Katie came to New Zealand.
She was going to stay 2 weeks, but ended up staying almost 6. My reaction when she told me she purposely missed her plane.
Well, from the moment she got off the plane, we started to adventure, cuz, ya know, that's what you do in New Zealand. First, we stopped off at the King Kong Boat and found someone on board. After a few shouts, they lowered the bridge and let us aboard.
The present Captain Kara
Katie at the helm.
After i found out that the hull is full of water 2m deep.
1 weekend we decided to drive North to Rotorua. Unfortunately, all Petrol stations close at about 6pm. We ran out about 4 hours into the trip. Luckily, we found Burt the retired farmer/race car driver in a Pub off the road and we bought a can off him. Of course, after about a 1.5 hour tour of his farm and cars.
We ended up being too tired to keep driving, so slept on the shores of Lake Taupo in the back of Shadowfax. Then we went straight to Hidden Sulphur Valley. We had to take a ferry to get to the geysers, bubbling mud and colorful mineral deposits.
Sometimes you have to let kids learn lessons for themselves. But after you touch the boiling mud pit once, you'll have learned to never touch again.
Then some sites around Rotorua City. Katie stares:
I jump
The whole town is built over these stink pits and i truly believe that these people's sense of smell has been completely numbed.
The to Hell's Gate where we took a mud bath, which was surprisingly awesome:
Nearby Mt Tarawera erupted in 1886 and obliterated quite possibly the world's coolest hot springs and also buried a nearby village. You can tour the village and the uncovered huts. The 96yr old patriach of the tribe predicted the disaster a few days before the eruption based on a sighting of an outdated Maori War Canoe on the nearby lake. Me in that canoe.
The survivors left the priest in his hut for 3 days because they believed he caused the disaster.
To break up the long dirve back, we thought we'd do a little rafting.
Katie pumping up the raft gettting ready to launch just upstream from this.
Katie a little surprised that that's what i wanted to go off and now glad that the rangers stopped us.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
KTnNZ - N.Island
Friday, April 24, 2009
An Essay on the Tick's Mustache
Sometimes we like to have the YSA over and also sometimes we try to expound their minds to accepting the more intelectual things in life. That's why 1 Sunday afternoon a week ago we showed them an episode of the Tick; more specifically the Mustache episode. 
"Upper lip, slick and hip. oh Yeah!"
A few of the gathered 10 YSA were being skeptical about watching a cartoon; which is understandable since we lured them to our flat under the pretense that we were going to watch Educational TV, which, according to the FOODEST, includes only MacGyver, A-Team, Magnum PI and Sledge Hammer. But, after what i thought was 22mins of pure bliss, I noticed some faces weren't wearing as big of smiles as mine, so i asked one of the more frowning faces, Jessie B, what she thought of the episode.
She wasn't sure. She needed more time to "properly process her thoughts." I asked her to write a 500 word essay on her thought and feelings of The Tick, Justice, Mustaches and the moral of the episode.
she did! and here it is Tick fans, for you. Oh, please enjoy the annotated bibliography at the end of her essay...and yes, she cited the Ticklopedia.
_________________________________________________________________
Morales, Muscles and Mustaches
Review of “The Tick” That Mustache Feeling
If you ever wanted to know the dangers of being big, blue and spontaneously endowed with facial hair charisma, this is the superhero episode for you. From “The Tick” cartoon series directed by Hank Tucker (Max Steel, Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears), Episode 27, That Mustache Feeling, highlights a number of morals on the over-rated nature and hardship of maintaining a mustache – that “chick-magnet” charm (Legg, 2002). As the protagonist quickly finds out, things easily gained are just as easily lost, and it is more important to be true to one’s heart than to seek mad revenge.
