Back to Pixar

Got a chance to go back to Pixar. This time it was for business. I cannot go into detail of what went on, but I can share what 'unofficially' went on.

Fort Knox of cereal.

Last time I mentioned the FREE cereal bar. This time, Jun and I took full advantage of the word FREE. I could live here.

Fridge full of milk. Whole milk, low fat, non fat...even different kinds of soy milk.

I went sans milk, and i kept the biodegradable spoon. Honey Nut Chex, in case you want to know. That is Luigi in the back.


Parting shot, one last picture before we left for the day. Hope to back there soon.

To Boldly Go...

My buddy Jun need to get to a vent in his attic. I volunteered to go up in his attic. A hole needed to be cut into the existing vent, then the new vent tube shoved into the hole.

That is me in a very tight space.

Here is he hole. I had cut the hole, then cut darts along the edge and folded the exposed sharp edge over. Nice and smooth. There was not much elbow room there to move, not much leverage. I was on my stomach the entire time. Jun is going to let me live in his attic...rent free!

Shot of Jun from the attic. Prep for the new tube.


Expanding foam to seal the gaps. Seven inch tube shoved into a five and half inch hole.


Jun patching up the old exhaust hole.

A view from ground level. New vent tube next to old vent hole.

Telemarketers and Spammers

I just got a call from a telemarketer...

Wait, before I get to that....Yesterday, I replied to a spam email. In the past few months, I have been getting an email from a Nancy Keenan. I tried to block it, report it...yet I just kept getting them. So, in a fit of rage, I went to the website she was promoting and got all the email addresses I could fine and wrote to them. Basically profanity and calling them terrorists. I sent it about 50 times, hoping the clog their inbox as they have clogged mine. I will not taint my blog by giving them any free advertising (not like anyone reads this). But know that you know her name, please be warned.

...anyway, I just got a call from a telemarketer. I could have sworn that I 'registered' on the 'no call' list. Now, this is my mobile phone that they call, so I am paying for theses minutes that they are wasting. So, I get a call from an unknown number. I usually do not pick up, but sometimes international numbers come up as 'unknown'...and there is a chance that someone from overseas may be trying to reach me.

Today, the guy on the other end wanted to sell car insurance (I think). He introduced himself and asked if i was up to date with my car registration. I really cannot remember the details, but he did ask for what make and model my car is...

First of all, I did notice that it took the douche bag a few seconds to reply back when I answered. I obviously did not recognize the voice or really what the hell he was talking about.

...I said, "what?" and he said, "I want to verify what make and model your car is." This is the good part...I said, "Car? I do not even have a driver's license"...at that point, he hung up. What a total douche bag!

I win!

So, I have decided that I am going to have fun with spammers and telemarketers. Telemarketers are more fun, because you get immediate feedback. I encourage all of you to do that same, see how long you can keep the telemarketer on the line before he/she hangs up on you. Forward junk mail to spammers. Give them all a taste of their own medicine.

When Is #14 Going Up?

According to the Montreal Canadiens and Vancouver Canucks, Patrick Roy and Trevor Linden are getting their jersey's retired.

Roy, arguably the best goaltender in NHL history, will get his #33 retired by the Montreal Canadiens some time in November. Roy won two Stanley cups with the Candiens in 1986 and 1993. He also won cups with the Colorado Avalanche in 1996 an 2001. The Hall of Famer's jersey has also been retired by the Avalanche.

Linden, the most popular Canuck, recently retired. He captained the Canucks to the Finals in 1994. Linden also played for Montreal, New York Islanders, and Washington...sandwiched between two campaigns in Vancouver. His #16 will be hung in the rafters in October.

My question is...When is Theoren Fleury going to get his number retired by the Calgary Flames?

Calgary Flames on Wikipedia

There, right on the front page. Calgary Flames as the featured article. Do not bother going there after today, it will change. I included a screen shot of it just for my records, because I know you are not reading this.

Car Fire

Saw this on the freeway. Must be a huge Calgary Flames fan. GO FLAMES!

Darth Mater

I am way too lazy to write anything up for this right now. So, click here and look at some photos of Darth Mater. Maybe later I will write something up.

UPDATE: At Comic-Con, some people were asking me what I actually did on Darth Mater. I did 90% of the sculpting of Darth Mater. Joe Sid (who is listed on the plaque) sculpted the cape.

The Mater you see underneath was first sculpted by me in 2004 and was made for the Cars toy line that you may see in the stores today. This was done from scratch in the computer using a program called Freeform and using reference photos provided by Pixar. I was also part of the license pitch that brought the Cars license to Mattel.

Anyway, in 2-3 weeks time, I sculpted Mater and it was approved by Pixar...fast forward to 2005, the movie and toys come out. Both are successful, and made/is still making tons of money for both companies.

Because of the success of the Cars movie the Mattel Design Team created a display of the characters from the movie to be auctioned off at Dream Halloween benefiting the Children Affected By AIDS Foundation. That is the first picture you see on the link above...heck, let me just steal it...hold on....here:

...there. Now, I did nothing on this one. Well, actually, like I said I did sculpt Mater, as well as, Lightning McQueen, and The King. So, those are in there a few times in different variations.

