chase the light

Fifa is arriving next month and it’s already madness in the city. They wrapped Science World up as a football. It’s done now and looks great. All sorts of construction and people are crawling all over the place. I so can’t be bothered with it all so I’m on the verge of a road trip to Southern California. Need to get out of town while this beast visits. Although Fifa is in L.A. too. No matter I’d rather be there.

Quick thoughts are stop to see my sister, stop in Portland, swing through San Francisco, hit up Casa De Fruta of course, Central Valley, zoom through L.A. at first and then visit the parents. Disneyland and time in L.A. to see friends. If anyone wants to see me, hit me up. If you don’t I’ll never know and that’s okay too. I like Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain. Going to hit all the familiar neighborhoods and eats. Even Ciclavia will be on so bringning my bike along for the road trip. Just hanging out for a bit this summer.

I bought a Pentax ESII recently and I ran a test roll through it to make sure it’s working properly and the above photo proves it is. Nice! Also explained on my Instalame. The camera shot the cover of London Calling and that makes it cool. Have you even bothered to look at my Instagram? How rude, because it’s chock full of Vancouver oddities. Like and subscribe ya goon.

Of course I took the photo, I’m also not in it. Of course. Not everyone is there for our weekly lunch but this is the largest lighting team assembled in a long time. In other news, this summer a new concert venue is opening just in time for FIFA. It’s also the new venue for all the summer time outdoor concerts. Freedom Mobile Arch. Ugh, sponsership names are so terrible. Irvine Meadows > Verizon Wireless Amiphitheater. Armed with a presale code I secured a front row seat to the Queen, Sarah. Amazing, after all these years I’ve never had a front row seat to any concert but oh yeah Sarah McLachlan up close. September 6th, can’t wait, niiiice.

Every Olympics they fire up Vancouver’s Olympic Cauldron at the start of the Opening Ceremony. It costs so much to burn they only run it for two hours. A full two weeks would cost $200K. Ain’t nobody laying down the Benjamin’s for that. So every two years we get to see the flames. It is nice. By the time I arrived after work the crowd had dispersed and even more so when it started to rain. Then promply at 6:00pm out it went. See you in a few years Cauldron. You are beautiful.

We’ve had the most insane and beautiful fog recently. Walking the streets with streetlights and cars headlights glowing through fog has been amazing. Late in the day I went to the rooftop terrace. I work in a verrrrry tall building. The views were gorgeous. Off in the distance I could see the new Oakridge Centre being built with all its cranes. Way off in the distance is Orcas Island with its highest peak in the San Juan Islands. Crazy how close they are.

Not a bad year really. Some crap things but mostly got to tie up some loose ends that had been hanging around for a bit. Didn’t get to travel at all as I had to wait for some paperwork to get sorted but that finally happened. You can’t leave the country while that’s going on. That was the most crap thing really. So that’s not too horrible. I’m looking forward to some long and short distance travel this coming year. L.A.? S.F.? Vegas? Hawaii? Japan? Paris and Venice? That’s the short list but we’ll see how much of that gets checked off. Let’s forget that little bit for now.

One big thing that I didn’t accomplish was my “Walk to L.A.” I thought it would be fun to track my steps around town this year as I greatly increased my walking routine. Walk to work, walk to lunch, walk to just walk somewhere. So I set a goal to walk from home aka The Apple Store in Vancouver to my old home The Apple Store at The Grove in Mid-Wilshire of L.A. Turns out the weather and just being ill a few times greatly affected my goal. So instead of the 1250 miles/2000 kilometers I needed, I only got in 1000 miles/1609 kilometers. Hmmmm… That means I only made it to just south of San Jose in California. I like to think I at least got to Casa de Fruta. Which is still amazing to think about! I WALKED from Vancouver to like Gilroy this year. That is crazy. I only have to average about 4 miles/6.5 kilometers a day but once you get behind it’s hard to catch up so consistency is key. One week of illness can set you back 30 miles/48 kilometers. My biggest day of general walking was February 26th with 10 miles/16 kilometers. Which doesn’t seem like that much but it really is a pretty good distance if you look at it as a long string on a map. I plan to add some Lions Gate Bridge walks into the mix this year to boost the numbers. It’s about 2/3rds the length of the Golden Gate Bridge and within walking distance so it should be a decent round trip. I’ve just never done it.

