ride, Splash Mountain, is closed for repairs. But she'll be able to go on a lot of rides she's never been on, like Indiana Jones Adventure, Space Mountain, California Screamin', and new rides like Monsters Inc. and Turtle Talk with Crush. So anyway, that's all for now.
From now until the end of April, Space Mountain is "Rockin' Space Mountian," which includes fancy rock-concert lighting and visuals, as well as a Red Hot Chili Peppers soundtrack. You can watch it below, though the video's kinda dark and shaky (it IS a roller coaster after all).
Here's Joel's, our Buzz Lightyear/Star Wars fan.
Here's Maddy's shirt--Maddy LOVES the wild rides.
Of course, Abe's has "It's a Small Word" and says "My First Trip to Disneyland"
I also made him one that looks like mine:
In case the image is to small to see the details, My shirt is made up of Disneyland attraction posters.
Manda's looks like this:
Take a wild guess where those antenna topper mickeys are positioned on the shirt...
We are very excited to go, and we're glad it's only a month and a half away. It's going to be so much fun. Maddy will be a little annoyed that her favorite ride, Splash Mountain, is closed for repairs. But she'll be able to go on a lot of rides she's never been on, like Indiana Jones Adventure, Space Mountain, California Screamin', and new rides like Monsters Inc. and Turtle Talk with Crush. So anyway, that's all for now.
From now until the end of April, Space Mountain is "Rockin' Space Mountian," which includes fancy rock-concert lighting and visuals, as well as a Red Hot Chili Peppers soundtrack. You can watch it below, though the video's kinda dark and shaky (it IS a roller coaster after all).
Friday, January 12, 2007
2006 Movie Year in Review
2006 was my second-lowest movie-viewing year since I started keeping track in 1989. I went to the movies 21 times this year (2003 is still the lowest, at 14) which includes the following 18 movies (I saw Cars 3 times and Monster House twice).
King Kong, Munich, IMAX Deep Sea 3-D, Curious George, United 93, Mission Impossible 3, Over the Hedge, X-Men: The Last Stand, The Da Vinci Code, Cars, Superman Returns, Nacho Libre, Pirates of the Caribbean 2, Monster House 3-D, Lady in the Water, Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D, The Prestige, Charlotte’s Web
My Top 5 of 2006:
United 93: OK, ignore the shaky camera, already. This movie really affected me. I was able to relive September 11th in a very cathartic way. The story was handled in a very interesting way, and the filmmakers were able to capture all the feelings of the day, from the “everything’s normal” beginning to the “What the crap just happened?” moments of shock to the feelings of nobility and determination that most of us felt the passengers of the flight were feeling. A truly great film, in my opinion.
Monster House: Going in a COMPLETELY different direction from the previous pick, this movie was just plain fun. It really captured those 80’s Spielberg-produced movies of my youth (Gremlins, Goonies, The Burbs, etc.) Funny script and interesting visuals. And the humans weren’t as creepy as on Polar Express.
The Prestige: OK, I haven’t seen “The Illusionist” yet, so I can’t compare the two. But this movie was a fun series of twists and turns. The script and performances were strong, and I liked the sci-fi edge to it. What would YOU do for the sake of success? I admit, I saw some of the twists coming, but others were a complete surprise.
Superman Returns: I admit, I’ve always liked the Superman story. I like the fact that he helps others just because it’s the right thing to do. I like the Christ parallels in his story. And although it’s nice to see him have personal struggles, I ENJOY seeing heroes that aren’t tortured, ostracized, and out for revenge. This movie was a little too long, but then so were the first 2 Superman films. And I still love the “Weren’t there two of those?” line.
Cars: OK, it was a close call for the 5th spot between this and Charlotte’s Web. Charlotte’s Web was a thoroughly enjoyable family film, and hit the right notes for me. But it doesn’t have the repeat-viewing potential for me that Cars does. And Cars makes me REALLY want to go on a road trip.
My Bottom 5 of 2006
Nacho Libre: Sorry to those of you that liked it. I thought it was a putrid waste of my time and money. We saw this on our anniversary, and it really killed the mood. Not funny.
