Get KRAKEN

HALLOWEEN CUPCAKE HUNT 2010

2011-10-30T20:12:00.001-07:00

We're almost to Halloween...actually, we've got about three hours as I write this, but IT'S NOT TOO LATE to post the results of 2010's Halloween Cupcake Hunt! This is where we drive around town looking for Halloween cupcakes, bring them home, taste them, and then pick a winner based on nothing more than however I was feeling at the moment.

We had the good fortune to bring friends along with us this time. Halloween is 2 days before Steph's birthday, so we managed to get her and Bill away from their kids for an afternoon in order to comb the city for cupcakes. This was especially lucky, because Steph is also a cupcake snob, and usually the person to let me know when a new bakery pops up in town, so it was great to have her along.

MF came too, sporting a great hat...

And Bill was nice enough to take pictures, as well as entertain Kaylee on her first Halloween with us.

Our first stop was to Cupcake Row in Santa Monica where two of this city's heavy weights are located a mere block away from one another.

Here we are outside Vanilla Bakeshop. Vanilla really does have some of the best cupcakes I've ever tasted, and this year, as opposed to years past, they actually had some Halloween themed cupcakes.

They also had a gorgeous, spooky, fondant cake, and some sort of Macaroon Obelisks, doubtlessly for some sort of cult worship.

Then we popped into Yummy Cupcakes.

Yummy was the winner last year not only because they make a hell of a cupcake, but because they REALLY went all-in for Halloween, designing several cakes specifically for the holiday. In fact, you can see last year's winner right here...the Blackout Cake.

And here are some coconut ghosties.

On our way back to Hollywood, we stopped in Famous Cupcakes. You may recall this place from last year's blog because of the overly ridiculous Kardashian endorsement on the box.

From

To my knowledge, this place is not owned by the Kardashian sisters, but even if it were, I don't think that would stop me from mocking them over their boxes.

Steph was the one who told me about this place a year ago, and she had still never been, so we made it a mandatory stop. Turns out, they had some really good lookin' product on display.

After that, we hit 3rd street by the Beverly Center where New York's famous Magnolia Bakery had just opened their LA store.

I've been told that Magnolia was responsible for starting this cupcake craze several years ago, so we were excited to add them to the roster. (They have some amazing looking stuff aside from cupcakes, BTW. I'd recommend heading by if you ever have the chance.)

Across the street from Magnolia is Joan's on Third where we had picked up a fabulous Snicker's cupcake the year before.

From

I highly recommend this place, too. They've got some really creative stuff there, and I have yet to taste anything less than awesome come out of their bakery.

Sweet Lady Jane's is always a must, especially since they've won this contest 2 times. It always feels like swinging by to pick up and old friend.

The final stop on the tour was Frosted on Highland. We'd never been to this place before, and they had some really interesting flavor combinations. Out of all the places we stopped during the day, this place certainly got the most number of "Oh really?"'s out of us.

They also had the distinction of being the only bakery with cupcakes for dogs. That won them a lot of points with Kaylee.

So, with a car full of desserts, we headed home to get into it.

Kaylee ate first.

Then we unpacked everything and divied it up.

Bat and Werewolf face: SWEET LADY JANE, Peanut Butter Ghostie: JOAN'S ON THIRD, Spider: YUMMY

Orange Sprinkles: FAMOUS, Pumpkin: FROSTED, Zombie Hand: YUMMY

Boo and Pumpkin: FROSTED, Orange Sprinkles: FAMOUS, Spider: VANILLA BAKESHOP

Those were between Steph and I.

This was MF's plate.

Bill was demure.

Oh, and Bill also stopped in a Churro place next to Sweet Lady Jane's. I'm pretty sure that's against the rules, but he didn't seem to hear me.

So, we dug in.

Steph was far more precise, cutting slices off of hers...before stabbing teenagers.

I just made a mess.

There was a lot of careful tabulating, but in the end, there could only be one winner.

Famous Cupcakes.

Yeah, it pains me to say it, but the Kardashians were actually right. The cake was moist and tasty, and the chocolate frosting was light and creamy with a rich dark chocolate flavor. Overall just a hell of a good cupcake.

So there we are. We're gettin' ready for tomorrow's hunt, so I'll let ya know in a year what the results are. Till then, Happy Halloween everybody!