I bought a fair share of cameras this year and shot most of them. I have a bit of a project in mind for all of them but who knooooows. It’s all about finding time. So much lack of time. I’ve got a few concerts coming up. One I’m oddly really excited about. In August, The Guess Who are playng at a brand new venue that is being built right now. It’s called the Freedom Mobile Arch. The Guess Who? Aren’t they some old fogey band that no one listens too? Yes, kinda. For many years now a fake band with something like the original drummer has been touring around under The Guess Who name because he somehow ended up with the performing rights. No Canadian venues would even book them so they just toured around the States year after year as one of those crap cover band billed as the original band. Anyway after many many years the two who really are The Guess Who won the rights back in a court battle! Randy Bachmann and Burton Cummings are now back in the saddle and hitting the road. I heard a recent interview with them and they were besides themselves in how excited they are about playing again. It’s surprising how many hits The Guess Who, Bachmann Turner Overdrive and Burton Cummings solo have had. So it’s going to be a good all killer no filler set! Looking forward to These Eyes, Stand Tall, Share the Land, American Woman, etc. Will be a bunch of olds grooving out but can’t wait.

Oooh ooh and in a very strange show coming to town I’ve got tickets for David Letterman and Zach Galifianakis. The code for getting presale tickets was “beards”. Yep.

I’m going to act cool and say yeah yeah I’ve been into The Beta Band since the early days! Just go with it. The Gig Hunters, the unofficial name of our WhatsApp group where we diabolically plan gig hunting, was going to see The Beta Band at The Commodore Ballroom. Either you went wow, or you went who? A rather revered band from the late 90s. So revered I’d never heard a single song from them. I’m in though because, ya now, why not? They reformed after 20 years for this tour. I enjoyed it and I didn’t enjoy it. Some parts were sort of Peter Gabriel brilliant but then they break into record scratching and almost rap and it was always taking not so great turns. Some would say awesome but some (me) would say confusing. It just didn’t work. Total vibes then poof. Anyway, I enjoyed it and I didn’t enjoy it. I’m really glad we had reserved seats for this one. Nice to hang back above the crowd.

Lovely Sunday along the river watching logs. Got a wave out of one of the tug boat operators. Well, that was relaxing.

Well that was it. The final time to see The WHO. The setlist was nothing surprising but it was chock full of hits. Let’s get the complaints out of the way, Daltrey just doesn’t have the chops anymore. He’s all over the place. Some songs he changes the melody so much it becomes a weird version of the song. There’s no fire. I Can’t Explain was lethargic at best. Terrible song to open with and they’ve been doing that for years. Pete’s windmills are actually slow. lol “Let me swing my arm around so the crowd goes wild” No fire on stage. That said, even if they’re going through the motions it’s still cool to see Pete and Roger performing. Love Reign o’er Me is still legendary. Won’t Get Fooled, Baba, fantastic. The WHO were my go to band in High School. That’s the time I really dug deep in their catalog and discovered all the gems of demos and lost recordings that Pete had laid down in his home studio. While I was working in London I could look out the window across Wardour St, and see the old Marquee nightclub. I’d think, wow it’s just right there before my eyes where The WHO got their real start. 90 Wardour St, Tuesday nights. Then I read Pete Townshend’s autobiography and learned so much about his life in Soho. He had an apartment on the top floor of 87 Wardour st. and kitted it out with a studio. I remember walking out the door and standing there looking up at the windows where Townshend had written and demoed songs in the late sixties and probably got started on Tommy. So cool.

My first time seeing The WHO was at The Forum in L.A. in the summer of 1980. It was the much delayed Who Are You tour and amazingly was less than two years after Keith Moon had died. This 1980 show was also just 6 months after 11 people died in the Cincinnati stampede. General Admission seating was banned for years after that. I’m surprised my parents even let me go.

