LOST

I had a few problems with last year's season of LOST, but the season 4 finale on Thursday was some darn good TV.

Here are a few photos of the cave I worked on. The scene was when Ben made his way through a tunnel and into a frozen cave where he turned the wheel to move the island.




Skulboy Strikes!

The skull glyph didn't make it to the screen, but at least I knew it was there.

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Spent several months working on the sets for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and today, Akiko and I went to the theater to see it.
Found the movie to be lots of fun and enjoyable. Did however have a few problems with some of CG heavy moments that completely took me out of the movie such as the sword fight atop vehicles speeding through an unpaved jungle and a few other moments.
Probably the most disappointing for me was that they had cut 2 scenes completely out of the graveyard segment that I had done a lot of work on. Oh well, mabye they'll be on the DVD.

Now that the movie has been released, I can finally share some set photos.


The blue arrow is where Indy removes a skull to find a switch to open a swinging door. This was under the graveyard in the movie.


Giant (and very heavy) water wheel at the top of the staircase in the temple.


For those of us working on the crew, this movie could have been called Indiana Jones and the Battle of the Condors. This is the moment when all trades are frantically trying to finish a set. Propmakers, Sculptors, Plasterers, Painters and Special Effects were all crammed into a very small area as things had to get done. When the dust cleared, Set Decorators came in and put the final touches on the entrance to the throne room.


To cap things off, here's the cover to a new mix CD I'm almost ready to burn.

Not much new to report. Working 12 hour days on Transformers 2 with a hour commute home doesn't leave much time for anything else.

On Sunday Akiko and I did get a chance to get outside in the heatwave to check out some Historic Homes in the Echo Park area. It was sponsored by the Angeleno Heights Trolley Line and we got to walk through several Victorian houses built in the late 1800's. Kind of reminded me of the old houses in the Park Ave area back in Rochester, NY.

Iron Man vs Optimus

If you know me, you understand that seeing Iron Man opening weekend was an absolute must. Well, I saw it and loved it.
It ranks right up there with Spiderman 2 and Batman Begins as one of the best comic-book movies to date. Robert Downey Jr was cast perfectly as Tony Stark, The CG was seamless and the film had a much more adult feel than your typical superhero movie.
Happy Hogan...er, John Favreau is an obvious fan of the character and stayed faithful to his comic roots making this film a real joy for all my geek brothers and sisters. The entire cast did a great job and every scene with Iron Man kicked complete ass.
If you're a Ultimate Marvel fan, make sure you sit through the credits for a sweet cameo.

In other movie news, I started work this week on Transformers 2. As usual, I can't speak of what I'm actually doing, but I can confirm this: Transformers 2 will indeed contain Battling Giant Frickin' Robots!

Drawing in Scotland

Finaly had a chance to scan some of the drawings we did while in Scotland.

Inspired by the Drink and Draw Club, Akiko and I hit a pub in Glasgow and tossed a few back while we sketched.




These first 2 I did...


and Akiko did this one.


This is a small pencil drawing I did after our visit to Clava Ca