X-Men: The Last Stand: Sorry, this one was a disappointment for me. Dumb stuff. A couple interesting things with Phoenix, but overall, I was NOT impressed, and we won’t be adding it to our DVD collection.
Curious George: Sooooooo boooooooooring. And maybe I’m just impatient or an overly attentive father, but why do people let George get away with all that stuff? My kids watch the Curious George cartoon on TV, and it frustrates me because people treat George like a responsible child...HE’S A MONKEY!!! Don’t have him pick up a dozen donuts! And you people at the store, DON’T give a MONKEY 100 dozen donuts!!!!! GEEEEEEZ!
Lady in the Water: I know I’m jumping on the bandwagon here, but this movie wasn’t good—not as a scary movie, not as a fantasy film. Interesting characters, some clever moments, but not very good. Poor M. A victim of your own success.
Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D: OK, I LOVE Nightmare Before Christmas. But the 3-D just didn’t work very well. There were a couple spots that looked ok, but overall, I was just sitting in the theatre, disappointed, feeling like I might as well have stayed home and watched the DVD.
There you have it. Hopefully, 2007 will be a good year at the movies, with Spider-Man 3, Pirates 3, Harry Potter 5, Ratatouille, Sweeney Todd, and lots of other films that will make it on my list for next year.
Be sure to watch the Musical episode of Scrubs Thursday the 18th on NBC--Here's a clip, which Joel quite enjoys:
King Kong, Munich, IMAX Deep Sea 3-D, Curious George, United 93, Mission Impossible 3, Over the Hedge, X-Men: The Last Stand, The Da Vinci Code, Cars, Superman Returns, Nacho Libre, Pirates of the Caribbean 2, Monster House 3-D, Lady in the Water, Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D, The Prestige, Charlotte’s Web
My Top 5 of 2006:
United 93: OK, ignore the shaky camera, already. This movie really affected me. I was able to relive September 11th in a very cathartic way. The story was handled in a very interesting way, and the filmmakers were able to capture all the feelings of the day, from the “everything’s normal” beginning to the “What the crap just happened?” moments of shock to the feelings of nobility and determination that most of us felt the passengers of the flight were feeling. A truly great film, in my opinion.
Monster House: Going in a COMPLETELY different direction from the previous pick, this movie was just plain fun. It really captured those 80’s Spielberg-produced movies of my youth (Gremlins, Goonies, The Burbs, etc.) Funny script and interesting visuals. And the humans weren’t as creepy as on Polar Express.
The Prestige: OK, I haven’t seen “The Illusionist” yet, so I can’t compare the two. But this movie was a fun series of twists and turns. The script and performances were strong, and I liked the sci-fi edge to it. What would YOU do for the sake of success? I admit, I saw some of the twists coming, but others were a complete surprise.
Superman Returns: I admit, I’ve always liked the Superman story. I like the fact that he helps others just because it’s the right thing to do. I like the Christ parallels in his story. And although it’s nice to see him have personal struggles, I ENJOY seeing heroes that aren’t tortured, ostracized, and out for revenge. This movie was a little too long, but then so were the first 2 Superman films. And I still love the “Weren’t there two of those?” line.
Cars: OK, it was a close call for the 5th spot between this and Charlotte’s Web. Charlotte’s Web was a thoroughly enjoyable family film, and hit the right notes for me. But it doesn’t have the repeat-viewing potential for me that Cars does. And Cars makes me REALLY want to go on a road trip.
My Bottom 5 of 2006
Nacho Libre: Sorry to those of you that liked it. I thought it was a putrid waste of my time and money. We saw this on our anniversary, and it really killed the mood. Not funny.
X-Men: The Last Stand: Sorry, this one was a disappointment for me. Dumb stuff. A couple interesting things with Phoenix, but overall, I was NOT impressed, and we won’t be adding it to our DVD collection.
Curious George: Sooooooo boooooooooring. And maybe I’m just impatient or an overly attentive father, but why do people let George get away with all that stuff? My kids watch the Curious George cartoon on TV, and it frustrates me because people treat George like a responsible child...HE’S A MONKEY!!! Don’t have him pick up a dozen donuts! And you people at the store, DON’T give a MONKEY 100 dozen donuts!!!!! GEEEEEEZ!