Holy WTF?!

2011-04-27T23:20:00.000-07:00

I just got an email from Amazon suggesting that I might like some action movies.

Is it a coincidence that the first movie on the list IS THE ONE THAT I WROTE?!

Now that's aggressive advertising.

By the way, Ballistica is evidently available. Put it in your Netflix queue and let me know what you think!

How sad am I to NOT have HBO right now?

2011-04-19T00:31:00.000-07:00

Yes, the Iron Throne seemed like the best place to sign-up for Comcast.

New Vampire T-Shirt!

2011-03-07T00:23:00.000-08:00

Not to be outdone by previous years, my sister has given me a brand new, brain-melting Vampire t-shirt!

I figured that a Vampire lover like me would be able to name all of these bloodsuckers, but a couple of them have really stumped me. How many can you name?

Writing on Xmas Eve...

2010-12-24T23:15:00.000-08:00

Just spell-checking something, and WORD suggested I replace "Dreadgeist" with "Deadbeat."

That's awesome.

Merry Xmas!

Halloween Cupcakes 2009!

2010-10-28T00:34:00.000-07:00

From cupcakes_2009

Aw yeah…it's almost Halloween, and MF and I are getting ready for our annual CUPCAKE HUNT! Basically, we take Halloween day to drive around town, visiting a pumpkin-load of bakeries, buying cupcakes, and then bringing them home to taste and rate them using absolutely no criteria whatsoever. The only rule is that they be Halloween themed in some sort of way.

Then we pick a winner and go watch spooky movies to get through our sugar comas.

(I always wait till the following Halloween to post our results, mainly because I have no interest in talking about Halloween after the 31st, and posting the results a year later gets me excited all over again. )

So this was 2009:

Now for those who don't remember, Halloween was actually pretty warm last year, and since we spend about 4 hours driving around town, I was worried that our cupcakes would melt in the car. Our solution? Pack a cooler full of ice-packs.

From cupcakes_2009

Portable cupcake carrier is GO.

Our first stop was Sweet Lady Jane's on Melrose.

From cupcakes_2009

This place makes THE most incredible cupcake frosting I have ever tasted. It won our little competition the first year, and we usually go there first, because they tend to run out of Halloween cupcakes by early afternoon.

After that, we swung be Thee's in the Farmer's Market.

From cupcakes_2009

These guys won the year that we got to Sweet Lady Jane's late, and all they had left were carrot cupcakes. Thee's usually turns in a solid Halloween cupcake, and there's really something to be said for the little plastic witch sticking out of the top.

Then, we took Kimberly's advice and hit Joan's on Third for the first time ever.

From cupcakes_2009

This place was AWESOME, and we came away with a yummy looking Snickers cupcake with a little ghost on top.

From cupcakes_2009

After that, we headed to another new spot on Beverwil called Famous Cupcakes.

From cupcakes_2009

Steph mentioned this place, having never been to it, hoping that our professional analysis would let her know if it was good enough to visit. All I can say is, this was their packaging:

From cupcakes_2009

Evidently, a thumbs-up from the Kardashian Sisters.

What?

Okay. They also didn't have any Halloween cupcakes when we got there, but a nice girl behind the counter said they were getting more in an hour in case we wanted to come back. That was cool, so we headed to Santa Monica for two of our favorite standbys:

From cupcakes_2009

(Nosferatu T-shirt by Threadless!)

Vanilla Bake Shop always has a solid cupcake, and I can't sing them enough praises. The first year we stopped in, they didn't have any Halloween cupcakes, so they couldn't be in the competition. They almost won last year with their "Black and White" cupcake, and this year, they happened to have a little ghostie sitting on top of their Bittersweet Chocolate cupcake, (which is one of my favorites.)

From cupcakes_2009

One block down the street is their arch-rival, Yummy Cupcakes!

From cupcakes_2009

(Okay, I may have just said that to increase the drama, but it's fun to think of them as rivals.) Yummy was overly impressive this year with FIVE Halloween cupcakes. And these weren't their normal flavors with a little pumpkin on top…these were special cupcakes DESIGNED for Halloween. Now that's the kinda spirit we're looking' for! My pick was called the Blackout Cake!

From cupcakes_2009

Mary Frances' choice was Peanut butter with a spooky cat.

