04.30.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:25 am by Fletcher
My father stopped by this weekend, on his way to a job in New Hampshire. For the past decade or so, he’s been working on huge ships, laying out fiber optics over vast tracts of ocean. He’s got a map in his office, pinpointed with various locales over the globe, and with the exception of mainland Asia, has multiple pins in each continent…
After a brief stop at the habitat, we hit the streets, meandering and talking looking for a place for lunch. Over grilled lamb and baklava at Turkish Kitchen, I related my latest adventures on the various film projects I had worked on, and the ones that are coming up. We talked about how I was handling unemployment, about people in and around the family and I talked at great length about the ‘Sovereignty’ shoot, the special effects shots I had done, and how the film was lost.
He shot me a look, a bit fatherly pride, a bit ‘Aha!’ and said in a conspiratorial voice, ‘I haven’t seen you this enthusiastic about a career change in a long time.’ Hmmm, seems the old boy has a point there… Yet another indicator that I’m on the right path…
Our conversation drifted towards the work he’s doing, about past jobs and he launched into a tale of being stuck in the middle of nowhere, Alaska and problems on the job - and some of his more creative solutions; much to managements chagrin. Funny, like father - like son. I related some of the antics I had gotten up to with my previous employer - seems that rebellion against corporate mentality runs deep in my family.
We wrapped up the afternoon, his penchant for making bad puns no less tempered - another trait we share it seems, and we headed over to the parking garage where he had parked his truck for the day. I was shocked to see the above vehicle come out of the elevator. Looks like he has eschewed the traditional businessman’s car, or the utilitarian truck for something a little more flashy and sporty. Funny, after all this time, he still surprises me…
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04.27.07
Posted in Art, Life at 10:13 am by Fletcher
When the ol’ corporate job ended, I promised myself that I’d pretty much take the month of April off as a much deserved vacation, considering that I have never had this much free time since I was on summer vacation from high school.
Whilst I have enjoyed my lackadaisical existence, I realize that it is also the kiss of death - I need structure to a certain degree, or else I put things off, get lazy or downright slothful. It isn’t that I need a ’supervisor’ or a place to got to - it is simply the budgeting of time. I need to start scheduling designated ‘work hours’ with an allotment of a few hours dedicated to my various projects. Since I am a grumpy riser and I hate paperwork with a passion - my first task of the day will be to sort through the previous days mail, bills, and other bureaucratic nonsense that I despise. Reward myself with breakfast. On to computer related jobs such as blog entries, photoshop work and animation. Reward myself with lunch. Follow up emails and phone calls in the afternoon. Paint. And dammit, start exercising.
I also need to start giving myself deadlines - first on the list, finish the latest Muse painting. I’m giving myself a week to do so. I’m also forcing myself to finish it, because I owe a certain person a copy of a painting that she coveted from years back, and I sold - much to her chagrin. Since she’s getting married in a few months, I figure I owe her the most faithful reproduction I can muster…
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04.26.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:58 am by Fletcher
In the course of the changes both life and this online journal have taken, I’ve made a valiant effort to separate my personal life a bit from my professional leanings in an attempt to focus on where my creative career is going.
But, there sometime is an event so profound in magnitude that sometimes the professional ends must be eschewed, and deeply personal feelings must be revealed, in this case; a truly tragic event has happened and will have a profound impact on my life, both immediate and long term.
The Director is leaving The Pub.
It seems that the upper management has decided that they have been far too lenient regarding his requests for auditions, time off to shoot our films, time off for premieres, film festivals and the like. He is being transferred out to the Hamptons for the summer, to work weekends with the yuppie scum, bar tending at some hip locale…
Ye freakin’ gods, what am I to do? The Pub itself is not exactly my stylistic choice - as it represents the more unsavory side of the Murray Hill hipster scene; I tend to prefer a less fashion-conscious crowd and a quieter atmosphere, and certainly one that doesn’t concern itself with keeping the music selection up to Top 40 standards - but, The Director made all of that irrelevant; our many meetings discussing creative projects, politics, movies, and flirting with the cute waitresses made the Pub a special place indeed, despite its cheap and tacky leanings.
