Off the Road #2

Road-tripping cross-country is a unique experience. Everyone should do it at least once. I do enjoy a long haul when it's just me and the road. Me and the wife and three kids and the road is about as close to hell you can get without adding a roadside breakdown. My biggest fear was a tire blowing out crossing the desert with nothing in sight for miles. Made my way following Route 66/I-40 back east. Ran the whole way sans A/C so's to keep the engine Hamsters happy. First major stop: The Meteor Crater outside Flagstaff, AZ.

Click for Panoramic

I had always wanted to see this for myself since Starman. Proof there are rocks in outer space and they intend to destroy us.

Me and the Rock. No relation to Dwayne Johnson.

Next day, next stop was at the Famous Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, TX. I almost missed it until I spotted a group of cars and campers parked alongside a field. Then I noticed the path with the cars nosediving into the Texas prairie. One fast exit later:

The majority of the trip was pretty non-eventful with a few scattered bright spots like the Route 66 Casino, The Arizona Forests with shuttle service to the Grand Canyon, that giant mesa sitting on top of Albuquerque, NM, and the rock-caves on the NM border.

It was good to get home. Even took a quick trip around UNT and got a look at all the new expansions in the past 15 years. If there was a parking lot space then it's covered with a building now. The Flying Tomato and Jim's Diner are gone. A big empty waiting for a brand-new soulless CVS or something else banal. Some new spots on the strip but obviously a page has turned.

Off the Road #1

From my flight to L.A. - The circle in the dirt is the Meteor Crater outside Flagstaff, AZ.

So I'm Back in Dallas after a whirlwind tour of the Northern and Southwestern states. Home again to try to remotely convince the studios that they were stupid to let me go and we'll just see if I decide to come back again. Hmph!

The decision was made to pack it in after a clean sweep of strike outs at the major studios in L.A. Pixar was the last holdout. It was an honor to be nominated. A phone interview with Patrick Lin and a couple DP's isn't too shabby but it doesn't really work on a resume: Special Skills - nearly talked my way into the biggest CG studio on the planet.

Took the opportunity to hook up with the guys from Imagi. Everybody had something good going on and they were very supportive. Adam's trying to land us on Tron2. Chuck is having way too much fun at my job on Tinkerbell. Josh is making inroads at my job at Dreamworks. Funny story, I got a call from Meredith at DWA saying 'Don't call us, we'll call you'. Apparently, all those submissions to Creative Heads and shout-outs actually go somewhere and I managed to piss off the hiring chick. Hey, if they didn't want submissions, they should stop posting open positions.

Next was the crew screening of Kung-Fu Panda. Awesome! That was a bittersweet capper to my first stab at Tinseltown. All that great work up on screen and not much to show for it. The crew was happy to see me and expressed sympathy for the situation. They'd all love to have me back but it sounds like it is totally out of their hands. Hope I get a poster.