I was only 14 at the time when my family friend John drove us up to L.A.. He was only 17 and had just gotten his driver’s licence. I can still picture the view from our seats. Way up in the banners of the Lakers players. I’d never been to L.A. like this on my own really and it was amazing. Pulling into the parking lot at “The Fabulous Forum” was incredible. Look at that place, it’s like a palace. We were living in our own road trip movie and the final scene was us seeing The WHO. The band The Only Ones opened and I didn’t like them. Lousy punk, and I’ve checked them out recently and still don’t like them. Ha. Then when The WHO came on it was the loudest thing I’ve ever heard. The beginning of my hearing loss journey. I’ve been able to see The WHO five times now and one missed time when my mom refused to let me go to the L.A. Coliseum show. That was in 82′ when The Clash opened and I even had paid for my own ticket. It still pisses me off because I never got another chance to see The Clash. 1982 Clash would have been epic.

Another funny thing was not long after The 1980 show a friend and I were skateboarding down one of our local streets and he had his guitar slung around him and I was sporting my WHO concert T-shirt. A woman in a dark green VW Bug sped by and pulled over and then starting taking photos of us. We were coming down the sidewalk and I was thinking, well this is weird. The next week we were in the newspaper and I was happy to have my WHO shirt in the photo. There’s a small gallery below to get the post show vibes.

So that’s just a little portion of my WHO life. There are many other stories like when I met Daltrey at a weird ABC concert show at The Palace and got his autograph. You, dear reader, wouldn’t read that far down so that’s that. Get some sleep, my ears are ringing, and for The WHO the Song is Over. What an Amazing Journey.

Edit this setlist | More The Who setlists

Well well well look at that! I’ve recently taken it upon myself to be the unofficial studio photographer but I shoot film! at all company events! I’m different, look at me, right? Ha!

This was the second year of the dog races. I took some last year in black-and-white, but it just looked too bleak and hot out. I thought a bit of colour this year would be good and everybody at work seems to like the XPan photos. Now they’re even showing up on the ILM LinkedIn account so that’s fun. Also we had monthlies at work today and they were even in the slideshow there, so ha! I shall continue on with this bit of fun. Checkout the small gallery below.

My dad was in town so I took him along and all had a good time. Hot dogs and burgers were catered so I ate my fill. Since it’s on casino and horse racing land it’s 19+ so no kiddies running around even though they’d very much like it. It’s only about 15 minutes of actual dog racing but it’s our summer bbq for the year.

Amazing night. I saw Neil once before at The Bridge School benefit in 1999. All acoustic then and not a full on Neil show. This. This was beautiful. Hearing the warble of his voice on the first song just brought an immediate feeling of calm. A set full of sweet acoustic melodies and raw slashing guitars that every grunge act owes a debt. I certainly spent a lot of time with Rust Never Sleeps spinning on my turnable in ’79.

First time to Deer Lake Park and it’s a natural amphitheater that slopes down to an old Irvine Meadows type stage. All surrounded by big beautiful trees. Colorado’s got Red Rocks, but we’ve got Green Trees.

Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) was just so brilliant (oh that guitar) and Old Man being sung by a now old Neil Young seemed even more beautiful. Both are on the video. Also, I’m always so impressed by the audio quality of my iPhone. Dang man, I wish I had this for concerts of yesteryear. He was so good though and he’s in good shape voice wise compared to a lot of his contemporaries. Attended the show with my show bro Craig. On the second song he leaned in and said, “This is waaaaay better than I thought it would be.” Indeed, indeed. The show finished at a reasonable 10pm.

Get a load of that setlist! Southern Man! Ohio! Mr. Soul! No Heart of Gold tonight but heard that in ’99. You can have your sports games, cinema, blah de blah but nothing better than a concert with a legend who can still bring it.

Edit this setlist | More Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts setlists

Yur lis’nin to See Jay Oh Arr AM 600.

Occasionally i have to make my way down to Richmond. Where? Yeah, exactly. It’s in the out in the middle of nowhere part of Richmond. There’s an old radio station transmitter out there for CJOR which was in operation from 1926 to 1988. It just sits now. It always reminds me of the film American Grafitti. One of my favorite scenes is when Richard Dreyfuss goes to a small radio station outside of town to get the “Wolfman”, Wolfman Jack, to dedicate a song to the mystery girl. Amazing scene. I love the random ice cream bit and of course twist at the end where Dreyfuss sees he’s been lied to.

