A broken mac and thoughts on life...

Last week I was writing some emails on my 7 month old Powerbook and, having finished, closed it up and sat it down. When I came back to use it, it was off and when booted only showed a gray screen of nothing. I searched the web for a while looking for answers and tried the reasonable ones (seriously, are there people that take a part lap tops themselves?). Nothing worked, so I took it to the Apple Store on Friday. The sent it off and I hope to get it back soon....I miss the little guy. That baseball bat to the face life threw at me a while ago is still stinging but I'm working through it. I’m a thinker. I want to understand it all, but I know that’s not possible. That’s where knowledge ends and faith begins. It might be nice to have more control in what happens to us, to be able to mulligan our mistakes, to not let the decisions of others shatter our realities, to choose only the things that make us happy to meet us on this road we tread - It might be nice, but it wouldn’t be life. Life is isn’t so much about what circumstances we find ourselves in, but who we become in those tempests.

So windows can whistle...

This past weekend a good buddy of mine from my days in DC came to stay with me for the weekend. I've not seen him for almost 4 years but it was like I'd seen him last week. Friends like that are rare and far between and it was great to hang out again. Back to the point, Saturday night was a windy one here in the Windy City. Tonight is as well, which is what reminded me. So it seems that the windows of my apartment are so positioned that a heavy wind happens to interact with the sealing on my patio door to cause a high pitched whistle. I had the pleasure of being awakened at about 3:00 am to such a whistle- I'm sure you can imagine my happiness. I just heard it again...I'm sure this is the beginning of many a fun evening as Chicago's winter season settles in.

Savannah Film Festival and catching up...

Headed out a week ago Thursday for the Savannah Film Festival and had great time. The festival went out of it's way to make sure we were taken care of. Talking to some of the other festival hoppers, that is most definitely not always the case. I met some great film makers and saw some phenomenal pieces. I had a great time overall. I'm heading to California for Thanksgiving to hang with my brother and nephews which should be great times- nothing makes you smile like having a couple of pint size nephews jumping off your back. Also, my brother is getting an Xbox 360 which should mean some late night frag-a-thons. I saw Chicken Little last week in 3d which was a treat. I really enjoyed the film overall. The story wasn't as strong as I'd have liked but the animation of the main characters was outstanding overall. The fish was my favorite character- great attitude sans words. When I first started seeing stuff on the film, I was worried that Chicken Little's "pupil eyes" would have issues being as expressive as "real" eyes. However, I think they worked great. I wonder how it would work on a character without glasses as they are a good natural cheat. Yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I some vacation days I had to use before the end of the year- nothing like being ordered to take paid time off.

Stuff...

Life has a funny way of hitting you in the face with a baseball bat when you least suspect it. Well, I got a doozy. Things suck right now; that's all I'm gonna say for now. Back to pretending it's all good. In other news: • I'm heading to Savannah tomorrow for the Savannah Film Festival. The Potter is showing there and they were kind enough to invite me out. I'm really looking forward to getting away for a few days, see some old friends, and watch some animation. • I got a call from a publisher who wants to use an image from The Potter for a book cover which is very cool if that goes through alright. • Freelance work is going well and I have had a very interesting lead turn up that I'm very excited about. • My best friend recently had his first child...err, his wife did but I imagine he had something to do with it • There is a great collection of concept art - here Should be writing soon on the wonder world of Tivo and gonna have a ton of movies to talk about. How can a CG nut not be excited about movies in the next two months?!