From cupcakes_2009

After the Santa Monica leg, we went back to Kardashian Cupcakes, where they had two special selections waiting for us.

From cupcakes_2009

Thanks, girl behind the counter...that was awfully cool of you!

By that time, it was getting to be rush hour, so we skipped our usual ritual of seeing what the grocery store had to offer, and took our cooler full of cupcakes back to spooky town.

From cupcakes_2009

MF did the arranging.

From cupcakes_2009

I dug in.

From cupcakes_2009

I tasted and tested...

From cupcakes_2009

They were all exceptionally good, with one surprise FAIL. From Thee's!

From cupcakes_2009

I don't know what the deal was, but the normal baker must have had a stroke that morning because this frosting was made by an Ugnaught. It had NO taste! It was like eating whipped orange lard! FAIL.

Apart from that, the choice was difficult, but it came down to two...Yummy and 2 time winner, Sweet Lady Jane.

From cupcakes_2009

Yummy's Blackout Cake had a layer of chocolate fudge frosting, topped by a layer of cocoa powder, and finished off with a chocolate drizzle and zombie hand. It was amazing.

From cupcakes_2009

Sweet Lady Jane always has good moist cake, and like I said, their frosting is something RIDICULOUS. Plus, it had a bat, which speaks to the Vampire in me.

Ultimately, I had to give it to Yummy.

From cupcakes_2009

The cupcake was outrageous, and the fact that they had designed several cupcakes SPECIFICALLY for Halloween was exactly the extra bit of love that this contest celebrates.

From cupcakes_2009

Who will take the cake this year? Will Yummy turn in new Halloween designs? Will Sweet Lady Jane just beat the trick or treat out everyone else with their incredible frosting? Or will one of the other bakeries surprise us? We have a few new places to try this time around, so really...anything can happen!

Happy Halloween, everybody!

From cupcakes_2009

So, this was MY weekend...

2010-10-13T23:43:00.001-07:00

Helped my friend Aaron out with a shoot. Went a little something like this...

Ya can't say no to that.

COMIC-CON Film School 2010 is a WRAP!

2010-07-26T22:37:00.000-07:00

The dionysian marathon that is Comic-Con is over, and I have finally slept.

This was year seven of the Film School, and I dare say this was our best year yet. The audience was fabulous, everybody had great questions, and my panelists were superb.

I also find it funny that even though we all live in LA, Comic-Con is the only time I see most of these people. What's awesome, is that there's now a group of folks who come by every year to hang out at the Film School, and I find myself looking forward to seeing them each time. I feel bad, because the class is pretty much the same every year, but they still come by every morning. Out of all the things I wind up doing at the convention, this is, I think, the best part. Walking into that screening room each morning and seeing my friends, (both attendees and panelists,) makes me wanna do this forever.

(I have no idea how Doug Jones wound up in the photo with us.)

Comic-Con also did a fabulous job programming this year. I went to several very cool panels, and got to hear some of my favorite creators talk about how they do what they do.

And as an added bonus, the premier of Lost Boys 3 took place at my hotel on Friday night! Now, obviously, that in and of itself is some Vampire badassness, but the coolest part is that my friend Kent Kubena PRODUCED the thing! The movie's a whole lotta fun, with some nice additions to the genre, including some very creative ways of killing Vampires. I walked out of that screening very happy, and when a WB guy grabbed me and said, "Do you wanna give your reactions on camera?' I was like..."Yeah, I've got somethin' to say about this movie."

And it looks like I made the final cut. (My part's near the end.)

I would have gone to see this movie even if Kent hadn't had anything to do with it, because, VAMPIRES, but it was fun to sneak into his EPK without him knowing. :)

1st PERSON SHOOTER

2010-07-20T23:01:00.000-07:00

1st Person Shooter from Sean Rourke on Vimeo.

It's been a long time coming, but I have finally uploaded 1st PERSON SHOOTER to the web!

This, my friends, is a feature.

It's a full 90 minute film, which is why it's taken so long for me to post it. Until just recently, there was no video upload site that would take something that long. VIMEO to the rescue!

This little project started shooting in 2003, finished in 2004, and debuted at the Comic Con International Independent Film Festival to the kind of reception that will make me die happy.