Sometimes when I pop down to the States I hit an antique mall in Bellingham. After a visit with my sister I went to Penny Lane Antiques and had a mooch around. A few sellers had some cameras but I found an old Brownie Flash Six-20 with the actual flash unit. I played around with a bit and everything seemed to work. There were even batteries still in the chambers and they hadn’t leaked. Check out those old Eveready’s with the 9 lives cat on them! $20, why not?

I found out later I’d need a little adapter to be able to use the flash and tah dah thanks ebay! I have a box of vintage flashbulbs and I popped one in to test it. Snap crackle pop the flash fired in that glorious vintage way as smoke and the smell of something burning rose up. So cooool!

But, the most intriguing thing about the camera is it still had a roll of film in it! I checked to make sure it had been fully shot and I wound it forward and then nervously opened the camera! Success! The roll was rolled up tight and I sealed it off to get it ready for development. I toyed with the idea of developing it myself because rarely after all this time are there usable images. I’ve seen many a Reddit post about disappointing results after all these years, but I thought I’d take it to the lab and let them do it properly. I got the roll to The LAB and they were cool with attempting to develop some old film on 620 film and I went back the next day to pick it up. I didn’t receive a call from them saying nothing was on the roll so all seemed to go well. As I unrolled the negs on the light table the most amazing set of images lit up below me. All perfectly exposed and perfectly developed! Wow! Amazing. I couldn’t believe what I’m seeing. After closer inspection I could see all the clothing was probably early 60’s or late 50’s. The camera itself was made between 1946 and 1955 so I’m betting the roll was shot early 60’s and then forgotten about. Most people would have replaced a five to ten year old camera that is no longer made but they probably finished the roll and then forgot about it. For years and years and years and years. What’s trippy to think about is this camera has been sitting around somewhere with this roll of film in it for almost 60 years! Kennedy was assassinated and this roll of film might have already been shot. I was born and this roll of film already had images on it. The Beatles came and went. Men walked on the moon and this roll was sitting in this camera. The Vietnam War came and went and all of the 70s went by. Star Wars came out and so did Grease. Then the 80s decade came and still this roll of film sat in this camera in some house somewhere. I was sitting in Mr. Roger’s math class thinking how much I hated him and this camera was sitting somewhere with this very roll in it. Nirvana, 9/11, and here we are today with this undeveloped roll of film from yesteryear. Then very recently (it wasn’t there last time) someone decides to take it to the antique fair not realizing it’s actually a little time machine. Fortunately black and white film handles time very well compared to color film. Until I looked at the images on that light table no one had ever seen these images before. Not even the owners of the camera. So bizarre to think about and down below are the images the owners never even saw. A real life Don Draper right there.

I say this every year but it’s not what it used to be. Of course it’s not as the show floor has shrunk massively since the late 90’s but the conference itself with talks and demonstrations seems pretty robust. It still holds a place in my heart. The second photo above is where the registration was. You used to have to wait in massive lines or go the weekend before to pick up your badge. We were the only ones in there and got our badges in about 1 minute. My first taste of Siggraph was in Los Angeles ’95, but the 1996 New Orleans conference I think we can all agree might have been the best Siggraph ever. My gawd the parties, the attendance, and show floor were huge and I nabbed an interview with Disney Feature Animation and my career jump started there. Everyone else turned me down. Ha! I had to sit on my job offer for almost 7 months because the job didn’t start until 1997. So I plugged away at my other jobs while I waited to start. Crazy times. I took my son a few years ago to his first Siggraph and he got to play some of the games that students had made at their University and he seemed intrigued by it all. I got him a pass this year and we walked the show floor together at lunch and it was cool to see him light up about certain things and shrug at boring things. Oddly enough not a lot of A.I. wording around. I didn’t see a single mention of it on signs or from presenters although a lot of software is just integrating it.

