Flickr.... finally.

I caved and joined yet another online social media...thingie. Click on the logo to peruse my visualness.

And yet....I am continuing to resist Twitter!!

Winnipeg newspaper article

I was fortunate enough to be featured in one of Winnipeg's regular newspapers - The Metro - this week! It feels great to have the support of my homegrown community behind me! Here is a version of it online for those who feel compelled to read it:

http://www.canstarnews.com/page/story/1/4509

And now.....off to Hawaii!! [in a few hours...I cannot WAIT!]

An Interview with L.A. Kids Stuff

Imee Perius, from L.A. Kids Stuff, was kind enough to request an interview with me, as my film screened today in L.A. for the L.A. Intl Childrens Festival.

Click here to read the article.

Too bad I'm not down there to check out the fest, I'm sure it would have been a blast!

LA Shorts Fest + "Tah-Dah" crits

My brother Cody and I jaunted down to LA this past weekend to see my film "Tah-Dah" Premiere at the LA Shorts Fest. The films screened at the Laemmle Sunset 5 Theatres on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood. It was his very generous birthday and early Christmas present to me...it was amazing!

A couple quick videos to show our excited experience: [we are obviously related]
Seeing Courtney Cox
Seeing Scarlett Johansson

It was a great experience, besides getting to sit right beside A-list stars like Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher & Lena Headey, I got to screen and participate in a filmmaker Q & A after my film screened. It was a huge honor to be invited to screen my film among these true Hollywood productions! I met a lot of great people in the Industry, and got some really positive feedback on my film. It was overall definitely worth the trip!

Festival is in November at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood:

The second fest I got some great feedback from was the AniMazing Spotlight - my film was included in the Quarter 3 entries and got feedback from amazing professionals in the Animation Industry all over the world.

Here are some of the comments I received about "Tah-Dah":

Nancy Beiman: [worked with Chuck Jones & a Disney Animation veteran]
"Good sound, interesting design. The animation is good, The style is highly derivative of 1950s Disney design and story but the film is professional looking and pretty to watch."

Bill Dennis:

"Delightful little film. Loved the sound track."

Paul Dopff: [animator & instructor from France]

"Just perfect, with a very good tribute to the UPA style.

very professional creation, visual and sound level together."

Bill Matthews: [Disney Feature Animation veteran]

"A short (very short) animated film using the flat, designy approach reminiscent of the 1950's style of commercial animation. Rather refreshing departure from all the 3-D computer shorts in this competition; used a jazz-type background for a character playing a cello concerto!! Nice expressions but just as I was "getting into" the idea, it ended. (Usually, I found that editing on some shorts would have tightened up their stories...here, I couldn't get quite enough!)"

Thanks so much everyone!!

Kaj sketches

Still workin on film stuff before I post...but I came across these rough Kaj Pindal sketches I did of him a couple months ago when he was kind enough to critique my film leica.

He gave me some great tips and comments, and regardless, it's always a bundle of enjoyment to be in that man's company and share in his vast animation experience and wisdom!

Cheers to Kaj!

"Tah-dah" 4th year film leica reel [v.3]

As our local animation legend Kaj Pindal put it yesterday in his lecture about leica reels: "They are a living organism, you should be always updating your leica, and always ready to show it!"

Kaj is one of those people that you never question, you just smile and nod! I always LOVE seeing him speak, he still has so much animation joy after so many years in the industry, it's very refreshing!

So, in the spirit of Kaj, I am posting my current leica reel for my 4th year film, as it stands today! It will continue to change, morph, grow....and hopefully will be something I can be very proud of come end of April 2009! Comments, crits, etc are always welcomed!



A special thanks to my rad composer out in LA, Corey Wallace, who scrambled to get me a scratch score in time for our big screening! Thanks again Corey!!