What's the story? It's about a small video game company that is trying to produce their latest, and possibly last video game. Problems thwart them at every turn, from clueless producers, to primadonna artists, to crazy playtesters, to unauthorized cheat codes. Everything is riding on them hitting their delivery date, and it's all captured mockumentary style by Video Game news reporter: Traci Nessi. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention that one of the two game designers has had a secret crush on her for years.

As I'm sure you'll see, we had a LOT of fun making this. It took a year's worth of shooting mostly weekends, in exotic locations like Comic Con, Santa Barbara, and my back yard. The main location was the Kodak building in Hollywood where several of us worked at a company called Cinesite. When I first handed the script to Bill, Cinesite had just announced that it was going out of business. We had roughly 4 weeks to prep a shoot for Memorial Day weekend, which would effectively be the last week that the company existed. As a result, we had the entire run of the place to do whatever we wanted...as long as we could get it done in three days.

An awful lot of great people worked really hard on this project, most of whom can be seen on our IMDB page here.

Have a watch, download it if you want, and let me know what ya think! Oh, and here's the trailer...just in case you wanna see what you're getting into. :)

1st Person Shooter Trailer from Sean Rourke on Vimeo.

COMIC CON!

2010-07-18T23:46:00.000-07:00

Comic Con Film School is back for year SEVEN! (Wow.)

Me and the crew will be doing our four-day panel in order to teach the geek nation how to make their own movies! The schedule looks like this:

THURS: 10am - 11:30am - Pre-Production
FRI: 10am - 11:30am - Production
SAT: 10am - 11:30am - Working with Actors and a Crew
SUN: 10am - 11am - Post Production

So if you're gonna be at the Con, come on by and say hi!

Valerie Perez (Paula Peril Series,) Michael "Dorkman" Scott (Ryan vs. Dorkman,) and myself on stage at last year's panel.

VAMPIRE CON!

2010-06-29T23:10:00.000-07:00

Vampire Con was last weekend!

What do you mean, "What the hell is Vampire Con?"

VAMPIRE CON

This was year 2 of the convention, which is basically a big gathering of people who love Vampires. There are Vampire products sold, costume contests, and best of all: Movie Screenings!

Imagine just how goofy the smile on my face was when I found out that they were showing Werner Herzog's 1979 remake of Nosferatu!

The only way I've ever seen this movie was on an old VHS copy, so I HAD to see it projected on a real screen. Film geek aside, the coolest thing about seeing it at this venue was sitting in a theater packed with Vampire fans. It was like watching it with a crowd of myself.

They were even selling Vampire chocolate and Vampire water at the concessions counter!

WIN.

Countess Lotti throws this event each year, and she really does a great job. It's so much fun hanging out with a breed of fan who are familiar with more than just Twilight. Don't get me wrong...I'll be at the theater this weekend to see Eclipse, but there's definitely a difference in the vibe.

And Vampire WATER!

Who knew?

The Book of Eli is on video!

2010-06-21T23:03:00.000-07:00

I know a lot of people missed this one while it was in the theaters, so I wanted to recommend it as a rental...not just because I worked on it, but because it's a damn fun movie. When I came onto the project (which was toward the end,) the first thing I asked was to see the film. The opening seven minutes were great, I was excited by the end of the first twenty, and when it was all over, I was thrilled to be working on a GOOD movie.

So by all means, rent it, netflix it, iphone it. It's a lot of fun.

My Mom took this of me over Xmas when I was in Omaha. I was excited because it was the first poster I'd seen for the movie in an actual theater. No idea why I look so somber...maybe I was getting psyched up for being snowed into the house for the next 3 days. :)

At last, a KRAKEN explanation!

2010-06-15T18:22:00.000-07:00

Yes.

Lost

2010-05-24T00:30:00.000-07:00

Boo.

Eyjafjallajökull

2010-05-12T15:52:00.000-07:00

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.

Absolutely amazing.

Kraken Proverb...

2010-04-02T23:33:00.000-07:00

Was just forwarded this little bit of wisdom by my buddy, Deepstructure:

Ancient proverb: "If the only tool you have is a Kraken, every problem
looks like an excuse to release it."

So true.

Everybody go see Clash of the Titans. Deepstructure worked on it.

New Tron!

2010-03-08T22:52:00.000-08:00

New Tron Reboot episode by my buddy Ben Hansford!

