Moving on

Well I've read more batman comics and have decided that I like them. 

In other news, I went out for sushi with Gretchen, Chevis, and Dan. We went to Mt. Fugi in Maple grove. Great sushi, great time, LOTS of sushi was consumed. Gretchen even tried a piece this time... not sure if she liked it that much, but she tried a piece of a Philadelphia Roll. I think we ordered 2 appetizers, 4 rolls, 6 pieces of shrimp sushi (all for gretchen), 8 pieces of random sushi, and 2 deserts (small ones)... then we went for coldstone... I know it sounds like a lot but it wasn't THAT much. 

After that it was a couple of hours if a great new game for the Wii called Boom Blox i believe. Very fun. 

I actually started an animation the other night. It's about a VERY young (in or just out of diapers) batman... as in started, I mean, drew up the story boards... I don't know if I'll go threw with animating the whole thing. Not sure if I want to do that for something that I didn't completely create myself. 

Batman Hush

Just finished Batman Hush Volume 1... I would have to say that it was one of my favorite comics ever. I don't know what it is about batman that draws me toward his series. But I do know that I really enjoy all of the darkness involved in these series'.

Time for the second one. 

The Killing Joke

Overall, very good comic. History of the Joker. Interesting, and in my opinion, a great ending. 

games and comics

Today was, overall, a boring day. Although, tonight was a bit better. I ended up going over to my aunt and uncle's house for a while and hung out with Dan and little Daniel. After Daniel was put to bed dan and I ended up talking comics for a bit. I have never really been too into comics but I find myself moving towards batman comics. Maybe it's because Dan has an ASS LOAD of them. I was trying to figure out which ones I should start with and he gave me a few good ones. I also spoke with my good buddy Dan, who I attended college with, and he told me to check out a few of the same ones. 

So as I spoke with Dan, my cousin's husband, he ended up pulling out a box of his comics and he's going to let me borrow a bunch that I have on my list. 

We'll see how this goes. I'll probably end up buying some, if not all, of the ones he's letting me borrow. There is a midwest comic convention going on in early October at the State Fair Grand Stand. We're really looking forward to that.

I'll probably end up posting each comic as I finish reading them... but the first on will be The Killing Joke. Guess who it stars...

Step Brothers

Today Gretchen, my mom and I all went to see the new movie Step Brothers. It was pretty funny and to my surprise it was rated R. I didn't know this until minutes before entering the theater. This only meant that they used real swear words rather than making up stupid ones. Once again, it's Will Ferrell, and you usually have to be a fan of his to like the movies he's in. John C. Reilly was Will's co-star in this ride. There were parts I liked and parts I didn't. But for the most part, I am a Will Ferrell, and just about everything he does, in my opinion, is pure genius. 

Overall, not everyone will dig this flick. I loved it, but as you know, I am a fan of most movies that I actually go out and see.

Dark Knight for the second time

Last night my cousin Chevis, her husband Dan, Gretchen and I all went to see Dark Knight. It was my second time but all of their first. Chevis said it was good, Dan loved it and, well, Gretchen doesn't like clowns, so she wasn't that impressed.

But I must say, the second time, it's just as good. 

big day today

Started off with a stop by my aunt and uncle, Janice and Tom's house to drop off a DVD for Dan... and of course see his son who calls me Shu-Shu (it's how he says Jared)... it's really cute... he only whispers it... like it's something we don't speak of...   :)  badass!

Then it was off to robot love to pick up this little beauty. 

I have been waiting for robot love to get this in for a while. It's a Teddy trooper designed by Dalek, one of my favorite artists. 

After that it was back to the house and then over to my aunt and uncle, Tammy and Dean's house. There I continued my 'wall art'... this is always fun... here's some more images of what I did in the past, and what I did today. 

Sorry about the side ways pictures. I guess I could have fixed that... but I'm a little lazy

After all of that... it was off to the casino again... and this time I only broke even, but i suppose that's good enough. 

A few purchases and a birthday

Added this little beauty to my collection today. Went to target, saw it and thought... I'll bet that Luke Skywalker with his hand cut off would look really good next to my Darth Vader... so I had to pick it up... 

Also picked up Rayman Raving Rabbids for the Wii, as well as X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse for Gamecube... but it works on the Wii.

Before all of that I went to my grandma Connie's to celebrate my cousin's, Dani and Jessi's, birthdays. Gave them a couple dunnys. They were happy with them... plus some money from my mom never hurt. 

Go Twins

Friday night I went to a Twins game with my old roommates, Derek and Zac, and a bunch of Derek's friends. We had a good time... looking for one kind of beer for the first 2 innings. It was pretty fun. Twins won against texas and after we went to a bar with a $3 cover charge... :\  but overall, good night. 

