chase the light

I won the big prize at the Oscar Party! I won $100 for picking the most winners. I rarely lose this game.

The Lighting team from Shrek had our own wrap party. Probably to console each other that we actually did a good job. We probably didn’t mean some of the things we said to each other during production either.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area

What’s great about this photo is that it’s only 10 minutes from my house. I love that you can lie in photography. The fog has started to roll in, but the sun is still poking through. What you can’t hear or see is a cargo ship blowing its horn as it comes through the fog towards the bridge.

Golden Gate Bridge

How many times can you shoot this photograph? Apparently a lot. [LINK] Here’s my version. No better, no worse. It’s a little cooler out than it looks. In the middle of Fort Point there’s this big black cannon. It’s almost impossible to take a photo of it with no one in the picture. It took me over 20 minutes. There’s always someone in front of it for some reason. Damn Boy Scouts, always in the way, runnin’ all over, makin’ noise…

A wrap party PDI/DreamWorks style. In the parking lot. They really now how to splurge on us after having sweated through two years of work. Factoid: The Shrek Crew Jackets… don’t say crew on them. Thanks a lot.

Half Moon Bay

If I have to commute 37 miles to work, I’m glad it’s this beautiful the whole way. Most nights it looks like this along Hwy 280, with the fog rolling in over the hills and Half Moon Bay. [LINK] According to the sign it’s “The World’s Most Beautiful Freeway”. Kind of an oxymoron if you think about it, but it is a nice drive.

The Mad Hatter

I bought this figure today after having seen the new “Alice” game from EA. The “help me” sign was a cry for help via my internal webcam. It was pointed at it most days during production woes.

Twin Peaks

This is from atop Twin Peaks in the middle of San Francisco. These peaks were once known as “Los Pechos de la Chola”, “The Breasts of the Indian Girl”. That’s one breast over to the right, which means I’m standing on the other one and acting like a nipple. Off to the left is Sutro Tower. The man is to scale and is sporting a blue North Face jacket.

Michelangelo’s

Kathleen Cohen was up from L.A. for a conference, so we headed out to North Beach for dinner at Caffe Michelangelo’s. She essentially rented a boat to make the drive from L.A., but we fortunately found a large enough dock, er… I mean parking spot within a couple blocks of the restaurant. You get wine in a rooster pitcher, and a huge bowl of Gummi Bears for dessert. Which every patron before has probably had their grubby paws on. For some reason you still seem to put a few down. Then we ended on a game of almond cookie Jenga which she won with a total of 7 stacked cookies. Nice ceiling lights and showing off the camera with the lcd that flips.

The Ranch

My homestead by Golden Gate Park. Gotta love the houses in San Francisco. The way the wind blows right through them. There’s never enough power outlets. I can’t run the microwave or the TV at the same time or I’ll blow the fuse. My bedroom used to be the dining room. I’m one of the few that falls asleep under a chandelier. A perfectly blue day in the city I might add.

Matt’s Goodbye

Another employee bites the dust today. So we all dragged our asses over to the BBC pub, drown our sorrows, and secretly wish we were him. It’s funny how alcohol will make you tell the truth about how you feel.

Outback of the Midtown building is where the smokers gather. Amused yet repulsed at the same time, I couldn’t help but notice that they look like little skyscrapers. It’s like a New York City of Cigarette Butts. My favorites are the ones with lipstick on them. Beautiful, yet I know these people will probably die before me.

PDI/DreamWorks Lobby

We got the new theatre standup for Shrek today. It’s in the lobby. The problem is that it’s stinkin’ up the place. Know that plasticy smell of blow up pool toys? Ack. I think it looks like a angry slug.

Alesis Mixer Board

It [LINK] looks impressive, but really I don’t know what half the knobs and buttons do. I sing and play guitar into it, and sound comes out. That’s what I do know. Oh yeah, and it looks real cool when the lights are off in the room. Like a Christmas Tree.

Laundry Night

Weird things while doing laundry tonight. Laundry has got to be the most boring thing in the world. It’s never like this. [LINK] Normally when you’re doing laundry, you at least have total strangers to keep you company. Because you know you’re all going through the same thing. Except tonight there was no one. It’s like everybody took a laundry holiday. The sign says 25 cent dry. We all know there’s no way you can dry stuff for one quarter. I had to put in 7 tonight for 56 minutes. Then I thought, wait a minute… I used to put in only 6 quarters and get an hour! Then it dawned on me, with the recent energy crisis, their bills went up and they’re passing it along to the consumer. So they can’t really start making the machines take dimes and nickles for a 35 cent dry. They just give you less time. So now I get 8 minutes for my quarter instead of 10. Bastards. The unintentional self portrait is of me watching my clothes spin. Like I said, laundry’s got to be the most boring thing in the world. That’s a white towel, blue jeans, and a red Teva pullover blurring into a patriotic swirl …and when did Primus start making dryers?

Outback at PDI/DreamWorks

PDI is the ominous red building is where I work. Some top secret shit goes on there. Apparently I’m somehow involved with this. I’m still waiting for them to tell me what it is. No one from the outside is even supposed to be on my floor. That’s a car dealership on the right. They deal in exotic foreign cars. Porsche, Ferrari’s, etc… Everyday I drive by in my little Honda and think about stealing one. Especially after they got sick of me test driving everything. Those yellow tractor thingy’s on the left… they’ve never moved in a year and a half.

My Desk

This is my desk today. I’ve made a few observations from this photo. My desk is a mess. Not a messy mess, but a controlled mess. Stuff’s at least in piles, but it’s been way worse and way better. I don’t hang anything on the walls. I seem to have the cd’s in the right place though. VERY important. The eerie blue light is from outside, and when the train goes by it casts shadows across my monitor. It only last about 5-10 seconds.

The Goat

This is a goat that I sometimes go feed at lunch. He’s a couple miles from work. Normally I wouldn’t care, but this goat is just too damn happy. Even when sticking his head through barbed wire. If that’s not a smiling goat I’m losing my mind.

My new camera arrived today. A Canon G1. So of course the first thing I’m going to start taking pictures of are my girls. They don’t have names, I’m not that nuts. From left to right. The custom Erickson I had built, a Danelectro DC59, an Ovation 12 string Balladeer, a cherry burst Gibson Les Paul, and a Fender Telecaster. I’m still waiting to add the Gibson J-200 [LINK] to the harem.

Linda Perry with Birdsaw and Brad Brooks.

Went to the show with Matt and Felix, both of whom had never heard any of their music. Matt became an instant fan. Quite possibly the most amazing club show I’ve ever seen.