Kraken Xmas Presents!

2010-01-07T23:24:00.000-08:00

My sister wins! Her gift to me this Xmas was a pair of t-shirts:

Now, obviously, I love t-shirts. I've spent more than a lot of money at Threadless.com, but these are particularly apropos for a show-nerd like myself! The Kraken t-shirt is taken from a French pen and wash circa 1801, which makes it extra cool in the pedigree department!

The Nosferatu shirt is obviously an image of Herr Maximilian from Murnau's seminal film. AND IT GLOWS IN THE DARK. (Who wants to touch me?)

I also got a bit of chuckle when I saw Max peeking out over the top of my sweatshirt.

(I feel like a Vampire Kangaroo.)

I didn't get my sister anything nearly this cool. :(

Ballistica Trailer.

2009-11-23T18:45:00.000-08:00

I just found this a couple days ago. It's the trailer for that movie I wrote back in 2008.

No idea when it'll be available, but as you can see, not soon enough!

KRAKEN is the new Vampire.

2009-11-05T10:54:00.000-08:00

How could I NOT post this?

And her book sounds pretty cool.

Halloween Cupcakes '08!

2009-10-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

For the first time on Get Kraken...it's Sean's HALLOWEEN CUPCAKE HUNT!

From cupcakes_2008

Every year, MF and I spend Halloween driving around LA, hording spooky cupcakes. Then we go back to our place, try them all, and pick a winner for the year. (I wait until the following year to post the results because I'm always in a frosting coma immediately following, and quite frankly, who wants to read anything about Halloween after October 31st?)

If you're at all interested in seeing the cupcakes from previous years, you can find them on my old MySpace Blog: 2007, 2006
(My apologies to the two people who still check myspace, but I won't be blogging there anymore now that I Got Kraken!)

The one requirement for this important competition is that the cupcakes need to be Halloween themed. In 2007, MF and I went to a couple places that had perfectly good cupcakes, but without spiders or zombies, they just couldn't be allowed to compete. One of those bakeries was the amazing Vanilla Bake Shop, and I mused about how awesome it would be to be throw them head-to-head with previous Champion, Sweet Lady Jane's, to find out once and for all who had the best cupcake.

I'm happy to say, that very showdown DID in fact occur in 2008! Here's the story:

We visited a record number of bakeries:

VANILLA BEAN

From cupcakes_2008

YUMMY CUPCAKES

From cupcakes_2008

SPRINKLES

From cupcakes_2008

HOTCAKES

From cupcakes_2008

THE FARM

From cupcakes_2008

SWEET LADY JANE'S (2006 Champion)

From cupcakes_2008

and THEE'S BAKERY (2007 Champion)

From cupcakes_2008

Ultimately, we piled-up quite an array of contenders!

From cupcakes_2008

I tested each one...

From cupcakes_2008

Using Ice Tea as a pallet cleanser between tastes.

From cupcakes_2008

It was a tough competition, with all kinds of surprises, not the least of which being that Sprinkles actually held it's own.

From cupcakes_2008

I keep hearing that this high-brow Beverly Hills Cupcakery is over-hyped, expensive, and not much to text home about, but on Halloween day, they actually turned in a good cupcake.

From cupcakes_2008

However, (as expected,) it ultimately came down to 2 cupcakes...Vanilla Bakeshop, and Sweet Lady Jane's.

From cupcakes_2008

This actually took several tries to figure out which was the best, but in the end, I had to rule in favor of Sweet Lady Jane's.

Not only was the presentation above and beyond Vanilla Bakeshop, the frosting is literally UNLIKE anything I've ever tasted. 2008's winner: SWEET LADY JANE's!

From cupcakes_2008

As a final note, I did have to give special mention to The Farm.

From cupcakes_2008

This little cupcake was REALLY clever! If it wasn't for the fact that fondant tastes NASTY, this guy might have won on looks alone!

This year, MF and I have planned a route that will bypass some of last year's stops, and rotate in a few new contenders. Will anyone have the chops to stop Sweet Lady Jane's from another win?

As my friend Joe Black would say, "It's Cake Time in Spooky Town!"

From cupcakes_2008

As an added bonus, here are a few extra shots from our day of cupcake hunting...

Some of THEE's more exiting looking pumpkins...

