haven't been around in a while! i think i shall upload some photos... 
so first things, first...every thursday i have the great honor of enjoying lunch with some serious vets of the visual effects industry. i'm talkin' old-timers who literally pioneered stop-motion animation, practical effects, and even 3d visual effects. their entire lives and the passion for their craft have pretty much made me who i am today, but also created a massive multi-million (billion?) dollar industry that i can call my career. the leader of this motley gang of veterans is dan platt...a sculpter and practical effects genius. he's done work on "Army of Darkness", "Terminator 2" and a whole shit-ton of other fun sci-fi and horror films. he's worked with some of the best in the industry and is...by my account, also one of the best. anyway, these guys are a serious inspiration and for a couple of weeks tom st. amand (check his filmography on imdb) brought in a few very amazing pieces to share with the crew...
...it's the armature of the big robot in Robocop 2. he created that thing, machined it's pieces, assembled it and animated it! he said they built a total of about 9 different armatures for various types of shots and this was one that he animated for a majority of the medium/long shots in the film. boner. next, he brought this...
it's the armature for james in the film "James and the Giant Peach"! yes, he animated on that film too...but that was nothing compared to this...
...the armature for the mad scientist in "Nightmare Before Christmas"! boner. then i die.
tom is an amazing, amazing stop-motion (and 3d digital) animator. a god among mortals, and though i've never had the pleasure of working directly with him i did get to work harry walton who is a good friend of his. these two guys are my idols. oh, and tom? he was part of the crew that animated the AT-AT walkers in "Empire Strikes Back"...mega-boner. oh, but that is not all...tom happens to be very good friends with Dennis Muren and he brought him along to lunch...
that's pretty much the whole crew right there (gisele - my wife, and member of the crew - actually introduced me to these guys when she worked at Digital Domain; but since she's changed jobs she doesn't get a chance to meet for lunch with us as often), with Denis being the tall snow-capped gent toward the left. really such an honor to meet someone who has influenced me since i was a child. really awesome.
knowing these dudes just blows my mind; and lunch is not only a time for show-and-tell of some of the amazing things they kept from various crazy-rad movies they worked on, it's also a time to completely nerd-out over the latest horror flicks or sci-fi movies; talk books; toss around ideas; and generally be total geeks.
anyway, outside that i actually am unemployed! yay! i'm now gisele's sweet lil house-husband who keeps things clean, does the wash, works in the yard and makes dinner (nude) for her while she's off wearing the pants in the family. the job - position as assitant producer at Walt Disney Imagineering (yes, she coordinates/manages the making of Disneyland rides) is pretty intense...but it's kind of amazing (and i'm a bit lime-green-jello). despite i'm so incredibly proud of her. for someone who, left highschool, grabbed a GED and did just a couple years of community college...gisele is a powerful force of nature - driven, intelligent, kind, with all kinds of brass balls. self-made woman. boner.
so yeah, besides taking care of my lovely wife i have just been doing the volunteer work with the Trevor Project. helping LGBTQ teens find alternatives to killing themselves is pretty intense; but i also feel really good doing it, even if their troubles and concerns are sometimes profoundly painful (if only they knew just how strong they were!). in any event, i'm pansexual (sometimes i fantasize about being genderqueer) and i know what it is like to be questioning, or not feel like you fit in anywhere, or be picked on, and yes, even what it's like to feel like killing yourself (something i believe most all people can - deep in their little hearts - relate to). if there's anything i've learned it's that we as humans LOVE our little boxes - black, white, man, woman, you, them, etc. - yet strangely enough we are oftentimes too fluid to fit neatly into those boxes. in my training we discussed the differences between gender (your biological sex), gender identity (cultural concepts of gender), gender expression (how the individual expresses their gender), and lastly sexual orientation (what you are attracted to). these all combine to inform everyone of their overall sexual identity and each is literally a scale from one end of the spectrum to another. so in my case i'm biologically male, i APPEAR fairly masculine in terms of general gender identity, and i tend to express my gender as male (though sometimes i like to put on makeup), but underneath that i'm attracted to all sorts of people and biological sex really has no bearing on that attraction. i've been attracted to (and dated) men, women, trans...to me it's the person. that all being the case you can get odd combinations like a biological woman who seems masculine and expresses as masculine but is still sexually attracted to men. or a biologically intersex person who appears femanine but expresses as a man and is attracted to men. it's a RAINBOW! i guess what i'm saying is that the range of human emotion and expression is nigh infinite; and if there's anything this volunteer work has taught me is to be patient and understanding of everyone; and above all there is a way to listen that allows the person speaking to feel safe. i'm learning to apply this not just in my volunteering...but even with my friends and family.
anyhoo, outside that life is good and i can't complain. i'll add a few more recent pics of me and gisele to our profile too i think
rock out with your genitals out
~b
so first things, first...every thursday i have the great honor of enjoying lunch with some serious vets of the visual effects industry. i'm talkin' old-timers who literally pioneered stop-motion animation, practical effects, and even 3d visual effects. their entire lives and the passion for their craft have pretty much made me who i am today, but also created a massive multi-million (billion?) dollar industry that i can call my career. the leader of this motley gang of veterans is dan platt...a sculpter and practical effects genius. he's done work on "Army of Darkness", "Terminator 2" and a whole shit-ton of other fun sci-fi and horror films. he's worked with some of the best in the industry and is...by my account, also one of the best. anyway, these guys are a serious inspiration and for a couple of weeks tom st. amand (check his filmography on imdb) brought in a few very amazing pieces to share with the crew...