Saturday morning, after going out to breakfast with my parents, I received a phone call from Dan, my cousin's husband. He was wondering if I would help them unload the truck they used to move from Chicago. So I helped them for a while. Then spent the rest of my lounging around until Gretchen came over and we went to TGI Fridays for dinner and a couple drinks... Michael came along as well. 

good stuff. 

WHY SO SERIOUS?

The Dark Knight... before I begin this review, I must say that it has been brought to my attention, not like I didn't know already, that my reviews are all the same.... "pretty good, go see it"...

That said, I'd like to change it up a bit... but I might find that hard for this post. 

If you have read this much and are still not getting out of your seat to go see the newest Batman installment, you must be JOKING... ø_ø  bad pun, yes. But a serious one at that. 

This movie continues to baffle me... Why the hell was it rated PG-13... and not R. There definitely aren't a great deal of movies out there that I wouldn't let my child, if I had one, watch. But this is about on those boarder lines. If you see any movie rated PG-13 this summer that is HALF as dark as this movie, you MUST let me know... because I don't think it's possible. 

Heath Ledger has gone FAR beyond any roll that you could have ever imagined him playing if you had only seen his older films. I feel, myself, at a great loss that this brilliant actor is no longer with us. After creating a character such as the Joker in Dark Knight, I have realized what a great actor Heath Ledger really was, and I've noticed how much of a loss we movie goers are really at. His character in this movie really makes you believe that there is such a sick and twisted man out there, and you begin to realize how his role as the Joker may have actually lead to some problems with his life. I can truly say that he is most definitely one of my favorite actors, just because of this one part... that we will never be able to see him beat. 

The Dark Knight was, in a lot of ways, a much better movie than Batman Begins. The way that the plot unfolds really keeps you on the edge of your seats. Much more was touched upon, in terms of importance. Dark Knight does a very good job of picking up where Batman Begins left off. Harvey Dent, played by Aaron Eckhart, was actually a very believable character, other than the other half of his... well... it actually looked VERY good, along with all of the other CG in the movie. 

Overall, it's dark... very dark... twisted dark... and definitely THE must see of the summer. Thing happen in this movie that you wouldn't expect to happen... 

and if you don't have your car keys in your hands by now...  

WHAT THE F*CK IS WRONG WITH YOU!

*SPOILER* shitty picture of Two Face from my iPhone *SPOILER*

A night at Robot Love

My favorite little urban vinyl/designer toy shop was my hang out spot tonight from 6 to 8. Every 3rd Thursday of every month Kris, the owner, holds a "trading night", where all the collectors from the cities come to hang out, trade, and talk TOYS. Tonight at Robot Love was a slow night. I can't believe that JJ, Robot Love's number one customer and a good friend of mine, wasn't there. Our Friend Shawn ALSO did not show up. Kris is thinking about holding another trading night next Thursday and I promised I'd be there. Tonight he and I just hung out and talked toys for a while; what's coming out, what just came out, and when things are coming in. 

My next big purchase, and one of the topics of our discussion, is this nice Teddy Trooper designed by an artist called Dalek. 

Aside from all of that, today was another "what will I do with my life" days... I need to work on my portfolio and either get a job or go back to school... I think a job is more realistic right now. I just realized how utterly useless I am right now. I really have NOTHING going on. I sleep in late and that's starting to even bug me these days. 

Yes I think i'll try to update my portfolio site at thatAnimationSite.com, buy some server space, and begin applying for a job... whether it is something that I love doing, or it isn't. 

Till then i'll try to keep this site updated with what it was originally created for...

MY WORK!

p.s. - next post will be a review of The Dark Knight... midnight showing. Very pumped.

Casino Night... day

Today I went with my mother, aunt, cousin, and their neighbor to the Grand Casino Mille Lacs. About an hour and a half away. Probably my favorite one in Minnesota though. Pretty small place. VERY small actually. But I ended up ahead and that's all that matters, no thanks to the slot machines.

Black Jack is the way to go... 

$5 tables of course. 

a little drawing on the wall never hurt anybody

While sitting at home, my aunt Tammy called and had a proposition for me. She is redoing her kitchen and has a few blank spots on her walls for the next few weeks where her counters and cupboards will go. SO, Michael and I were invited over to do a bit of art for those blank spaces, in hopes that someone in the future will see these when/if the kitchen is redone again. 

I drew a huge coy fish along side of a "hick-ish" man wearing overalls and a trucker hat that says "Booty Hunter". 

This is me putting the finishing touches on my coy fish. 

