El cumpleaños de "La Embarazada" lo mas bonita!

Here's a little photo of Megcita pregnant on her 32nd birthday... there have been a ton of requests, and I am sorry to say I have not been too good about taking photos! What can I say? It is a little hard when I have been in Los Angeles and she has been in Vancouver. I hope to make up for it in the near future... keep your eyes peeled!

Two Movies On Battle Of Iwo Jima

Yep. I am a Clint Eastwood fan... how can you not be? I love the fact that he has grown so much throughout his career and remained creatively vital for so long -- and much past many of his contemporaries. He is often under appreciated by many who have not seriously taken a look at his greater body of work. His better films, for example "A Perfect World" and "Unforgiven" from the early 1990's, always seem to tackle difficult characters and challenging tense situations. I can't help but think that his drive to present such a horrific subject as the battle fought on Iwo Jima "from both sides" is a not so subtle way of waking American people to what's happening elsewhere in the world due to their involvement. What's happening on the "other side" of the Iraqi situation?

‘You Just Have to Trust Your Gut,’ Eastwood tells TIME

New York – Next fall, Clint Eastwood will simultaneously release two movies telling the story of the battle of Iwo Jima – one will be from the American perspective, and the other told from the Japanese perspective, TIME’s Richard Schickel reports in TIME’s What’s Next special issue (on newsstands Monday, Oct. 17).

Beginning next February, Clint Eastwood will start shooting the companion movie to Flags of Our Fathers, tentatively called Lamps Before the Wind. Typically, Eastwood is not able to articulate fully his rationale for this ambitious enterprise: “I don’t know—sometimes you get a feeling about something. You have a premonition that you can get something decent out of it,” he says. “You just have to trust your gut.”

He asked Paul Haggis, who wrote Flags, if he would like to write the Japanese version as well. The writer of Million Dollar Baby and director of Crash, Haggis was overbooked but thought an aspiring young Japanese-American screenwriter, Iris Yamashita, who had helped him research Flags, might be able to do it. She met with Eastwood, and once again his gut spoke; he gave her the job and liked her first draft so much that he bought it. It was she who insisted on giving him a few rewrites she thought her script still needed, TIME reports.

Taken together, the two screenplays show that the battle of Iwo Jima—and by implication, the whole war in the Pacific—was not just a clash of arms but a clash of cultures. The Japanese officer class, imbued with the quasi-religious fervor of their Bushido code, believed that surrender was dishonor, that they were all obliged to die in defense of their small island. That, of course, was not true of the attacking Americans. As Eastwood puts it, “They knew they were going into harm’s way, but you can’t tell an American he’s absolutely fated to die. He will work hard to get the job done, but he’ll also work hard to stay alive.” And to protect his comrades-in-arms. As Haggis’ script puts it, the Americans “may have fought for their country, but they died for their friends, for the man in front, for the man beside ’em.”

Type and the truth will be told...

Click here. You know you want to...

Back On the 24/7

Well, work at Rhythm and Hues Studios over the past few weeks has finally felt like all my other computer graphics jobs. That is, I have been shackled to my desk for hours on end. It seems to have been a long time coming. We are on "work as much as humanly possible" mode at the moment trying to finish all our work for "The Chronicles of Narnia" to the highest standard possible before our looming deadline arrives towards the end of the month. I have been here since mid-march and it is a testiment to the relative sanity of this studio, and the fine folks running it, that only now am I posting this comment. This gig at R&H has been the closest thing to a 9 to 5 job I have ever had in computer graphics. I have to admit to feeling quite conflicted about it. While Meg was here it was certainly nice to be able to guarrantee her I'd be home at a certain time. That hasn't happened a lot in my career. But, as it turns out I took a big cut in pay due to the relative lack of over time hours here. It made Los Angeles seem a lot more expensive to me as a result I guess. I am not at all apprehensive about leaving R&H because I know that there are great challenges waiting ahead. But, I will "miss it." It has a tremendous "studio vibe and culture" and a relative lack of egotistical behaviour that has been great. Like an oasis in an otherwise not very admirable city. Easy to leave Los Angeles, not so easy o leave Rhythm and Hues!

