Spiders, slugs, and geckos - oh my!

So, I've noticed an increasing number of creepy crawlies lately. This particular big guy is outside my work, and has an almost four-inch span.

I love the rain.

Central Texas thunderstorms are awesome, but usually only last a few minutes (15 on the outside). This one, however, has been cranking away for 45 minutes.

I'm sitting in a third-floor office in northwest Austin, watching the deluge. Looking out over the trees towards downtown Austin, it almost looks like a tropical rainforest -- steamy, swollen raindrops, tons of lightning, and booming thunder. I can barely see buildings across the parking lot, the rain is so heavy.

Impressive. Most impressive.

I am tech geek

I am tech geek. I have more than a terabyte of storage.

I've got a Windows Media Center PC I use for everything from audio and video editing to recording massive amounts of TV.

The thing "only" came with a 160GB hard drive, but since I record tons of animation stuff and every Inside the Actors Studio, I added an internal 300GB hard drive, and since this computer is crucial for my Biz stuff, I jumped on an unreal deal for a 300GB external drive, where all of my working files live, in case the computer should ever go kaput.

Then, this weekend, it sounded like the original 160 Gig hard drive was failing. So, even thought I had the flu and a bad sinus infection (not a recommended combination, rest assured), I rushed out and got a steal on a 400GB replacement internal drive, and spent the entire freaking weekend rebuilding my computer (in between bouts of nausea, dizziness, and uh, Xbox sessions). I bought a cheapy USB enclosure for the old hard drive, so I could (in theory) "easily" recover all of my Email, calendar, contacts, etc. (turned out that was a little more work in practice, but it's all done now).

So, sitting back amidst the techno carnage during a bout of cold sweats (and somewhere during the X-Men Legends "Weapon X" flashback level), I still felt good at having rescued my computer -- until I heard the same, bad, high-pitched whine and ball-bearing rattle that caused me to replace the hard drive in the first place.

Turns out the power unit -- not the hard drive -- was going bad. For those in the know, yes, this is a cheaper, easier, and less serious replacement on a computer.

But, since I'm a "The-glass-is--full-and-how-do-I-fill-up-the-other-half?" kind of guy, I still have the following:
400GB internal hard drive (new)
+ 300GB internal hard drive (existing)
+ 300GB external hard drive (existing)
+ 160GB external hard drive (old internal)
-------------------------
= 1.16 terabytes of storage

I feel like I've reached a new level of my technology ownership. Not bad for a guy who's first computer (after the beloved Atari 2600 game console) was an Atari 520ST (with 520K of physical memory); and I felt like I'd really arrived when I upgraded to the Atari Mega II ST.

(Incidently, my two favorite games on the Atari were Kings Quest III and Dungeon Master. I'm still looking for a game that hooks me as much and for as long as Dungeon Master did.)

"Never work with kids or animals." So says the Biz adage.

I'm of the mindset of Danny Boyle, who said the adage simply isn't true.

Yesterday was BigHugeCorp's "Bring Your Child to Work Day" (which, in true big business fashion, was summarily reduced to the unpronounceable acronym "BYCTWD").

Part of the festivities included filming a commercial -- really a PR piece, "focusing on the Company's most valuable assets: Its people!"

Once again, as they were looking around for someone to pull this off, they again went down the rabbit hole of, "Who do we know that does films and commercials? Adam!"

So we wrangled together two groups of 24 kids, shot two commercials in an hour a piece, edited each for a rough-cut (an hour and 35 minutes, respectively, for editing commercials #1 and #2), and we were able to show the kids a semblence of a finished commercial on the day of the shoot. Very cool.

This was by no means a solo act. I had some talented people working with me the couple of weeks leading up to yesterday. One is a theater actress. Another has theater, modeling, and (a ha!) kids' theater camp experience (why wasn't he on the hook for this thing?). An editor-want-to-be who knew the tools and could grasp the creative direction. Our DP is an accomplished film maker in his own right. An adept photographer who made a good grip/gaffer. An intern we could tell to shut up and do whatever we asked (never understimate the value of that). And other folks who gave their time and energy to make cue cards and help out in other ways.

So it turned out well. It's footage of kids being authentic, talking about what their parents do to make BigHugeCorp successful, and it turned out well. Because they're minors and the thing isn't intended for broadcast, I won't post any clips here, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Now, to spend the weekend cranking the final cut for OneWhoHasPower in BigHugeCorp to approve.

At least the kids were fun ...

VO audition until 2 a.m. last night

Granted, it was an MP3 audition, and it was so late because the Reel Women monthly mix went so late. And my PC mic conked out, so I was reduced to recording my sessions into my digital voice mail, Emailing them to myself, running them through a filter to reduce the phone tinniness (without changing the audio quality), then saving them as an MP3. Plus I have a head cold, so I had to do a bunch of takes to Email to my rocking (and understanding and collaborative) agent to pick the best and forward on.

Anything for a gig.

So, what was the gig that had me working so hard? Can't say :-) . But I can tease: It'd be narration for a feature\documentary for an activity that could be labeled "redneck" or "white trash", but in reality involves some talented, athletic, entertaining, and fun-loving folks, and it's with a professional company with whom I've wanted to work for some time. I may have said too much....

I am humbled and amazed by people ...

St. Edwards University audition

Just leaving an audition for St. Edwards University. I got to act like a re-entering college student listening to a lecture. Worked well, because I wouldn't mind being a student again, and I'm usually being lectured by someone. By the way, I don't recommend trying to take a picture me the St. Ed's exit sign while driving. Or text blogging while driving. Now I'm off to the Reel Women monthly mixer.