More images to come as I continue to put them on their wall. 

P.S. - if anyone else has any requests for art... go ahead and let em fly... 

I am currently unemployed, so get it while it lasts. 

3d movies... it's been a while

Well... I was skeptical... but I'm very glad that I did go see this with Michael and my mother today. The movie was way better than I thought it would be. It was actually a pretty good movie up until a couple of corny scenes in the middle of the movie. The 3D effects weren't too gimmicky, although there were a few things that flew out at you. Brendan Fraser, although not my favorite actor, has done an exceptional job with this role. 

Overall I'd say this movie is definitely worth seeing... and probably before it's off of the big screen. 

The Shout House

Sorry for the delay in posts... been busy. The other night I joined my lovely girlfriend Gretchen and her friend Kari, along with her boyfriend and his roommate, and we headed to the Minneapolis bar called The Shout House. This place was just plain FUN. The Shout House is a dueling pianos bar, which means live entertainment. They would CONSTANTLY pull people from the crowd, people with birthdays, bachelorets, anything. We could also bring a small piece of paper up to them with requests for songs... along with a small tip of course. 

Long story short, we had a blast, had some beers, and had my song played...

Rocket Man

- Elton John 

mid day crisis

Today I was trying to get to a friend's work to get a few prints off of him when all of the sudden...

...

...

car dies...

Had to pull over and nothing worked... sat there a few minutes, made some calls... then suddenly, with a gust of wind  ...   ZAP ... car's back on again. 

Pretty weird but i guess this means... car, you've lived out your welcome here. I guess I'll have to be driving other cars till I get a new one. 

Hellboy II, another midnight movie

Hellboy II is definitely worth going out to see IF you were a fan of the first one. I really enjoyed it. Although I didn't dig the newer look that a lot of the characters had, especially Hellboy. It wasn't THAT different, but I sure could tell. 

The movie was jam packed full of fights, which made it very "edge of your seat" ish. I loved the look of a lot of the monsters in this one, they were done by the same people/person who designed for Pan's Labyrinth, VERY cool style. One thing I didn't like that much was the newfound "Men In Black" feel. The organization seemed a lot bigger than it was in the last movie. But there were very few things I absolutely didn't like. Just about every little thing could be justified. 

People have been telling me, "Don't hype the movies that much. You'll only be let down." In this case, it was about as good as I thought it would be... maybe a little less... But I REALLY can't wait for The Dark Knight. 

Vancouver Film School phoned... AGAIN!

This time I had a sheet of question prepared. I found out all kinds of awesome information. One of my top questions was "What will I leave with upon graduation of the program?" Patrick Quigley, Admissions Advisor, told me I'd be leaving with 3 things for sure... a professional portfolio of work, a solid demo reel, and a diploma... and probably a job. He said the hiring rate is about 85 - 90 percent. They used to hire students but they can't anymore because they all get jobs first. 

The program only takes 1 year and is pretty much like a full time job/internship. Nine to five every day, and if you miss a class or show up late, you're going to hear about it. Just like a real job. I'd basically be learning right along side of people doing. 

A couple of downsides are that I wouldn't be leaving with a masters in animation (although every masters program I've seen for animation consists mostly of 3D animation), and the one year there would cost about what it cost for 4 years at Stout.... O.o yikes...

Anyway, we'll see what happens. I can apply on line and will need to find a couple good references beforehand.

Will keep everyone updated. 

A taste of India

The people who went to India with me will probably see this and think, "you chose THOSE pictures why?" But here's a few images and captions...

Sculpture garden.

The Taj.

Baby monkey at one of the forts that we visited.

Man at work washing screen printed fabrics.

Guard. This guy just looked cool. 

Painted Elephant. My friend Carl and I were sitting outside, waiting for everyone else when all of the sudden these painted elephants walked by. It was later that we learned that the next day was the Festival of the Painted Elephant.

I forget exactly what these guys were called but they were sitting outside of the fort with the monkeys and they were begging... also waving...

If you were to walk into my house today, you would see this picture as soon as you got inside the door. Kind of a nice greeting I think.

Vancouver Film School phoned...

Today I received a call from the Vancouver Film School saying that I WILL be receiving a call tomorrow to talk with Admissions Advisor, Patric Quigley. This school is definitely at the top of my list for schools right now. I just hope they have something to offer me besides a BFA... 

I was going through their site and blog today and found a few very interesting things. A very large number of their graduates work on all sorts of movies, such as all 3 of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and all 3 of the newer Star Wars movies, episodes 1-3. This really sparked my interest. Now I can't wait to hear from Patric tomorrow to get some information about this school. 

I will update with further information...