Vangroovey Tops The List

Click here to read an article about a survey conducted by The Economist Group that proclaims that of the 127 major cities in the survey Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is the most "desirable place to live" in the whole world. It is always a bit odd to read something like this when you are from the place they are talking about. But, I have to admit to being a total "homer." I believe most of my friends would attest to hearing me rave once or twice about the place (and I trust will permit me yet one more rant). But I also recognize that in this respect I won the lottery. How did I end up a Vancouverite? My father grew up in New Westminster and having spent a decade in the east at graduate school and beginning his career throughout his late 20s and early 30s he elected lifestyle over careerism and chose to move to the much sleepier climate and take advantage of the family proximity of Victoria. His forethought, my lottery. I grew up in Victoria and only became a "Vancouverite" in earnest when I went to The University of British Columbia in 1990. Being a formative time in my life, I fell in love with the place and I haven't ever really lost the passion for it. It is my place and I am very comfortable about that.

I think the thing that strikes me most about Vancouver these days is that I realise now more than ever that it has yet to fully define itself. Its character is in flux. And while you live there you are a part of defining that character by what you do and your values and the choices you make in your life. Having lived in places like London and Madrid recently, I recognize that Vancouver "is not" but "will be" what it is... The vast majority of the character of the place has yet to be etched in stone. There just hasn't been enough time yet. It is cool to be part of that defining process rather than inheriting it. Of course, much will be derived from the local surroundings. The presence of the ocean and the mountains and the trees is a constant reminder that the place was built on the backs of "pioneers" from elsewhere in the western developed world who gave little attention to the local colour at the time of their arrival. Nonetheless, I think that this sense of pioneerism is still very much a part of the culture there. New things do well in Vancouver. There is a spirit of openness and honest opportunity that is greater than elsewhere I think!

For me, Vancouver also personifies the movement towards a kind of cultural fusion. As such it is a city of people who are best when embracing the best of multitudes of cultures and trying something new. That's why there is such a diverse range of people and their food, there is comparatively broad opportunities and a lack of discrimination, and a sense of a growing vibrant place. This vibrancy is one of the things I really noticed having been away for a few years. Something that you don't necessarily catch while you're living there day to day. By way of comparison Spain is incredibly rich culturally, but you don't get the sense that much is evolving. Spaniards are pretty happy with the status quo. London is also a very engraciating culturally mixed place, but it gives you the impression of a place that the cultural mix is being "enforced" in a way. The fall out of a empire that once reached around the globe. In Vancouver, fusion is the only way there has ever been.

Anyway, a feather in the cap. Here's hoping that the rain keeps all the baddies away!

Behind The Scenes Hoop-lah!

Click here (warning: film look spoilers!) to see a featurette about the visual effects post production work ongoing on "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe." I believe this is one of the behind the scenes documentary style movies that are all the rage these days (used as a compliment to the DVD package). There are a few of my shots in the mix. They are the ones that feature the "flying hawks and gryphons" during the battle sequence. What you see there is definitely "work in progress" and I was surprised to actually see them in there! Because they are missing all sorts of elements and so forth... C'est La Vie! There has been a lot of press buzz being generated out of Sony Imageworks especially, and WETA Workshop, about the work and it has been a bit of a thorn in the side of the companies who do not have the same level of PR resources: Rhythm and Hues Studios in particular. It is very difficult for a truly independent studio like Rhythm and Hues to go head to head with Sony when it comes to "exposure." Little do people know that Rhythm and Hues Studios is officially the Lead Visual Effects Facility, entirely responsible for the digital Aslan character, the Centaurs, all the Massive work in the film, and for that matter the vast majority of the key battle sequence towards the climax of the film. In the long run, when the credits roll I think that the perception of Rhythm and Hues Studios will stack up really well. The shot that I feel is really exemplary of the full range and level of the work is featured very briefly as a split screen of a centaur walking. Totally convincing. And I might add that the background roto/prep work is astounding on its own. Lookin' good people!

American Automotive Industry Stupidity!

Check out this shining example of American automotive industry stupidity! If there is one thing holding Southern Californians image of rampant stupidity and ignorance hostage, it is the Sport Utility Vehicle/Pick Up Truck. When! I ask you are these moronic gearheads going to be shaken from their intellectual slumber? 13 Miles per gallon? What the hell!? Most of these vehicles never see anything rough in terms of terrain than the parking lot medians they regularly drive over as their helmsmen strain to make out anything outside the cab. Pure gluttony in a time of mounting global concern over fossil fuel usage. Meanwhile, companies like Toyota seek alternatives (they are offering more hybrid engines than any other manufacturer) which while still using gas are at least a step in the right direction... Thank you for not even trying America! Trying to find a reason the U.S. invaded Iraq? Or why 2000 Americans have lost their lives? How about "the two-wheel-drive Ram Mega Cab takes a 47-foot-wide road to turn around. "

Rhythm And Hues Explodes!

