One of the problems of writing the software you use to animate is that you have to maintain it. I’m trying to do a very needed overhaul of my system, but it’s cutting into general animation time. Rather than disapoint my two fans, I’ve decided to go through my archives and put up stuff you don’t care about. It’s Filler Time!

This is an extremely early (and extremely creepy) test of the technique I currently use for the Movie Monkey. I believe this dates back to the summer of 1999 (!), which means I’ve been working on this technique for the last 10 years. The vocal is Homer Simpson from the “Songs in the Key of Springfield” CD, and the visual was a Barbie that my mom had on hand for making doll clothes (one of her many hobbies).

My sister posted this video of my nephew on her blog

My parents and I thought JJ needed to relax just a little more, so I doctored one of the images.

Now that’s a relaxed baby.

An old co-worker/soccer teammate Scott took these photos through his wife’s pregnancy and was generous enough to let me animate them. The music is “Six Fourty Five” by OK Jones.

Due to technical difficulties, the premiere didn’t quite go as planned, but here is the video for your viewing pleasure. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Want to bring in Valentines Day with an 80′s classic? Then come to Midnight Movie Madness this Friday at Liberty Hall at 11:45 PM. As a special bonus, a new valentine’s themed Nicreations animation will be premiering at the show!

There is a Facebook meme going around called “25 Random Things About Me”, where people list 25 random things about themselves and then ask 25 of their friends to respond. Because of the social networking aspect, you can see whenever somebody takes the time/self analysis to fill it out. I have to admit I found it facinating in a creepy/voyuristic way, so I did one about myself. Since I never have anything to blog about otherwise, here’s what I put:

1) I tend to break everything into a series of accomplish-able sub-tasks, and then iterate through each one until the job is complete. For example, I’ve broken this list down by high school, college, and work life. Scary, huh?

2) The reason I do a lot of sports now is because I was always too intimidated to play them growing up. Now I regret not starting sooner, because I’m at such a disadvantage on the soccer field when I’m playing against guys who have been playing since they were 6. You think it’s easy to learn those moves? It’s hard!

3) Each year I was in high school I made a video for the state Spanish video competition. The videos were “A Day in the Life of Robin Hood”, “Zorro, the Man in Black”, “Batman”, and “Dracula”. They are about the quality you’d find on YouTube today, but I was proud of them then and I still think they’re pretty nifty. Someday I’ll post them online.

4) I was in All-District choir growing up, but I stopped singing in high school because I had enough music credit from Orchestra. I wish I had kept it up – there is ample video proof that I have no singing voice – http://www.nicreations.com/movies/player/show/38

5) Orchestra was my favorite class in High School, not because I was any good (I wasn’t) but because it was the only place where everyone was okay with me being a weirdo.

6) I filtered colleges by an elaborate system of throwing away all the ones that spelled my name wrong.

7) The day I went to visit KU it was a beautiful spring day with the trees in bloom, and I decided to go to KU off that visit. No one told me that Kansas spring only lasts a week and a half, and the Kansas summer is mostly 105 and humid.

8) I was a double major in college – I have a B.A. in Film and a B.S. in Computer Science. I never thought I ever really fit in with either department – I was too goofy for CS and too nerdy for Film.

9) I didn’t have a car in college. I also didn’t have a drivers license. I didn’t get a drivers license until I was 24 and about to move to Dallas (funny story – the guy at the Minnesota DMV thought my Kansas permit was a license, and never made me do the driving test).

10) I was president of the student chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in college, but I never joined the organization.

11) I don’t idle well, and I tend to pace a lot. I had a college roommate complain about my “walking.” I lived on the upper floor and he lived on the lower one. Also, he was a dick. (See #25 on how I feel about that)

12) I didn’t drink in college, or well after. I didn’t start drinking socially until I was 29, and it was mostly because I figured there wasn’t a good reason I didn’t drink.

13) The thing I am most proud of from college was the animated short film I did as a summer project. I spent an entire summer working on it, but I only got one credit hour of credit. You can watch it here: http://www.nicreations.com/movies/player/show/11

14) My biggest regret in college – not having more fun. I was a tool.

15) I was able to move all of my possessions from college to my first job in Dallas in my parent’s minivan. When we unloaded all of my stuff it formed a sad little pile in the middle of the apartment kitchen.