::GIANT GRIN::

Dinner... then batman

Tonight Gretchen invited me over to her house for dinner. She was making pasta with turkey meat balls... OMFG it was good.... new favorite meat... TURKEY!... I made the salad, it was pretty good but HOLY SHIT, that pasta.

Anyway, now I'm watching the new DVD that was release today, "Batman Gotham Knight", and WOW is it cool. Very similar to the Animatrix, which was a bridge between some of the things that happened in the matrix. Gotham Knight is a bridge between "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight". It is 6 interlocking stores that are done by different directors and each have different artistic styles. I would definitely recommend this to any Batman fans, as well as Animatrix fans. 

Well... back to finish the movie. 

YET another day

Yes today I have continued my search for new schools. I am fairly sure that I would like to go back to school but have yet to find a school that fits my needs. 

I am looking for someplace that can offer me my masters degree in traditional, or 2D, animation. There are many great schools out there, and each time I find one I keep getting turned off by it. The best schools I've found DON'T have masters programs, or they do but they focus on 3D animation. 

One of my top school choices right now would be The Vancouver Film School which has an AWESOME traditional animation demo reel... HERE.

Another is SCAD, in Georgia, which also has a very cool demo reel that has quite a few 2D animation parts to it. 

One more place that is actually going to call me tomorrow is Dmac, in florida. Their demo reel is not that exciting and does not really have too much 2D animation to it. As you can see on their course list here. Their 3D stuff is good... but i think they just dropped out of the race. 

The weekend

So far I've driven my mom and her friend to the movies about 3 times this weekend. Also drove my mom to a couple different libraries. Nothing too exciting. 

On Thursday, July 3, the neighbors and I shot off fireworks for a while. On the 4th it was basically a lazy day. The neighbors were shooting off fireworks during the day, kinda pointless, and a cop pulled up so they all ran inside, but he just kept driving. Later that night I went for a bicycle ride around 10:30 pm and rode over to my aunt and uncle, Janice and Tom's house. Their neighbors were shooting off fireworks as well, so I stuck around there for a bit. We were kind of planning on going out to watch fireworks but I guess everyone just decided against it. No big deal though, we had a blast just sitting around the house. 

Yesterday, July 5th, Michael brought my bowling to witness my MAD bowling skills... I think I got about a 120 or so for my highest score... cuz I'm that good. More fireworks later that night and then just hung out around the house. 

Overall a pretty chill 4th of July weekend. Good stuff. 

I haven't forgotten

I know it's been a while since I've been on here but I promise, I haven't forgotten to update. I'll be posting about the 4th of July weekend later on today. 

Trip for Sushi and Toys

Today I went to a little place called Zushia with my mother and Michael. It was very good... Then I drove my mom to go see a movie with her friend, during which, michael hung out at robot love, where I pulled a few chases and this little number...

It is a figure of Early*, from the TV show Squidbillys, on CartoonNetwork. Very good show. 

anyway. 

Till next time. 

FINALLY

finally added a counter... YES!

you can find it over there under my labels....  >>

Now you can see EXACTLY how many people read about me and my daily debauchery. 

first 25 of the year

Yesterday I went trapshooting at some new place in Blaine with my friend Mike. I shot my first 25 of the year, although it wasn't for my league in Monticello. After that miraculous round, we shot skeet which was also very fun, never done that before. After that we shot a different type of round. There were 8 different places where the bird could come from. One from over head, one from straight out in the field, right at you, one rolls across the ground like a bunny. Also shot something called a duck tower. It's a tower that was 60 feet in the air and shoots targets at 60 mph. We were supposed to lead the target by about 15 feet, it was INSANE.It was very fun. Had a great time.

don't touch my Hancock

Hancock was actually not as good as I had hoped. I was expecting much more action, story, and background. The amount of action that was there was pretty good. Don't get me wrong, there was action and destruction, **SPOILER** I just kind of hoped there would be an EPIC fight scene at the end or something. I would have liked to see more development with the story as well... I like what story was there... just wanted more of it, similar to the action. As for background, I left the theater with about 20 or 30 questions in my head that were never even close to being answered. WHY this, and WHY that...  after a while I just kind of said, "eh."

Overall Hancock was definitely worth seeing and I'll probably pick it up once it's on DVD for cheap... which shouldn't be too long after it is released. 

p.s. - if you haven't seen too many of the previews, and you're on the fence about it, you should probably go see it. After a couple of preview that I saw I pretty much was calling the shots in the movie. **SPOILER** In one preview they tell you that he starts becoming human, in another you can see the main woman in a dark outfit with eye liner and that, for me, was a huge hint that she too was a super hero.