Well, now that it is all over, the rumours of our untimely demise have been greatly exaggerated. But, it is true that there was a "large explosion" at Rhythm and Hues Studios yesterday at about noon. I was in film dailies at the time, and there was a terrific bang followed by the sound of debris landing all over the roof of the cinema, and then the power going out. I was standing near the back of the room (film dailies is packed these days as we final all sorts of work for "Chronicles of Narnia") with my buddy Rodrigo "La Velha" Teixeira, and when we heard the noise we just turned and ran outside through the loading dock to see what had happened or if we were in any danger. I honestly thought ludicrously that we had been hit by "falling plane debris" because we are so close to LAX. It is amazing what sort of ridiculous imaginings your mind throws at you in times of stress. As we exited the building there was obviously an exploded transformer or something going up in flames outside the building and it was threatening to spread to all the adjacent poles, the building, etc. So we ran back in and started to tell people they'd best get out of the building pronto. Everybody was remarkably calm. It was a horrific bang and there were probably 200 people within 20 meters of it, but everybody just calmly left the building. It was quite chaotic getting away from work, but as a result of the incident, it did afford us the day off and an afternoon of beer and quesadillas de pollo! Bueno, perfecto! Click here to check out the damage!

First Avenue Machine

All right already! Enough of the humorous anecdotes and back to the slick computer graphics! Check this out! Some very stylish use of High Dynamic Range Imaging and Ambient Occlusion. The compositing is really well done too. Nice integration, etc. But what is perhaps the most impressive is just the creative diversity represented within one coherent idea. Wheew! That hurt!

It rained...

Normally, this would not be worthy of note, but today it is... It rained in Los Angeles for the first time since I arrived in March. No kidding. There has not been one single drop of rain the entire time. People went nuts out there today. Film dailies were cancelled in the morning due to the rain! No word of a lie! I didn't see anyone at all riding into work like me (well, not that I see a lot of people anyway in the SUV Culture Capital of the word, mind you) and I got to work people said things like "did you really ride to work in the rain?!" "Did you get wet?!" and "Are you hurt?!" It was hilarious. As I woke up to a by now unfamiliar sound of rainfall I was over-joyed! I couldn't believe my reaction as I gleefully hopped on my bike to "ride in the rain" to work. Totally childish but true! I was thinking, what a foreshadowing of my impending move north to Vancouver! There is so much "negative press" about the north down here is it silly. People say all kinds of stuff without having any idea! The funny thing is here are the real statistics:

Los Angeles Annual rainfall: 380mm (15 inches)
San Francisco Annual rainfall: 508mm (20 inches)
Seattle Annual rainfall: 914mm (36 inches)
Vancouver Annual rainfall: 1117mm (44 inches)

"Good Lord," I said to myself Vancouver is "only 3 times as rainy as Los Angeles!?" What the hell? Would you have thought that the rainfall in Los Angeles was "more than half of that in San Francisco?" I wouldn't have. Here I was believing in all the hype... Maybe now I won't feel so bad when the Pacific Ocean annually attempts to relocate onto dry land in Vancouver. Dark days of winter here I come! I suppose that the rainfall in Vancouver falls over quite a few more actual days of the year which makes it feel like more rain... When it is raining outside I guess that's all that counts in people's minds, not the actuall amounts.

What I have found amusing living in Los Angeles is that the sun worshippers here absolutely cringe at the idea of being caught out in any sort of weather aside from beaming sunshine. They simply can not function in anything otherwise. Truth be told I have really enjoyed the weather in Los Angeles, but I can't say that the weather in general is something that "gets me out of bed in the morning" you know? I guess that comes from growing up soaking wet all the time and it not bothering you. Either that, or my "bred for the North Atlantic" Irish blood. Whatever the case, I can't stand the "sun or nothing" attitude down here. I think I am one of those "I need to feel the change of seasons people." I have had so many memorable times due to being "out in the weather" and I wouldn't trade those memories for any number of sure fire sunny days.

Vangroovey All Right!

Jesus Murphy! Check this action out!!!

All for a "tortilla de papas!"