Outdoor pool is open. Sun’s out, guns out and not a soul in sight. Just a bald eagle nesting high in the tree above.

Gaffigan is pretty damn popular in Canada and he brings a lot of Canada-centric humor that he tailors for the shows. I hesitated getting tickets and then he sold out 2 shows. Then he added a matinee and I hesitated and it sold out. Then he added a new day and it sold out. Then he added another matinee on that third day and I just barely got a ticket. How barely did I get a ticket. That’s my seat below. Last row, last seat in the row in the farthest corner of the theatre. LOL But, I’m in the building! I can relate to Gaffigan. The parent humor is spot on it’s painful but good to know someone can laugh about it. So weird to think bands tour and set up this big show and have tons of people around. A comedian just walks of stage and has a stool and a bottle water and charge the same price as a band. There’s no way they’re not making bank next to a band. And they usually only do an hour. AND he did two shows back to back! Making bank I tell ya! The woman next to sat with one of her children while the husband sat on the other side because they couldn’t get four seats together. You’re in demand Jim!

I’m coming up on five years at ILM but it’s been a bit of a harrowing 5 years really. 2019 had MPC pulling out of Vancouver, then the pandemic, then the utterly brutal hit by the strikes. So, the bit of good news is the opening of our new offices in a swanky new building called The Stack.. Yeah that’s great and all but you know what’s the best thing…? It’s literally a 6 minute walk door to door for me! Uh-maze-ing!

We had a big media day and some politicians came by and said some politiciany stuff. Mando and R5 showed up. The droid that blows up when the Jawas are trying to sell him to Luke. Poor R5. CBC must have sent the D team reporter to the event because she could even get the company name right. Come on at least send someone that would have been excited to be here. She even had that giant light up ILM sign right in front of her!! RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER! Ugh. Anyway try to watch the video below without getting second hand embarrassment for her. Are there even journalism schools anymore?

The rooftop terrace is amazing! Most of the ILM studios have a Yoda statue out front but since we’re in a hirise we have a little Grogu in the reception area. Awww. So that’s that.

Fuuuuuuuuck. Watching these fires from Vancouver made me realize how much I’m an outsider to my home town now. I’ve been watching the news live like anyone outside the L.A. area would. I’d been around for all the previous fires, earthquakes, landslides, natural disasters but this one made me really feel the distance and time. There’s nothing I can do but watch in horror from afar as friends are evacuated and this time some have lost their homes. I’ve never had friends lose their homes before. Seeing their Instagram posts, or whatever, slowly get more horrific until they had to flee and then a final shot of their return to a burned out home. Devastating. My coordinator had to leave work to get things from her Altadena home and find a place to stay but she was a lucky one.

Describing the small amount of things people could take with them was heartbreaking and all I can do is watch. It was the same when my parents evacuated the Fallbrook fires in 2017. Very fortunate outcome from that but I could only sit and wait for updates and couldn’t help. One thing I heard over and over is most people grabbed their passports and important documents first before prioritizing personal items or photos. I do have that sorted in case of a fire. Important documents, 1 camera, and the three hard drive arrays with all my photos on them. They’re all within 3 feet of each other so it’s a quick job. Considering the building outside my window lost 4 apartments to fire a few months ago I’m ready and organized and have a good reminder staring me in the face looking at those apartments. This is all well and good having worked from home the past 5 years but now that I’m heading back to the office in a couple weeks I won’t be able to grab anything. Fire talk is not fun. Every single person I know or have known in L.A. has been affected in some way by these fires and I’ve thought about them all this week. Some I can check on some I can’t. Driving around L.A. this past summer was surreal, so much has changed and so much just the same. It’s been a decade since I left. A decade. A freaking decade. I miss home. Hugs to all.

So, the van. The now iconic surviving van. That’s a 1977 Volkswagen Bus in New Reef Blue. Exactly like the one we had growing up! I loved that thing. I even drove it for a bit when I got my license. It did drive like a bus with its flat steering wheel and long stick shift. After buying it in 1977 we drove across the United States in it all the way to Boston. Threw some fake tea off the USS Constitution in Boston Harbor and then drove back. It was great. My mom even made curtains for it. Because that’s just what you did. I remember driving through Manhattan in it thinking oh boy us Californians have arrived. Good on ya little blue van, you must have been very frightened.