...it's the armature of the big robot in Robocop 2. he created that thing, machined it's pieces, assembled it and animated it! he said they built a total of about 9 different armatures for various types of shots and this was one that he animated for a majority of the medium/long shots in the film. boner. next, he brought this...
it's the armature for james in the film "James and the Giant Peach"! yes, he animated on that film too...but that was nothing compared to this...
...the armature for the mad scientist in "Nightmare Before Christmas"! boner. then i die.
tom is an amazing, amazing stop-motion (and 3d digital) animator. a god among mortals, and though i've never had the pleasure of working directly with him i did get to work harry walton who is a good friend of his. these two guys are my idols. oh, and tom? he was part of the crew that animated the AT-AT walkers in "Empire Strikes Back"...mega-boner. oh, but that is not all...tom happens to be very good friends with Dennis Muren and he brought him along to lunch...
that's pretty much the whole crew right there (gisele - my wife, and member of the crew - actually introduced me to these guys when she worked at Digital Domain; but since she's changed jobs she doesn't get a chance to meet for lunch with us as often), with Denis being the tall snow-capped gent toward the left. really such an honor to meet someone who has influenced me since i was a child. really awesome.
knowing these dudes just blows my mind; and lunch is not only a time for show-and-tell of some of the amazing things they kept from various crazy-rad movies they worked on, it's also a time to completely nerd-out over the latest horror flicks or sci-fi movies; talk books; toss around ideas; and generally be total geeks.
anyway, outside that i actually am unemployed! yay! i'm now gisele's sweet lil house-husband who keeps things clean, does the wash, works in the yard and makes dinner (nude) for her while she's off wearing the pants in the family. the job - position as assitant producer at Walt Disney Imagineering (yes, she coordinates/manages the making of Disneyland rides) is pretty intense...but it's kind of amazing (and i'm a bit lime-green-jello). despite i'm so incredibly proud of her. for someone who, left highschool, grabbed a GED and did just a couple years of community college...gisele is a powerful force of nature - driven, intelligent, kind, with all kinds of brass balls. self-made woman. boner.
so yeah, besides taking care of my lovely wife i have just been doing the volunteer work with the Trevor Project. helping LGBTQ teens find alternatives to killing themselves is pretty intense; but i also feel really good doing it, even if their troubles and concerns are sometimes profoundly painful (if only they knew just how strong they were!). in any event, i'm pansexual (sometimes i fantasize about being genderqueer) and i know what it is like to be questioning, or not feel like you fit in anywhere, or be picked on, and yes, even what it's like to feel like killing yourself (something i believe most all people can - deep in their little hearts - relate to). if there's anything i've learned it's that we as humans LOVE our little boxes - black, white, man, woman, you, them, etc. - yet strangely enough we are oftentimes too fluid to fit neatly into those boxes. in my training we discussed the differences between gender (your biological sex), gender identity (cultural concepts of gender), gender expression (how the individual expresses their gender), and lastly sexual orientation (what you are attracted to). these all combine to inform everyone of their overall sexual identity and each is literally a scale from one end of the spectrum to another. so in my case i'm biologically male, i APPEAR fairly masculine in terms of general gender identity, and i tend to express my gender as male (though sometimes i like to put on makeup), but underneath that i'm attracted to all sorts of people and biological sex really has no bearing on that attraction. i've been attracted to (and dated) men, women, trans...to me it's the person. that all being the case you can get odd combinations like a biological woman who seems masculine and expresses as masculine but is still sexually attracted to men. or a biologically intersex person who appears femanine but expresses as a man and is attracted to men. it's a RAINBOW! i guess what i'm saying is that the range of human emotion and expression is nigh infinite; and if there's anything this volunteer work has taught me is to be patient and understanding of everyone; and above all there is a way to listen that allows the person speaking to feel safe. i'm learning to apply this not just in my volunteering...but even with my friends and family.
anyhoo, outside that life is good and i can't complain. i'll add a few more recent pics of me and gisele to our profile too i think
rock out with your genitals out
~b
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
sheer:
haah why thank you!! wow this blog post is AWESOME! I love stop motion and animatronics. And must say, it is so cool that you work with teenage queer kids. I admire you. Being queer is never easy, and yes we're constantly questioned. Keep up the good work!! xx
jellyfishy:
hello! thanks for stoppin' by and sayin' hello! :D