Perhaps, ultimately, it is for the best. I’ve gotten far too comfortable there, and will often opt for its locale over trying something new, perhaps something better, and have not expanded my horizons in a while. Plus the staff there knows all my dirty jokes by now - either they need new people, or I need new material…
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04.24.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:24 am by Fletcher
Hot Fuzz review:
Pegg and Frost are back and they brought tone of cop movie references (and ammo) to the table.
Not quite as funny as ‘Shaun of the Dead’ but loaded with homages to every 80’s and 90’s cop-buddy movie ever made (I was surprised they didn’t throw in ‘I’m too old for this shit!’) and had a lot of heart and gentle humor. As well as some good ol’ gross out British humor moments. The last half hour battle royale with the baddies more than made up for a slow start.
They also paid honors to ‘Shaun’ and the more obscure ‘Spaced’ - with a cameo role by Julia Deakin, who played Marsha in the latter, and a nice piece of action where Pegg over the tops his awkward Shaun by vaulting over many backyard fences. And they reference the joke with Cornettos - a type of ice cream treat, which I still don’t get…
Still, a decent effort - Timothy Dalton (the bad guy) hasn’t seen this much action since his Bond days, and surprisingly a brief appearance by Paul Freeman who was the bad guy Frenchman in ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’.
The blow out role goes to Nick Frost, who, until ‘Spaced’ had no acting experience whatsoever, and rose to fame as Ed in ‘Shaun’, really manages to convey depth and feeling to his character - much like Kevin Smith did with Ethan Suplee. I expect this gent has quite a promising career, if he keeps with it.
All in all, it is quite suited for video - but if you have the ducats and the time, give Messrs. Pegg and Frost their due and check this film out…
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04.23.07
Posted in Uncategorized, Life at 3:19 pm by Fletcher
I love crappy Powerpoint presentations. Prepackaged crap that is designed to hammer a point home with all the excitement of a shot of penicillin… I especially love PP slideshows designed to show me how to use a damn web page.
I had gone to an orientation provided by my former employer, designed to get me, my resume and my interviewing skills back into the job market as soon as possible, so they do not have to shell out unemployment dollars for my goldbricking creative ass. Standard corporate environs, bad fluorescent lighting, cheap coffee and polyester abound.
My fellow trainees had at least 20 years on me, refugees from corporate blowouts, layoffs and CEO thievery. Jeez, these guys hadn’t been on an interview since Reagan took office. The bubbly Texan telemanaging the conference call had a tendency to misspell every word she typed on screen, forcing me to stifle commentary about how she needs additional training herself - she keeps droning on about how stressful this time can be, me - I’m having trouble staying awake.
Please, bubbly Texan, oh please, click on EVERY link - like I don’t know what online help is, and no - I don’t plan on wasting my precious cell phone minutes on attending a webinar about how this website will look different on a Mac. The Texan waits for the prerequisite 10 seconds of silence every time she asks, ‘are there any questions?’ - I amuse myself by counting them down with her, silently…
The presentation ends, we get out packets of info, and chat quietly - I just want to run out, plug into their jobnet and see just how precious few photoshop jobs they have. The interesting part of the morning came from a disgruntled hedge fund analyst who loudly informs the group that inside a year, traders won’t be needed on the exchange floor - its being phased out and passed along to cubicle gophers who could care less about your portfolio, so watch your investments, boys…
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Posted in Uncategorized at 12:37 pm by Fletcher
Just got back from a ‘re-employment’ orientation seminar, courtesy of my former employer. Details will follow pending lunch…
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04.19.07
Posted in Art at 11:07 am by Fletcher
In a moment of unmitigated genius, I took the multi-layered image from the ‘Sovereignty’ promo piece, threw it into Premiere and started animating the layers, to make it look like a static-laden TV.
This was just a quick, ‘lets see what this looks like’ idea, just for kicks, as I am always drawn to the moving image. I liked it so much I forwarded it to The Director, with the idea that it might become an animated .gif for the movie website, or something.