The other day "mi companiero del piso" (room-mate) Raul Sanchez Ortega had a bit of a Spanish-style spazz attack whilst realizing that he had not had any "real Spanish food" for almost a year. I believe he said something like: "Estoy hasta las narizes con esta puta mierda comida rapida en Los Estados Unidos joder!" which basically translates as "I have had it up to my eyeballs with this crap American food!" So, I said, hey man, calm down, no worries, this City of Angels is what? 12 million people? Somebody out there has got to be running a Spanish restaurant with "real Spanish food." So we took to the computer and searched for such a place and low and behold we found a place in Glendale called "Spain Restaurant." Not exactly an appetizing name, but I thought, what the hell. Let's find that sucker and head on over there for some tapas. So, that's what we did. Although in doing so I once again confirmed a realization I have had about my "L.A. experience." It is not representative of the city at all... I live and work in the posh and gentile confines of the west side nearly always within sight or sound of the Marina and the beaches. This is a mere sliver of an existence. There is a heck of a lot of "yuck" out there. Due to my inherent fear of the highway (and Veronica sharing that fear) we set out to find Glendale Avenue via city streets... Before long we were lost in the abyss-like grid of Hollywood traveling slowly eastward. As I sat in the back of Raul's open jeep I thought to myself "why am I so freakin' cold!? Is this not he sunshine state? And am I not Canadian?" To cut a long story short, the ride was horrendously long and the scenery foreboding. 30 miles of concrete and low lying buildings. When we finally arrived at our chosen destination we were starving, which I have to admit helped he flavours of the food! But, the food itself was great, even if the restaurant was slightly on the sketchy side. Sort of a half take-out, half eat-in place just stuck on the side of a nondescript five-laner. Typical of L.A. We happily ate tortilla de papas, gambas al ajillo, chorizo asado en vino tinto, ensalada de Rusa, etc. All the while fearing the return journey across town... Raul has voluntarily decided not to be so touchy about the food.

Sir Lancelot Rides Again?

Click here for the latest speculation! It seems he may be at it again... Well, only time will tell if he makes the "right decision" in this case. People are already throwing out the comparison to Michael Jordan who came back only to look very human after once appearing as a god. For my part, I think this case is different. Jordan spent far too long away from his sport and came back for the money. Lance is riding on the heels of criticism and innuendo about his fabled past. He has not been out of it long (mere weeks really), and has plenty of "fresh fuel" for the fire courtesy of the unforgiving and often flagrant French press... So, entirely different circumstances. But, it still remains to be seen if one man can suffer for a living for that much longer. Even if the drug rumours are substantiated (I am in the "no way!" camp on that one) perhaps he's one of those athletes who needs to know definitively that it is over... Perhaps he feels he must be beaten to truly pass the torch. That certainly would fit his profile. Ah well, cycling in the headlines, what's wrong with that!?

For some inexplicable reason...

You ever have one of those mornings where in your semi-awake, not quite sufficiently caffeinated, cerebral haze a thought just sort of floats through... And it is gone!? Well, this morning, I snagged it on the way past! The thought was "I wonder what Bryce Duffy is doing these days?" Bryce is a dude I sort of knew during the 1980's in Victoria, B.C. Now, if Bryce and I had been closer friends back in the days of high school this thought might somehow seem pretty normal. But, the fact is that we weren't close, but only friends in the context of having friends who were friends. That kind of thing. And the vast majority of my memories of the dude revolve around his infatuation with one of the high school girls... In other words, not a lot to base a friendship on! So, here I am thinking this thought, when the omniscient internet makes itself known and I say to myself "hey, why don't I Google that $%&*er!" And low and behold Bryce's new website! Amazing... Pretty nice work too! Apparently, Bryce has become an accomplished photographer. Good on yah, dude. So, from me to you, for some inexplicable reason... The work of Bryce Duffy, old high school acquaintance.

Holy Spam Batman!

I lost my "blogger spam virginity" this week! A hilarious telephone message from my sister (thank god for family watching out for your best interests!) tipped me off to the fact there were some shall we say "disturbing" messages posted in the comments section of the previous posting. I apologize to anyone offended, but I am sure that most people would have recognized the expletive-infused gibberish as a classic spam attack. Anytime you see the phrases "get Muslim religion" and "free black p***y" used in the same sentence you know that something is up! I have changed some of my website settings to hopefully avoid this in the future.

"I walked with the Zombies..."

Okay, this is totally cool. I can't believe I missed it! I think this kind of informal public gathering is what creates the heart and soul of a place. "Vancouver, where dressing yourself as a creepy character from a B Horror film is a way of life." Amazing! And so long as nobody wrecks anything, damages property, or otherwise acts like an ass it should be totally supported in the community! An annual zombie walk, man! Everyone is so scared of breaking the law down here in Los Angeles this kind of thing would never happen. Sad. Groove on Vangroovey!!!

