Recently in Totally Unrelated Category
As it's a new year, I thought I'm mention a bunch of cool new things that I'm doing. I'm currently working on another commercial, this time for the Super Bowl, but it's not with the commercial team this time, it's a trailer for an upcoming movie! I can't mention anything more than that, of course, but be sure and watch the Super Bowl for the commercials. Why else? I don't even know when the game is supposed to be played, but I think it is in a couple of weeks.
My skeleton cube is still going strong, this is the year I finish it! Be sure and follow the Tumblr if you have and account. The website is skeletoncube.com, which is just a fancy redirect to skeletoncube.tumblr.com. I've already decided on my next project, but some people want to see a different one, particularly something like this! I'm deciding on a puzzle box that will encompass the skeleton cube, which is also skeletal. I'm hoping to take the design of a Japanese puzzle box mixed with a Hellraiser box, and create something unique, which will fit the cube. So you need to solve the puzzle box to open it to solve the cube. Am I insane? Time will tell on that front, as I still have a miniature steam engine to complete.
Well, here we are.. Or here I am. Or here you are, reading this wonderful prose. I've just finished up a BUNCH of projects here at Digital Domain. Some of them I had mentioned in a previous post, but just to reiterate, I finished leading a compositing team on the Dreamworks picture, Real Steel, due out in theatres in October. Sure, it's a long time away, but the work looks fantastic. I'm eagerly awaiting another trailer!
On the show front, I've done several tests and spec work for a bunch of shows that we're hoping to get. I can't name any of them unfortunately, but they're going to be big! Like most studios, we continually bid on work that is roughly a year to two years away, sometimes more, but that all depends on whether the bigger studios want to fund those projects. I've also just completed a commercial here, my first one at Digital Domain. I did two Chevy commercials up at Tippett. This one here was a little, different, shall we say. It was fun, nonetheless!
On the business front, we're continuing to improve VFXWages under the hood, and improve some back-end work. We've transitioned to new servers, which will make our service to you much better. If you've been following my Twitter, I am also experimenting with Android apps, and deciding on how to package the information from the website and give it to you in the palm of your hand. We are adjusting the way we have users enter wages, as well as display and access our graphs. There's still a market out there, and we're hoping to get there very soon.
Last night I received the last piece of the puzzle, a 9x5" mill. Will this final piece, I can effectively create another machine shop! Here's a picture of the setup. While a little dark, I think you'll get the idea. It consists of a Sherline 3x8" lathe and Sherline 9x5" mill. Also in the white boxes with red stickers are other tooling bits.
Some of you may remember this post, where I discussed some of the choices I was facing. That was two years ago. I really quite liked the Moto Guzzi, and after test riding one several weeks ago, I placed my order! I picked up this 09 Moto Guzzi Griso 8V last Wednesday for a wicked steal, and have been riding it every day since! It's a wonderfully aggressive beast, with an amazing amount of character. The power on startup is so strong that it torques the entire 500lb bike to the right with a twist of the throttle. It has a beautiful cacophony, distributed among the gearshift, exhaust, and engine. It's not so fast that it will get me in to trouble, but at the same time, has a decent increase in power over my last bike, 1151cc over the 487cc of my Suzuki. For those that are interested in magazine racing, the Griso will do 0-60 in 3.8. Personally, I haven't tested this fact, I've just been getting used to the size of the engine and the handling! While it is loads bigger than my Suzuki, it is easier to handle! That probably stems from the years in which each of the bikes was made, this Griso in 2009, the Suzuki in 1999. I haven't taken too many pictures of my bike just yet, but there is a plethora on the internet. Here's just one.
Well readers, a bunch of things have happened in the last couple weeks, and I just haven't had the time to sit down and write about them! A couple of weeks ago you may have read that I was preparing for a Mt. Whitney hike, and two weekends ago, we did it!
The photo to the left here is the sunrise from about 10,000 feet. It's around 6:00am in the morning. After two downpours (you can see the storm clouds in the foreground), I took this picture as we looked back into the valley. We started the trek at 2:30am, when we woke up and prepared to hit the trail. After a quick breakfast and backpack prep, we started on the Mt. Whitney trail at 3:20am. We hiked for the first 2.5 hours in the dark, just following our headlamps as they bounced around the terrain. At around 5:30am we could faintly see our surroundings, and at 6:00 we could turn off our headlamps and see the trail ahead. Our route started at 8,200 feet, and we had done the first three miles of the hike by 6 am. Good time. The route itself has a quota of 100 people per day that are allowed to day hike the mountain. So here we are, at ten thousand feet, taking a picture of the rising sun breaking through the clouds, and it's drizzling. Luckily, it only gets better as we go further up the mountain. As the clouds clear out, it becomes a very nice day!