Welp, she’s here, finally. It’s been Taylor Swift madness here in Vancouver nigh on a year. Tickets went on sale over a year ago and it was a slow burn until about 6 months ago when everything turned Taylor. Large lighted signs of song titles all over the city, advertisements hinting at the shows, sparkly dresses in the windows, etc. Am I a fan? Well no, not exactly, but I am a fan of her. I do like a few of her songs for how well crafted they are for pop songs. Pretty great on that metric. What I really love is the sheer phenomenon of her at this point of time. It’s pretty exciting to see a musical artist at their peak popularity absolutely ruling the world. We won’t see this again because it’s so very difficult to do these days. And she seems on the correct side of politics. Good on her. I walked around the city at lunch a few weeks ago and just shot pictures of everything Taylor. Truly amazing how much of an economic engine she is. Let’s compare. In August of 1964 The Beatles came to Vancouver 6 months after the Ed Sullivan show. A watershed moment in pop music that started the British Invasion. They played one show, 11 songs, 35 minutes to 20 thousand people and then just left. Went to the airport and immediately flew to L.A. at 3am. And that was it. Beatlemania. This now, this is on such a massive worldwide scale that it makes me oddly happy. Grumpas will say, well, she won’t last, etc but she’s been doing this now for 20 years. Growing and growing her base so she’s hella paid her dues. She’s hardly a bottle rocket. Burning hot and fast and then gone. She’s a raging bonfire and that is great. On the last night of her three concerts I went food shopping near the stadium and the streets were eerily quiet. The grocery store was also a ghost town. Just me, the Musak™, and the squeaky wheel on the cart. The concert hadn’t started but everyone was in there waiting as they probably didn’t want to miss a thing. Since I was out I thought I would go get the car washed and I was the only one there too. This is great! On the way back I thought I’d get some shots of the stadium across the water with it all decked out in pink and green. It was a beautiful crisp night and what was truly magical was standing by the water edge hearing the absolute massive roar of the crowd spilling out of the arena. All quiet by the water and then the huge wave of crowd noise would rise up and down. Incredible.
So this is all amazing, but you know what is just as amazing? This week 4 of us got tickets for AC/DC at BC Place. The same place where Taylor is currently doing three nights. The show sold out immediately! Tickets were selling faster than I could select them but I finally got some that stuck and at face value. I’m not a huge AC/DC fan but I do like them. I’ve never seen them but they’ve been on my I better go see them list. Here’s a band that is now 51 years old, far past their peak, but still able to sell out a 50K seat arena in minutes. That is AC/DC’s hold my beer moment. It’s going to be pretty pretty great. I might even buy a concert Tee! So let’s see where Taylor is in 2055. Hopefully she will be out there doing it, but most likely not so this is her era to shine. Funny to think there are 50 thousand people cheering on a billionaire in there. Oh and pssst… I actually prefer Olivia Rodrigo to Taylor.

“Traffic not swift.” Actually it was!

You have to love a panto. If you don’t you’re kind of a jerk. Actually I went into this one with much skepticism as it seemed a little too… local. Turns out it was amaaaaazing! I’ve never seen X so thrilled by a show so that was cool. His Gene Siskel rating was a thumbs up. Robinhood and his Merry-them, get it? They’re all woodland creatures that live in the local park, Trout Lake. Where I’ve actually been before. Hilarity ensues. So many great songs adapted for the story. Metallica Master of Puppets, Dolly Parton Jolene, Miley Wrecking Ball, ELO Mr. Blue Sky, Video Killed the Radio Star, Olivia Rodrigo’s Vampire, He Ain’t Heavy, He’s my Brother, and even Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club was about actual ponies and not stripping. So all in all the kids, and adults, had a great time yelling at the stage when prompted. I always think ugh, a panto, but then you go and they’re so fun. Then I stop being a curmudgeon about 5 minutes in and forget everything going on in the world. It’s a good night out.