He freakin’ loved it.
He also had a few changes.
For frame of reference, you can view the animation here.
I really must be better prepared in the future to accept that I rarely nail it on the first attempt, and that multiple changes are inevitable. The trick is that you let the client come up with the ideas, and don’t offer anything that will create more work (unless your brilliant idea will save the project).
In other events, my former employer is offering an assistance program to get back into the job market, essentially a seminar on resume writing tips, interview skills, etc. While my hubristic side says that I need not such refinement, my practical nature tells me to go, check it out and see if there might be something worth learning. Plus its free, and you never know what you might learn from a new experience…
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04.17.07
Posted in Art at 2:54 pm by Fletcher
Sometimes the best way to get a project done is to work directly with the client. You can sit down, start throwing ideas out and change them instantly - instead of submitting changes, waiting for feedback, making new changes, ad nauseum.
It was in this spirit that I had The Director come over for a final push session, as we had gone back and forth with the ‘Sovereignty’ promo piece, and each iteration seemed close, but not perfect. I figured that if he could see the image on screen and give immediate feedback, we could put this project to bed once and for all…
And three hours later - we did…
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Posted in Art at 10:42 am by Fletcher
One of the problems of needing cool tools to ply ones trade, is that everyone wants to borrow them. Case in point, I need both a scanner (for my sketches) and a printer (for everything else).
So, after waiting laboriously for a break in the never ending rain, I hit CompUSA, found a small, inexpensive HP unit, dragged it home and began installing it.
This is when the roomie saw it and started salivating.
He drooled over it to the point where he was offering me money and ordering his girlfriend to go to Staples and pick up a ream of paper. He quickly explained that his latest job involved some weird geometric designs that a peer wanted laser cut parts for, and if we could just scan these in; he could import them into CAD and trace over them… I gave him a quick tutorial, knowing that this will be the first of many times my new toy will be borrowed…
It’s amazing what the tiniest dose of color will do. I had been wracking my brains over the Muse painting, trying to figure out why it had no ‘depth’ - no life. In staring at it for too long (and not blinking) I turned away from it for a moment and my eyes fell on a sheet of paper on my desk.
I had retina burned the image on my eyes.
I was seeing a ‘negative’ image on the paper. And in an odd moment of realization, it occurred to me: the background in completely neutral - 50% grey and nothing else. I grabbed a tube of yellow ochre, thinned it out to the barest of stains, and put it on canvas.
Amazing.
Amazing what just a hint of color will do - think I’ll be finishing this one soon.
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04.16.07
Posted in Art, Life at 8:44 am by Fletcher
Well after an amazing week off, there is nothing like a vacation where one goes nowhere, I’m back - ready to resume where I left off - namely being an out of work artist trying to figure out how best to make a ton of money and semi retire…
I’ve got a ton of bureaucratic paperwork to tear through - not my favorite venture in the world, but a necessary evil if I want anything resembling an income. Fortunately I’ve got a few friends in the exact same boat, so we can compare notes and commiserate where needed.
On the creative side, I must wrap up the Green Dress Muse painting, as I’ve put it off for far too long and I’ve got an inspiration for another; and I must work on the animation, which its due date is slowly approaching. I was reminded recently that my Gemini nature leads me to take on far too many projects at once, and if I don’t keep them at bay, I’ll get overwhelmed… and nothing will get done.
Plus it looks like I’ve got some traveling on the horizon; out to Jersey to visit my grandmother, out to the Midwest to see the rest of the famiglia, and an interesting offer for a film festival in Nantucket for the shoot I worked on last year - maybe this time I’ll actually see some of the island I was on. Ah, Nantucket - inebriated Irishmen and gassy former city officials, plus movies - what else can a man ask for… Also on the film front, the dual shoot that Ninjascott brought me in on is now slated for may, and it looks like we’ll be shooting on the set of ‘Tony & Tina’s Wedding,’ nothing like using sets and props that have been charged with countless creative hands, lets just hope that stage energy translates to film…
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