Following along similar lines as some of Tucker’s previous storyboard projects (Valiant (2005), Stuart Little 2 (2002)), That Mustache Feeling began season three with an emphasis on the age-old truth: appearance is not everything. Although it is tempting to boast of such characteristics as the “new sensation springing up from [the] upper lip”, vanity in appearance brings its own rewards – and not always what you might expect. As The Tick realises, not long after awaking to find himself in possession of a fully-formed Hispanic mustache, although it at first might seem to give him a rugged, self-assured, adult-look there is more to the game than meets the eye. After strutting his newly acquired facial hair – to its own theme song – the ‘chick’ charm back-fires until his brain is touched and The Tick is led to confess “I never knew what guys with mustaches went through.” The experience suggests one should appreciate the gaiety of good grooming without boasting, and regardless of whether it includes a hard-earned mustache or not.
Another lesson learned the hard way is that of ‘Easy come, easy go.’ Having acquired his proudly professed mustache overnight, it is not surprising that the Tick lost it just as quickly. You gain nothing from nothing, or as The Tick puts it: “You know Arthur, I may have lost my mustache, but I’ve gained a - hehe I haven’t gained a thing.” That is, where the effort is not put in to obtain a prize, the prize can not be obtained (or maintained in this case).
A last point scripted in by writers Ben Edlund and Christopher McCulloch, and highlighted as an undertone throughout the episode, is that of being true to your heart. Without breaking into song and dance as in post-projects involving Tucker’s animation assistance (Enchanted (2007)), Episode 27 highlights the happy ending that comes to those who follow true love with diligence. Dot and Dinosaur Neil allude to the first presence of this notion with their suddenly sprung engagement party. The party works out fine with the help of Arthur and excluding the intrusion of Project Shave in the middle (but seeing as how Dinosaur Neil is a super-villain anyway, some interruption can be expected). A second love-interest exists with Jim Rage and his feelings for associate Project Shave member, Crystal “liberal arts, remarkable at demolitions, and red hot with a blow dryer.” However, in his obsessive desire to destroy the mustache, his story ends despairingly. The ultimate example though, is, of course, the American Mustache. Despite being hunted for 20 years, it never gives up, and is rewarded in the end by finally being united with the Russian Beard – and what a handsome pair they make.
In all, That Mustache Feeling stands to exemplify the last comment made by Arthur: “That’s ok … I like you better without it.” That is to say, true friends appreciate you for you, and Mustaches don’t make you “cool”, it is your choices make you cool! It officially makes it up into the ranks of spoof-hero history. Just behind The Incredibles but ahead of Bananaman (1983 TV Series), I give it three stars for optimism (and bees)!
Bibliography:
IMDb.com, Inc (1990) Hank Tucker – Filmography, http://www.imdb.com/name/
IMDb.com, Inc (1990) “The Tick” http://www.imdb.com/title/
Legg, M. (2002) Cartoons, http://www.thetick.ws/
Legg, M. (2002) That Mustache Feeling, http://www.thetick.ws/car27.
Ticklopedia (n.d.) The Tick Encyclopedia http://home.jps.net/~lsnyder/
Monday, April 13, 2009
This Week in Animation - Butts that Bond
CG artists in this industry of film submit demo reels instead of a resume when they apply for a new job. A demo reel consists of shots or sequences from previous films that that particular artist worked on. I always thought that it was so boring that the production people such as myself had to pass on a dopey ol' resume when artists get to make sweet DVDs with clips of movies on them.
When the position opened up here and Tom asked me to submit my resume, he did the favor of passing along extreme depends as a link to his recommendation...
....yadda yadda blah blah blah ... 2 months later
...i'm here in New Zealand and talking to Dave the Anim Supervisor on our way to dailies. He mentions Extreme Depends and how funny that was that i wore a nappy and ran around campus. He thinks that americans are usually full of themselves, so they loved it that i could make fun of myself. He then proceeded to tell me about a video he made in college wherein he showed a slow motion blue dart to end his film. The whole class roared and the professor gagged. We bonded over farts and butts the whole way over to Manuka st.
The next day i thanked Gerald the frenchman for "kicking butt" and then had to explain to him what kicking butt meant. It's actually sorta tough to explain in simple english that when you kick butt, its a positive thing.
Just makes me happy that a little thing like a butt can make such big strides toward bonding 2 people of different backgrounds together.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Yeh Boi - Sweet as 1st Month
"Yeh boi" is an affirming statement, much like an American "word" or "holla." That is about the extent to which i have the accent down here. but i am assimilating rather well in other areas.