16) In Dallas I learned that if I live close to work I’ll just spend all my time at work. I’m unfortunately a bit too focused.

17) I worked out a LOT in Dallas because I had nothing else to do. I did start playing indoor soccer and Racquetball, the latter I still play today..

18) I left my first job after 2.5 years to be a software contractor. I wrote a media research tool called “Orion” that I am still proud of.

19) After a year and a half of contracting, I discovered I really liked health insurance, so I gave it up and took a job at Garmin. I may have given it up so soon, but I don’t think I had the contacts and the know-how to really be a good contractor. (For those doing the math, I had 3 jobs in the first 5 years of my career).

20) I didn’t want to buy a house – if I had stuck to my guns I would rent my entire life (and looked like a genius considering the current economic climate). My house has a lot of “character”, which I’m currently spending lots of $$$ to repair.

21) I live my filmmaker dreams by making animated shorts and posting them on my website at http://www.nicreations.com (plug plug). I don’t make any money, but I have gotten some recognition: the Movie Monkey is on the Dr. Horrible DVD as one of the 10 “Evil League of Evil.” I love making videos and movies, but I find I don’t really love watching them. As my spare time is short I find I much prefer DVD’s of television (30 Rock, Reaper, yay!) to watching films. If you’re going to take 2 hours of my time, you better be worth watching!

22) I do triathlons – mostly sprint, but hopefully more Olympic distance. I think of Triathlons as a great sport for the indecisive (I want to swim! I want to ride bikes! I want to run!). The “accomplish-able sub-tasks” rule applies here too.

23) I do a lot of things, but I think computer programming is the only thing I do well. Everything else I just haven’t given up on yet.

24) I always envy “music guys” because I consider music so much harder to keep up with than film. I always wanted to be the guy who had to get the 60 GB iPod because 16 just wasn’t enough for all my tunes, but my entire music collection fits in 5 GB (and there are an embarrassing number of Wheezer, BNL, and Cake tunes on there padding that). I use the rest of my space for “30 Rock” episodes.

25) I didn’t actively pursue being a professional filmmaker because I came to the conclusion that to be a really great filmmaker, you eventually had to be a dick. If I had a life philosophy, it would be “don’t be a dick.” This can be prefixed or suffixed with “dude” (“dude, don’t be a dick”) but not prefixed AND suffixed with dude – it is not a dude sandwich.

So rather than go to our company prom, a few of us decided to get together for a night of Beer and Rock Band. Warning: more proof that I can’t sing follows.

The winnings from the MC Frontalot video contest came in! Hooray!

A New Movie Monkey! As it turns out his recent acceptance to an Evil League has made him a bit power mad. Will he ever be the same again?

Many thanks to MC Frontalot for permission to use his music!

I didn’t vote in 2000 – not for President, not for student senate, not even for what burrito chain should survive on Massachusetts St. in Lawrence (Chipotle won). In fact I never really paid attention to politics in college. I double majored in Film and Computer Science which kept me extremely busy. Everyone I knew who was politically active in College never seemed to do anything; they just wanted to talk about it. Who had time for that?

I didn’t start paying attention to politics until I graduated in 2001, so for all intents and purposes all I’ve known is the past 8 years and everything that went along – 9/11, Unilateralism, WMD’s (or lack thereof), failure on two fronts, Supreme Court appointees and the Nuclear Option, economic collapse, and on and on. In most of these cases it seemed to me like no one really cared about what was best for the country or the people who elected them. Winning at all cost seemed to be the only goal, as if decisions that affect nations could always be simplified down between two opposing viewpoints, between right and wrong. Leadership from both sides seem guilty of this single mindedness, leading to an endless blame game of whose fault

I did vote in 2008 as I care more about politics now – you could say I’m a latte drinking NPR junkie filmmaker if you need a label. I know many people who see Obama as sunshine breaking through storm clouds, as if one man can transform our entire political system. Even though what I’ve seen so far has been promising I’m not ready to drop my cynicism. Throughout his campaign the word “hope” was used as a mantra, so here is what I am hopeful for. I know the problems we face will require difficult, unpopular decisions, and can only hope the men and women we elected to make them will make those hard calls instead of devolving into partisan bickering. As a country I hope we stop fighting about who is right and instead start agreeing on what is right. Mostly, I’m just hoping for a better tomorrow. These are things we can all agree on.