It was at the York Theatre which I’ve driven by many a times but never really took notice. I’ve even been next door to shoot a photo. Weird. After attending I wanted to find out more about the theatre. It’s kind of small but much to my surprise and delight it used to be a concert venue back in the day. Starting in 1983 and running until 1995 it was a bit of a punk and metal venue. Black Flag, Meat Puppets, D.O.A., Dead Kennedys, Armored Saint, T.S.O.L., Skinny Puppy, GBH, Circle Jerks, Suicidal Tendencies, White Zombie, Marilyn Manson all played here. Three shows caught my eye though. The first being Metallica in 1985 at the start of their career. Funny to think they played here and then hearing two women play Master of Puppets in a panto on piano and drums. Nice. The second show that was interesting was Nirvana played here in 1990 but it was two shows later when Dave Grohl actually joined the band. The oddball show in between all these heavy shows was neighbour Sarah McLachlan doing her second show ever! She was only 20. What? Awwww, amazing. As you can see below it’s quite small so those shows would have been amazing to see.

After getting home I immediately started looking up other shows in the area that might be fun. Dolly Parton’s Rocky Mountain Christmas? Yeah maybe actually. ha Cirque du Soleil is in town for a bit. I kinda got burnt out on them in L.A. and Vegas but now it’s been years since I’ve been to a show. Oooo The Harlem Globetrotters in January! I saw them when I was just a kid. Meadowlark Lemon, Curly Neal, and Hubert “Geese” Ausbie. The Globetrotter cartoon had a laugh track. WTF? Well, I digress. More entertainment needed.

Well it’s about time. Sometimes the wait for a trailer to come out seems like forever. Here they are! Both look really great. I was on Skeleton Crew starting about two years ago but then it was extremely affected by the Hollywood strikes. It was really rough seas as the show went on hiatus and the strikes lingered on for way too long. Devastation all around. I was incredibly fortunate there was one spot on Electric State that opened up just after I was told they couldn’t keep me on which then allowed me a safe harbour in the strike storm. When the strikes magically wrapped up late last year, Skeleton Crew ramped back up. An uncomfortable fearful year for sure and I survived it but most of my close friends in the industry did not. I’ve been on that side of the fence so many times and it sucks so hard. So it’s nice to see all the production trucks around Vancouver filming away providing the eventual work for the post crews and hopefully my friends can get back to work. If you’re even remotely connected to the entertainment world at the moment you are affected in some way. Fecking awful. (edit 1) I’ve now watched the first two episodes on Disney+ and yeah it’s early on but I’m liking it. Lots of hidden references and very Spielbergian. And my tiny name in the credits at the end! My son loved it so I just go by what he likes as the zeitgeist of the kiddoes. Nice to see after The Acolyte which I hate with every Midi-chlorian in my body. Who hired those amateurs?

Skeleton Crew has been described as Goonies in Space (Disney’s own words) and there are tons of great things not shown in the trailer. For a Star Wars TV show I’m thinking we’ve got a hit on our hands. Fingers crossed. As for Electric State just look at that beautiful trailer and just in time for the Oasis reunion… But 5 months away? Ooof. Moving on, I’m currently… oh right I can’t say, but I’m currently working on a trailer shot for a huge summer film so watch this space! Don’t forget to like and subscribe!

(edit 2) Well then. Since we last spoke Lilo and Stitch has hit the World Wide Spider-Web with a teaser of sorts. Not much to see of the movie but look at that guy!? He looks amazing! For CG nerds he’s probably the best character I’ve ever worked with. Nothing breaks, fur is amazing, lights incredibly well, etc. He just works. Disney internals say once something hits this page I’m allowed to talk about it. Well, at least to say that I’m working on it. Beyond that, no details other than what’s offered up. So that’s now three freakin’ shows that are so far unreleased. Although Skeleton Crew as of this update starts tomorrow on Disney+!!! Sorry about The Acolyte, but I didn’t work on that. Stitch trivia: He’s the number one selling Disney character after Mickey. After hearing that, it’s not surprising. He is absolutely everywhere. Including blow up lawn Christmas decorations as seen at Home Depot.