It got really cold here 1 night last. I wasn't really expecting it and was probably too accustomed to sleeping with only a light blanket in the LA weather. I woke up 3 times during the night to put on socks, then again for a sweater and one last desperate hope for warmth I got my bath towel to provide and brought it into bed. (this is a dramatization below).
the next day i went out at lunch and bought a thick Duvet at "Bed Bath and Beyond Bro" so i survive the cold nights of the wellington wind.
I bought a subaru (soo-bar-roo) legacy for not very much money. New cars are pricier here than in the US, but used cars are cheap as. Named him Shadowfax. Yup, after the great steed of the wise wizard. The boat they used for King King is about 20m to the left.
Magnum ice cream bars are wonderful. I used to treat myself to them on my mission whenever we had a baptism. I only had one bar those 2 years, but this week was $5 week at Pak n' Save (thats like $2.50 week in the US at Ralph's) and Barnacle and i bought enough to fill up our entire freezer.
I love trees. This tree is in the botanical gardens in wellington. they call it the trippy tree because you can smoke the wacky weed in there and just trip out and relax. This is YSA alyssa or Grumpy Old Man, which she is called depends mostly on her mood:
And of course i had to climb the tallest tree Telperion in the gardens. If you click on the picture and zoom in, you might be able to see me in the top branches. Otherwise, jasmine is midway up in the turqiose top(shirt) -
Parks here are sweet and kinda crazy. These toys would totally not fly in the US. steep and fast ziplines comparable to the Raynor's and octupus tee-ter-tot-ters that launch you 7ft in the air?! Heaven for me, death for kids.
Oh yeah, barnacle and I went to weta cave to pay homage to the greatest villian of all time - Gollum. Oh, i did find a drainpipe underneath a park pathway that generates quite a boom. My friends tell me the people's reactions are awesome as they walk overhead and hear Gollum calling for his precious.
I am YSA rep adn we had our first activity : Road Rules. My favorite part was watching couples paddle out on a inflatable raft to get their next clue also using the sausages as nunchucks at the BBQ afterward. Pictured below is Adam C, ninja master and YSA super-rep.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
kiaora! the first 100 hours.
Kiaora bro.
After 23hours and 01 second of traveling, crossing the 180th meridian and completely skipping March 03, 2009, I arrived in Wellington, New Zealand, my new home.
I was missing 1 bag, but it was brought to room 501 of the Duxton not 3 hours later.
Marilyn from weta was there to greet with me with a weta digital sign and helped me to my Hyundai Tucson rental car. I got a luxury car b/c the snowboards and mtn bike wouldn't fit in any other car Budget will let you hire.
Marilyn the sweet lady housing coordinator took me to the office so i could see it before she took me and some other new guys to lunch. I went fully authentic with fish and chips and a soda called L&P, whose tagline is "World Famous in New Zealand." Curious, i weighed myself; came in at 82kilo.
I told her that I was living with the Cheat and she promptly drove me there so I could see what it was like. Great place. Very new and so European/fresh. I move in next week.
This is a :44 sec tour of my house. hang on : (oh, and please notice the stoic Cheat in the living room chair, just posing....stoicly)
So, yeah, its sweet. Probably the nicest place i have lived. and the rent is comparable to LA prices.
So, after lunch i was released to go sleep at the hotel, but i was way too stoked to do that, so i went a driving, on the left hand side mind you, up a steep road to the top of a hill.
Then i decided to go for a lil' jog to get blood flowin' in my legs again. I jogged to the sea.
Then i jogged to the mountain top, which curiously enough had a war memorial for all the kiwis and turks that lost their lives on D-day. NZ had the most per capita soldiers there.
I kept r-u-n-n-i-n-g...this time up this 1/2 meter wide trekking path to the top of the next hill. There i discovered a bunker that looks out over the airport and Miramar. I love that houses dot the green hills.
Climbing around a bit on that allowed me to get lay of the land. The arrow is my office, the x Tom, Cheat, Mander and Barnacle's office and the * is home. That is evan's bay, where i saw some dolphin's playing a few days after this hike. 