For this year's Dream Halloween, they wanted something big. Ben at Pixar came up with the idea of "Darth Mater". Gentle Giant did a few sketches and Pixar decided on the concept and I was tasked to sculpt it. Since I already had the Mater file, all I had to do was the Darth parts.

The Darth parts took about two weeks to sculpt. I worked with Ben and Emery from Pixar. Basically, I did everything you see except for that cape. Painting was done by Brandon, he is on the plaque, too. In fact, here is a picture that I jacked:

The other pictures on that site are not that great due to poor lighting at Comic-Con. Brandon did a wonderful job. There are traces of 'rust' and 'different metals'. He really made my sculpt look ten times better.

The rest was done by a bunch of people at Mattel. The pieces were printed by our Rapid Prototype Group, Perry and Bobby. Clean up of the 28 pieces were done by our shop guys. Sorry, I do not know who in the shop worked on it, but they are listed as Mattel Model Shop on the plaque. The plaques and base were made by Jim and Rex in the shop. Assembly of parts by Hank,Mike, and James (listed on plaque), this includes fitting pieces together, installing lights, installing motor, and making it move. Our Electronics Group and Sound Lab (again, I apologize, I do not know the individuals who worked on this) did the electronics, including lights, sound, movement programming.


Yeah, that is about it. In all, I estimate about thirty people had their hands on this. When Dream Halloween comes around, I will update with photos and winning bid.

San Diego Comic Con 2008

Yesterday, I was at the San Diego Comic Con. Total geek fest...which is why I was there. One of the pieces I made was there, but I failed to take a photo of it. When you work on something for about a month, you kinda get sick of it. Anyway, it is "Darth Mater". Mater for Pixar's CARS dressed up as Darth Vader. I worked with Pixar on the project, that is how I got to visit Pixar.

The adventure began with a five hour bus ride to San Diego from El Segundo. "But it is only a two hour drive", you say? Well, no one factored in a semi truck hitting a van parked on the shoulder, flipping over, and having its gas tank explode, then setting the near by hill on fire...causing a three hour delay. At one point we traveled four miles in one hour. Awesome!

Anyway, we got there. I did the usual looking around, and I found my buddy Snoopy.


I spent the entire time there looking for J. Scott Campbell. I finally found his booth with about a half hour to spare. He signed my book and poster...$50, but worth it. This guy is amazing!


I also met up with an old school mate. She works in Rhode Island at Hasbro on the Littlest Pet Shop line. She spotted me and we hung out for a few hours. That was awesome. It is great to see old friends, email and Facebook just is not the same. I wish I could have spent more time with her. Who knows when I will see her again.

Oh, yeah...I also saw Kevin Spacey there. He had a whole "security team" with him and a camera crew. He came within three feet of me. I did not realize until the chubby security guard pushed me out of the way as if there was a fire. Nothing against Mr. Spacey, I think he is a great actor...but most security people are a bunch of ASSHOLES!

Marty McFly's 2015 Nike Shoes.

Nike to release Hyperdunk this summer...in 2015 (Back to the Future II) colours. My life will soon be complete. Face it, the chances of me getting a Delorean are slim. This is the next best thing. From what I have heard, only limited to 500.



Look, I do not ask for much...but I would love to get my feet into a pair of these. Feel free to get me a pair of theThanks, I am a size 8US (7UK, 41EUR, 26cm).

UPDATE: marqueesole has them for sale in size 9...for only $2015.

UPDATE 2: Now, they are only $500 (plus $30 shipping). With a thick pair of socks, I think I can fit a size 9.

UPDATE 3: Price back up to $2015...but are SOLD OUT.

UPDATE 4: Here are some better pictures that I am too lazy to steal.

Pixar Animation Studios

Yeah, I have been away for a while. Not like anyone reads this anyway. But, I did go on a trip. Actually, I went to visit Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville.


This is the entrance to the parking lot, right after you check in with security.

In the front of the building, a large scale replica of Luxo. I was told that it actually lights up at night. How cool is that?

...and the lobby. The entire left is the cafeteria. On the left is a company store. It was being remodeled at the time, so I did not get to spend any money. Also on the left is the mail room and a game room, fully equipped with a ping pong table, air hockey, Playstation, XBox, and some other fun stuff. Then the highlight of the tour, at least for me...they have a cereal bar! And it is FREE! Free cereal any time! Oh, see that blue bowl sitting on the counter? Inside that is Twizzlers, and it is free!

You can also see a WALL*E display in the lobby, along with banners on either side of the atrium. In the far back is a large theatre, with two smaller theaters on either side.

Oh look, here is proof that I was there, too. Sully and Mike was just hanging out in the lobby. Unfortunately, we were only allowed to photo the lobby/atrium area. these are all the photos that I took. They had a display of the Incredibles and Finding Nemo that I wanted a photo with. Bummer.

If you ever get a chance to visit Pixar, do it! Absolutely one the coolest places I have ever been to.