Lady in the Water: I know I’m jumping on the bandwagon here, but this movie wasn’t good—not as a scary movie, not as a fantasy film. Interesting characters, some clever moments, but not very good. Poor M. A victim of your own success.
Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D: OK, I LOVE Nightmare Before Christmas. But the 3-D just didn’t work very well. There were a couple spots that looked ok, but overall, I was just sitting in the theatre, disappointed, feeling like I might as well have stayed home and watched the DVD.
There you have it. Hopefully, 2007 will be a good year at the movies, with Spider-Man 3, Pirates 3, Harry Potter 5, Ratatouille, Sweeney Todd, and lots of other films that will make it on my list for next year.
Be sure to watch the Musical episode of Scrubs Thursday the 18th on NBC--Here's a clip, which Joel quite enjoys:
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
2007: Hoping It's Heaven/2006: Pick up Sticks
Alright, 2006 was MUCH better than 2005.
2005 included death, a rough pregnancy for Amanda, school stresses for both of us, life with in-laws, and an unsatisfying, low-paying job.
2006 was the year we both graduated college, we got into an apartment, and I got a very promising job that gets better on a weekly basis. 2006 had its low spots, for sure, such as when I was temporarily laid off, when we had to cancel the Disneyland trip, and when we were forced to move out of the McTeers before we were ready (trust me, we wanted to go, but it sure was tough to get out as fast as we needed to--a thanks again to those people who helped us out!)
2007 is looking very promising so far. My job is surging forward at top speed. While we struggled for investors on the animation project, people are coming out of the woodwork to get involved with our political DVD. Investors have been extremely eager to get involved, and public surveys and interviews with candidates have both show a huge interest in the product. Today, we even got our 1st corporate sponsor, with more to follow, I'm sure.
Amanda is taking a physics class at UVSC this semester--her last prerequisite to get into the Master's Program in Occupational Therapy at the U of U. She's sent in her papers already and she'll start in august if she's accepted.
In other family news, our kids are all having a blast with their Christmas presents, and Abe loves walking more than crawling, though he's still pretty wobbly.
For a day or two, we were planning a March 2007 Disneyland trip, but we made a decision to save up for our 2008 10th Wedding Anniversary Walt Disney world Trip. July 1998, Amanda and I went to WDW for our honeymoon, now, 10 years later, we're returning with 3 kids in tow. We're even staying at the same hotel (All-Star Music), but in a family suite instead of a regular room.
Hope you all have a great new year. To celebrate the angst and joys of life, I bring you the opening credits of one of the all-time best TV shows, "My So-Called Life."
2005 included death, a rough pregnancy for Amanda, school stresses for both of us, life with in-laws, and an unsatisfying, low-paying job.
2006 was the year we both graduated college, we got into an apartment, and I got a very promising job that gets better on a weekly basis. 2006 had its low spots, for sure, such as when I was temporarily laid off, when we had to cancel the Disneyland trip, and when we were forced to move out of the McTeers before we were ready (trust me, we wanted to go, but it sure was tough to get out as fast as we needed to--a thanks again to those people who helped us out!)
2007 is looking very promising so far. My job is surging forward at top speed. While we struggled for investors on the animation project, people are coming out of the woodwork to get involved with our political DVD. Investors have been extremely eager to get involved, and public surveys and interviews with candidates have both show a huge interest in the product. Today, we even got our 1st corporate sponsor, with more to follow, I'm sure.
Amanda is taking a physics class at UVSC this semester--her last prerequisite to get into the Master's Program in Occupational Therapy at the U of U. She's sent in her papers already and she'll start in august if she's accepted.
In other family news, our kids are all having a blast with their Christmas presents, and Abe loves walking more than crawling, though he's still pretty wobbly.
For a day or two, we were planning a March 2007 Disneyland trip, but we made a decision to save up for our 2008 10th Wedding Anniversary Walt Disney world Trip. July 1998, Amanda and I went to WDW for our honeymoon, now, 10 years later, we're returning with 3 kids in tow. We're even staying at the same hotel (All-Star Music), but in a family suite instead of a regular room.
Hope you all have a great new year. To celebrate the angst and joys of life, I bring you the opening credits of one of the all-time best TV shows, "My So-Called Life."
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