I am replacing Mikey W. as animation coordinator on James Cameron's Avatar. Mike was kind enough to drive me around and give me a tour of all of Weta - we went to weta cave, the stage where gollum was born and then even by PJ's house.
And mikey did it all for the low price of 1 milk shake. which has this weird thickener in it and the flavoring is a squirt of some sort of flavor. more like freezer burned vanilla ice cream with icee flavoring squirted in. gllullg and eeeeww.
Saturday was swimming in a lap pool and watching the maori boys cannonball off the pier. That night Cheat and i hosted their Oscar Movie Night. Zantar's episode 51 placed won high marks along with Cheat's whit.
Sunday consisted of church and wrestling with the Cherians. The 5 boys look sweet in this picture, but they were a handful. And after they pummeled me, Bishop Cherian gave me a calling of YSA coordinator. 
Anyway, this movie I am working on looks sweet in 3D (and 2D) and this country is sweet as.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Ramble On!
We've hijacked Jarom's blog to post our final goodbye as he makes the trek to Middle-earth.
Isn't it PRECIOUSSSSSS?!
Be sure to leave leave your own goodbye on the comment page!!!
WE LOVE YOU JAROM!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Unemployment keeps gettin' Better
Barely a whole day after i got back from snowboarding in Utah, the lovely Katie and the 7+ Sids surprise me with a late birthday gift - Hanggliding! Gorsh, I love adrenaline - stoic pose.
We had to cancel twice before b/c of wind direction, but when we called this day, Fred the Flight Instructor peered through his binoculars to the top of the 3500 ft mountain and told us to come on out. Katie and I grabbed Atom and were in Sylmar a short 35min later. We hopped in the full size '88 Chevy van that had 330,000 miles with 3 paragliders filling the back seat. 80 yr old retired glider 'Rome handled the curvy dirt roads with ease all the while sharing opinions of birth control water fountains, government regulation of who bares children and burying mexican family members in the nearby hills.
The top of the peak was cold; Katie put on every piece of clothing she had just to stay alive...and to avoid any paparazzi.
She flew first and without any hesitation ran herself off a cliff (really, I think I was more nervous than she was).
Adam and I then went down the mountain to fetch katie and reload 2 gliders onto the van rack. Unfortunately, Atom had to go see if he would get the opportunity to create a bone structure for a T-rex, but luckily the Q had just arrived in LA 3.6 minutes before Team Glide closed the van doors and headed up for round two. It was my time to fly!
I got teamed up with Andy and the Q with Fred (teh old timer who flew with Katie). Gliders are 2nd only to a fighter jet, they can hold up to 4Gs and -2Gs, which is slightly less than Naomi Watts experienced in King Kong's battle versus the T Rex. Q and I were stoked in anticipation of what was surely to be one of the greatest flights for the Crusaders.
Instructor Andy allowed me to help set up the glider poles, kite and run the safety check with him. The Q and Fred were ready first and off the cliff they went. And immediately soared upward and banked.
I could not wait any longer. To be like a bird, to be free of the earth and to taste the freedom of the skies for but a moment. To move in 3D space!
You can see in the video where he lets me take control of the glider. I steered up until we had to prepare to land. We caught a thermal, soared back over the top of the take-off point and then cruised back along the ridge of the mountain about a dozen times. I piloted turns, dives and even a stall that made my stomach a bit queasy. 
Its all rather simple to get the hang of it, the real trick is just moving your entire body to one side of the glider (meaning you get a slight core workout). It was a great 15 minute flight, though it could have been longer, but it started to rain on us and we lost all upward thermals. When you start to descend at 1200ft per minute (which is difficult to tell while in the glider, except for the constant beeping of the fancy shmancy computer. Normal descent is about 200ft per minute on a good day). I was a bit sad, but to be honest, it was a great flight and the rain was coming down so hard I couldn't see anymore. Andy got pretty nervous being in the clouds and the color of them, so he pulled the bar close to his chest and we soared toward the landing strip. 
A most exhilirating ride. Thanks Rock and thanks Sids for the chance to soar to the heights of Icarus.
