Finally, a relaxing weekend! All the preparation is finished and I’m ready for my business trip into Toronto/Oakville. I’ve got my new business cards all printed up and finished my laundry (trust me, it’s a tough haul).

We had our mighty company barbeque and although it started off scary, it went well. We had cheaped out and bought crappy charcoal briquettes that WOULD NOT LIGHT. If you can picture it, 12 guys all being macho gorillas and trying to start the fire…some waving paper plates to build the air up, others jamming wood and paper in and lighter fluid and matches, it was pretty bad. Then, Nick and Ken went out and got real briquettes while Donovan and I got the old ones to light up anyways.

Then, when the fire was started, Mieka almost blew us all up. She squirted a whole bunch of lighter fluid into the barbeque without looking and the flame shot up towards the nozzle of the bottle.

James and I blew out the flame before the “bomb” went off and after that Mieka was permanently off of cooking duty. We’re all calling her the little pyro now. It’s funny now, but at the time, I almost crapped myself.

Luckily, after that everything went amazing. Beautiful weather, great people and a celebration of the mind numbing hours we put into the company. Lots of hamburgers, hot dogs, Miami style ribs and lastly, toasted marshmallows. I think our new Computer Animator guy Ron wasn’t used to our antics, but we definitely had him laughing.

After I return from the Sheridan Open House I’ll be reorganizing my stuff at the new office and getting some “Jimbo” time to relax and get ready for the summer.

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO:
I’ve been on a HUGE kick for the Cardigans this week. The Cardigans did that hit Lovefool a couple years ago, but I like their other songs much better. I’ve got 3 of their albums: Emmerdale, First Band on the Moon and Gran Turismo and they are all excellent. I have a hard time listening to albums all the way through, but the Cardigans kick butt.

WHAT I’M READING:
This week has mainly been too busy for reading. I’m planning on going to some comic book stores in Toronto with Ken, so maybe I’ll pick up something cool there.

WHAT I’M WATCHING:
I saw a hideous piece of animation known as the Hercules and Xena animated movie. It’s depressing seeing something this bad get funding and staff getting paid for producing crap. Oh well…the song the villains sing is hilarious, but not because it’s intended that way.

Next week I have some very big news that I can’t talk about right now. I hope people’s minds don’t wander about this too much. I’ll let you all know as soon as I can, but at this point it’s still hush-hush.

Let’s see, another exciting week in the world of Zub.

After months of trying to reorganize our office, I can proudly announce that Aurenya is moving to more convenient and much more spacious office space on May 1st. We’ve been meaning to do this for a long time and with all of the other thing son our plate it just hasn’t come about until now. The coolest part of this is that the boys will be moving us while Kandrix and I are in Toronto, saving us the headache of moving day 🙂

With the new place, we’ll have more than enough power for the fridge, microwave and toaster oven that were a part of our Aurenya life back in the first office space we had. Looks like Toaster Strudels and Pizza Pops are back on the menu 🙂

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO:
I treated myself this week with some purchases I’m all proud of. Firstly, I picked up the soundtrack to The Big Chill, which is filled with all kinds of 60’s and 70’s music. My Aunt Edith showed me that movie when I was living at her place and it really means a lot to me in terms of growing up and friendships I’ve had. So, hearing those tunes, even though I wasn’t around when they originally came out, is kind of cool.

WHAT I’VE BEEN READING:
I’m back in to reading comics and two of the books I’m currently reading are really, really strange, but pleasing as well. The first one is Preacher and it’s a VERY VIOLENT but extremely satisfying experience. Not a book for everyone. It’s a wild, blasphemous adventure when a preacher gets possessed by a demonic spirit and he goes on a road trip to find God. That’s about all I can say without revealing too much. Check it out at your own risk because it’s definitely ‘R’ rated as far as content goes.

The other one is one that my friends Dav and Stacy had told me about a long time ago, but I hadn’t picked up until now. It’s called The Invisibles and is also very crazy and over the top like Preacher. Every conspiracy theory, from aliens to the occult are true and a group of freedom fighters of all sorts of backgrounds are trying to take control away from an overpowering evil. Very cool and again not for everyone especially the easily offended.

I can’t believe that I’ll be back in TO in just over a week. It’s scary and wonderful and I hope I can do all the things I want to before it’s all over.

After the Sheridan Open House, things will be calming down around the office as we prep for summer and I’m set to get out and have a social life. The goal this summer is to do more artwork for myself and meet some great new people.

The entire staff, both the people on board and the people we’ve been interviewing for new positions, are going to be getting together next Saturday for Kurt’s going-away party. Kurt’s one of our animators and a real workhorse and we’re sad to see him go. He’s heading back to Sheridan to complete his Summer Animation school training and I’m positive he’s going to make big waves there. A lot of the summer students don’t draw enough in their off-months, but Kurt’s been plugging away here and his progress is amazing. So, it’s a good time to celebrate the company as a whole and get everyone pumped for the trip Kandrix and I are taking. All told, there will be about 40 people there. Now that I think about it, we’re growing fast!

So, with all of that, it’s been a busy week as always and I’m looking forward to the next one and the summer approaching.

Until next week…

Another week, and more stuff….

This week was good for drawing and I’ll be posting up new artwork at my site really soon. As always, my time is limited, so I haven’t really had much of a chance.

I did a little animation piece for Chromacolour International, the company that supplies Disney, Dreamworks and all the other feature guys their paper and pencils. It’s for a demo program they’ve got running on their webpage.

The exposure sure can’t hurt at all. They didn’t want too much in terms of high quality, but it’s good to have my name out there just the same. Keep in mind that it’s VERY SHORT and not all too impressive, I just wanted people to know that I’d done work on it.

I went and saw The Matrix on Tuesday and overall I thought it was a blast. It’s not deep and meaningful, it’s just fun. There’s lots of crazy action and wild, outrageous scenes that work well with the medium. Don’t look for deep plot and stuff, just go in for the visuals. Only some of the people on this mailing list will catch this reference, but the movie is very “SHUI”(pronounced SHWEEE)… and I’ll leave it at that.

Nickelodeon is doing a movie adaptation of one of my favorite comics called Bone and I’m thinking that since they are out-sourcing a lot of animation work, that Aurenya will try and get in on the action. If it turns out, I’ll be tickled pink and be a part of a really, really cool thing. The concept work I’ve seen on the film is really nice and from all indications, it looks like a project to be proud of.

This summer is going to be a heavy one in terms of cool movies. Mononoke Hime, Austin Powers 2, Star Wars, Tarzan and Iron Giant are all ones I’m eager to check out on the big screen.

My docs are falling apart and when I go to Toronto, I have to buy new shoes. These ones have been around for a long time and they are DYING. I want to do quite a bit of shopping in TO if I get the chance…

Otherwise, things are good and I’m enjoying a cold Strongbow cider while typing this. The work schedule is always hectic and my laundry’s piling up, but I’m doing OK.

So, until next week…