Moving Makes You Question Moving

The amazing thing to me about moving is that every aspect of it makes you question why on earth you ever undertook the ridiculous venture in the first place... Why am I moving again? Why can't I just leave everything where it is? It is not bothering anyone! It makes you say to yourself "I am not so sure that humans are inherently nomadic afterall!" Even in the comfortable circumstances that I found myself in today, where I had a representative from a company whose sole job it is to take your 'stuff' from one location to another directing the entire process, I found myself wanting at every moment to just light everything on fire so that I could say "whoops! I guess there's nothing to move then! eh?" Stuff. Even though the moving guy told me that we have "less than average" for a married couple I can't think that we have anything but too much of it! It is indeed a hilarious contradiction that when you are staring at all your stuff, displaced from it "place in the world," and struggling to come to grips with the enormity of your materialism, that you somehow come to legitmize every last thing you have. "Hey man, I need that stuff!" "People should never be defined by their stuff" I say to myself. But then again, have we not always? Do cave paintings qualify as stuff? Do Haida totems classify as the Haida's "stuff?" Seems weird to say that my new television and DVD recorder are on the same fundamental level as a totem pole. But, hey, maybe they are? The problem is that stuff keeps people in place. People should have the freedom to move, the freedom to roam without limitations, and national borders, etc. And maybe they would... if it weren't for all their stuff.

The Ghetto-copter Flies At Night!

Last night I woke up abruptly to the "chop! chop! chop!" sound of a Los Angeles Police Department Helicopter flying low over Venice Beach. I suppose it was my fault for having the window on the south side of my apartment open, but nonetheless, the sound was really loud and it woke me up. I went to the window and since my apartment is sort of higher up on a knoll in Ocean Park I could look down on Venice Beach. Sure enough there was the much heard about but seldom seen"mysterious ghetto-copter." It arrived to the scene of an ongoing crime like a ficticious beast descending on its prey. Cherry top lights flashing in the night gloom with a big bright beam cutting downward to earth through the amber haze searching the ground below. It went around and around and around. Occasionally some kind of announement would spew forth like "Do not attempt to run! The dogs are trained to bite!" Circling and circling it carried on for sometime and it was a while before I dozed off to sleep once more. When I woke up in the morning, I was still wondering if the surrealism of the images from the middle of the night were at all real... A strange, but apparently "essentially L.A." experience. I believe I'll be just fine with leaving Los Angeles without seeing the fabled "ghetto-copter" again, thank you very much! Spooky man!

How to Disarm a Cheeseball

So I went to the flat of my fantastic Quebecois friends Nathalie and Mathieu on Friday night. They were having a bit of a "wine and cheese" type of get together on their monstrous deck overlooking the harbour in Marina Del Rey. Of all the entertaining incidents that occurred as the evening passed none was more entertaining that the slaying of an unknown, delinquent and disowned cheeseball by our hero Marc Rubone. The esteemed Marc Rubone, compositing wizard at Rhythm and Hues Studios, following the consumption of what I believe to be one too many "vodka and redbulls" (yes, I said it was a wine and cheese party) made the startling realization that said cheap Cheddar cheeseball (brought to the party by an as yet to be made known guest) still lingering on the cheese plate was "giving him attitude." It is indeed a little difficult to understand what, if any, attitude a cheeseball could project, however, I believe it may have "looked at him funny." In the ensuing face-off Marc attempted to ascertain the cheeseball's point of origin by direct interrogation ("Duuuude, like, where are you from?") however, when this failed to yield appropriate results, he was forced to "take him out" medieval-like and pulverized the cheeseball with a shot glass and the used rind of a lime. As best as I can describe it, the scene was like a "never before seen" footage out-take from the film "Animal House." A la "Blutowsky kills the cheeseball." Fortunately for all those present, the cheeseball did not put up a fight. Things ended rather unceremoniously as Mr. Rubone proceeded to pontificate about "cheddar cheese as a metaphor for production values on the Chronicles of Narnia." But I digress... Thanks to Nathalie and Mathieu for letting Blutowsky in the door!

Pictures From Burning Man

Click here to see some amazing photography from the site of the Burning Man Festival, or gathering, or whatever these modern day hippies call it... Some crazy stuff happening out there in the desert it seems! I am fascinated by the creative outpouring of energy some people put into this event. You'd have to be so committed to build some of these objects and installations. And how much sense does it make to just go out there and burn them afterwards! Don't really know much about the festival aside from the fact that it began when I guy built an effigy of his ex-girlfriend on the beach in California somewhere and then burned it. Uh, yeah. I think it just grew from there into this strangely modern pagan burning ritual, a cleansing type of thing, as flakey as that may be. Who knows when it moved to the desert. Check out the "shark bus." Weird.