Just so everybody knows...

1. Gina doesn't hate Mark and neither do I. I don't think there's a person alive that does. We couldn't say things like that if he wsn't actually a great guy and a great boss.

2. Yes, my 6 year old really did do that short film herself. Hey, I've got to do something up here when its raining.

3. We are not in any danger because of the bears. The bears around here are completely docile. Besides, were at least 200 yards from the main predator trail.

4. Yes, I do read other people's blogs. I am reading about 30 a day at last count. The majority of those are former students.

5. Yes, there are things that I miss about So Cal. I miss friends and family foremost, after that I miss Fry's, Disneyland and the availability of having nearly everything at hand.

I feel better now.

Well, after working on it for two weeks, here it is...

AT THE CIRCUS

This little short was done entirely by my 6 year old daughter Anya. Of course I had to guide her through most of it and teach her some of the concepts, but she is the one that did all of the actual work - compositing, picking the music, editing, etc.

The idea was to show a tightrope walker at the circus that almost falls but makes it across.

Not bad. Not bad at all. My little girl rocks!

AT THE CIRCUS

The download size is about 2 MB, so it will only take about 15 seconds on DSL.

Still steamin and everything.

I have apparently commited a cardinal sin by not having a picture of the girls up oin the page in a while, so here is a quick collage of a couple of pictures.
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I worked out today for the first time since my accident. It felt good and I was surprised at how much I missed it. I only did 10 minutes, but I definitely felt it.
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One reoccuring theme in the emails and blogs of my former students lately has been the stresses of full time jobs. Why aren't they doing what they want to do? Why are they getting laid off? Why isn't working in the industry making them happy?

I think possibly the biggest failure of film schools, Christian film schools in particular, is the inability of the school to prepare the students for working life. It's not really fair. There are the exceptions of course (I never saw a point at which Tom Carmody did not gladly welcome a former student back and give them any advice and encouragement that he could) but on the whole, it just feels so incomplete.

I better be careful, if I start venturing too far off of the path I might step on someone's toes.

Maybe I'll write a column.

1. Taking apart a DV camera is a bad thing to do.
2. The more expensive and nicer the camera is, the greater the chance that it is more complex and will never go back together the right way ever again.
3. Wow these things have a lot of parts to them
4. It makes you feel 10 times worse when you already took it apart once, fixed it, broke it while testing it by stressing it too much and then you take it apart again to fix it but can't. That stinks.

So what has Brandon learned from this? If the DV camera breaks, buy a new one.

And what has Brandon NOT learned from this? I'll probably take the next one apart too.

I registered my domain name for Hardest Game Ever and now I just need to get through the testing stages. Sometime in the next couple of days, www.hardestgameever.com should work to take you to the game.

Sorry for sturating my blog with it, but it is my obsession at the moment.

When most college students do their interships (especially for media) the end product is usually a flimsy piece of blah that passes into the ether. Today Don Davis sent this article to me in regards to my internship when I was in college. This makes me very happy. First an oscar, and now educational perpetuity.

Shoah Foundation moving to USC

Don was also the one who told me about the internship and was the one who gave me my first shot at editing, animation and production.

I guess my only regret there at all is that I had worked for him after I had a master's in business. In hindsight he did a lot of things that I don't think he got proper credit for.

I have finished the first 'draft' of the hardest game ever. The first one is actually pretty easy. I plan on making the first few a bit on the easier side so that friends and family can take a crack at it.

Here it is

HARDEST GAME EVER

Please try it out and let me know what you think. This is the very first round so I want to work out all of the bugs before it goes public.

Thanks!

Anya is still working on her film, so it isn't up yet. Give her a little slack though, she is 6 after all. Brilliant, but still only 6
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Judy has been challenging me to get going on the game I've been designing. I finally decided to build it as a web type game and post it. Details will follow in the nex couple of days. The name of the game is...Hardest Game Ever. What I really need to do is to find somone to help me code it properly, but I'm sure I can manage in the meantime.

My mom took this when she came to visit. Shortly after this picture she passed out on the floor.