Check out my comic book video games write-up on my video game blog!

http://www.adamcreighton.com/blogs/gaming/2005/07/2005-2007-years-of-comic-book-video.html

Audition for The Apprentice ...

It's called a turn lane!

This is the carton for a fly fishing desk I bought from American outdoor franchise Cabela's. I don't know whether to be more concerned that it was manufactured in China, or that Cabela's is misspelled.

Minor tweaks to the website today.

"Home" is now "About", I separated out "Demos" and "Clips" into "Voice" and "Video", etc.

Yeah, not sexy, but hey, hopefully a little more intuitive.

I'll post more video clips of me soon. Now that's sexy ...

Yeah, but is it made with real Asian?

Dwayne McDuffie is absolutely amazing.

OK, I've like Dwayne for along time. I think St. George (on which he was editor) was amazing and underrated, and it was the first title I remember getting angry about being canceled. I felt like he rejuvenated Deathlok as a character for Marvel, and, of course, The Tick. And I'm very impressed with his bravery in creating and championing Static (Static Shock).

But what I'm most recently impressed into writing about Dwayne is his work on Justice League Unlimited. After a shaky start this second season, JLU righted itself, and I just finished the series finale arc, written/produced by Dwayne.

You need to see this finale. It carries through with themes are devices introduced throughout the series, but arguably starts in earnest with Question Authority, and ended Saturday with Divided We Fall.

The writing (including dialog) is striking, witty, passionate, and moving. The almost filmic finishing arc is dark, and the stakes are high.

As an aside, I get a little bent out of shape at politics in my entertainment (a la Revenge of the Sith), but the politics injected in JLU feel organic, necessary, common sense, and ... well ... right.

So, check out the series finale arc for Justice League Unlimited. It's cartooning for adults -- seriously, I've had folks who aren't overly keen on my cartoon viewing floored by this series.

Also, check out Dwayne's site. The guy is a mainstay and a courageus power in the industry.

So, I was attacked by a dog tonight.

I'm fine -- the dog was a bully, not a biter -- but I'm pretty peeved at character disordered pet owners.

I was out running in the rain (I find it a great, refreshing, creative time to run), when a guy stepped out of his house with what looked like a large red akita. The dog ran at me, which I ignored, because the owner was there, and I thought, "Surely the dog is safe, with his owner standing right there."

The dog barreled in to me (must've been about 90 pounds), looked surprised that I didn't run, and took off up the street.

No reaction from the owner. None. Zip. Nada. Seriously, he looked expressionless as I continued my run past him.

I was 25 yards down when I could hear the dog's nails clipping across the asphalt as he charged me again. I turned around, planted my feet, and wound up to deck the dog.

So, here's the other scary part (aside from the owner doing nothing while all of this is happening): The dog saw what I was doing, it registered, and he skidded to a stop and ran back down the street. A dog that that has enough history to recognize a runner going into self-defense is a scary thing.

I'm a dog person, but seriously, if you own a dog, take responsibility for it. Don't penalize a dog for your bad decisions, if you can't handle or manage your pet.

I guess I'll have to do my rave of Dwayne McDuffie later this week, and defer my update of my video game blog with comic book gaming goodness as well.

Stupid character-disordered dog owner ...

I saw The Fantastic Four at lunch today (yes, the movie).

Good summer flick, a lotta fun, great trailers, good cast.

Speaking of cast, though I think they made a major miss-step in making The Thing foam-rubbery-looking rock (instead of CGI, a la Hulk), I'm finding myself liking Michael Chiklis. Then, Jessica Alba (Sue Storm/The Invisible Girl) is (of course) incredibly watchable (Gorgeous? The comic book leading lady? And she can act?). I liked Julian McMahon (Dr. Victor von Doom) in The Profiler, and I'm looking forward to Prisoner. I'm still thinking about Ioan Gruffudd (Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic). He's a surprisingly prolific (professionally) young(ish) actor, so I think I'll check out King Arthur and a few of his other things and get back with you. He does do a good job with some rough dialogue, though.

Which leaves us with Chris Evans (Johnny Storm/the Human Torch), who is a lot of fun in this flick. He looks like he's haveing a fun, and his scenes feel authentic.

Other than the movie, my trailer awards include the following:

• Best Trailer: King Kong (still second to The Chronicles of Narnia; that one still makes me want to stand up and applaud).
  
• Best well-deserved 2nd chance for an actor: Jason Statham, in The Transporter 2. I've found Statham a joy to watch since Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and felt he gave us a taste of his future greatness in Snatch. The first Transporter film was terribly underrated, and I was worried the critical pan was going to short-circuit his career. The new film kicks off a 7 flick run over the rest of this year and next for Strathum, so I'm a happy camper.
  

Back to FF, I can't help but find it significant that the film opened a week after its planned release (so as not to compete with the July 4 launch of War of the Worlds), but has made $25 million more (in a week's less time).

I gotta think Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise find it significant, too ... ;-)

I am so freaking TIRED!

On my way FROM the AFF competition trailer shoot ...

On my way TO the AFF competition trailer shoot ...

Bummer. Client dinner for the toy job kept me from meeting with biz buddies and a bunch of out-of-town acting buddies tonight.

*sigh*

Ah, well. At least the clients are pretty cool. And Fonda San Miguel rocks!