From cupcakes_2008

A cool leaf that was on my windshield when we got back from Sprinkles...

From cupcakes_2008

And Asian children trick-or-treating through the Grove at noon.

From cupcakes_2008

What?

The MIDNIGHT MEN is Up!!!

2009-08-26T15:57:00.001-07:00

The MIDNIGHT MEN is a comic book that Bill and I have been working on for a couple years now, and the website has just gone live!

themidnightmen.net

The first issue (and likely the only issue for awhile,) is there in web-comic form for you to enjoy at your leisure. You will also be able to order a printed version of the book once we get it uploaded to Ka-Boom.

The story takes place in 1941, just before America gets involved in World War II. It centers around a group of super heroes who are drafted by President Roosevelt to destroy a Nazi super-weapon. Roosevelt has been warned about the weapon by a time traveler from the future...a man who claims that the Nazis will win the war and conquer the world. In the first issue, our gang of heroes attempt to thwart an assassination foretold by the time traveler, thus making their first change to the timeline.

The main story is also backed up by a bunch of extras, including some stunning 2-page character bios by a group of very talented artists. So give it a look, and let me know what ya think!

New TRON Reboot!

2009-08-11T10:47:00.000-07:00

New TRON reboot from my buddy, Ben Hansford!

These videos are AWESOME, and SOOOO much work goes into them to make 'em look so good. I'm not sure Ben actually sleeps.

COMIC CON Film School '09 is IN THE CAN.

2009-07-27T16:33:00.000-07:00

Another Comic Con Film school has wrapped! This was year 6, and it was fabulous to meet and talk to a hole new group of future film makers. I'm always impressed by the questions we get asked, and the enthusiasm everyone has toward this art. I can't wait to see what people shoot!

Thanks for comin' by, and thanks to my panelists for making it another great four days!

SALAMANDER

2009-07-20T11:16:00.000-07:00

Salamander from Sean Rourke on Vimeo.

I recently joined Vimeo, and uploaded Salamander as a test to see what they're like.

These guys have a very cool approach to their community. It's strictly for original content, so you don't have tons and tons of anime, fan-mashed to the same Evanescence song. I also dig the fact that you don't have to limit your total run time to 10 minutes, (which is why I've never posted Salamander on Youtube.) And the playback looks pretty good.

But, since it's here now, I should probably say a few words about this video. (Although if you worked on it, you've already lived this next paragraph.) :)

Salamander is a podcast I wrote a while back, while going through an esoteric phase. It's a little LA crime story between two girls. One of them, DICE, is a criminal, who's been caught by the FBI. The mob doesn't want her to flip on them, so they try to have her killed. The other girl, CREEP, is someone from Dice's childhood...someone she couldn't stand as a kid, but is now the only person who can keep her safe.

Ultimately, it was written as a 22 episode podcast, (that wound up as a very confusing read,) but shortly after I finished the first draft, XBOX announced a competition. They were calling for pilots. The pilot had to be 15 minutes or less in length, and if selected, you'd get a 6 episode commitment on XBOX Live. So, being the crazy person I am, I somehow got a lot of great people together for a marathon 7 week schedule...shooting over two weekends, and doing post and VFX for another 4. I managed to get the DVDs into the mail mere moments before the cut-off, and then two months later, Xbox chose a show called "Bouche Dags."

But, what we wound up with was this little pilot, which shows off a huge amount of very fast, very good work by a lot of my friends!

DICE - Anna Perilo
CREEP - Susan Smythe
CARMEN - Katherine Steel
AGENT BECKER - David Bryant
AGENT COOPER - Christopher Stack
AGENT DADE - Mary Druzba
CRAIG - Brian Stevenson
BLAKE ALEXANDER - Jack Conway
GHOST - Aaron Perilo

PRODUCER - Bill Murphy
DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY - Kyle DeVriendt and Ric Serena
LINE PRODUCERS - Terron Pratt and Jen Serena
VFX SUPERVISOR and Eye VFX - Craig Sylvester
VFX BLOOD HITS - Hero VFX & David Bryant
GHOST VFX - Brent Prevatt
AUDIO MIX - Drew Anderson

2009-07-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

Oh damn...I think this one may be even funnier than the first. Again, this was made by my friend, Ben Hansford, starring Dan Thron, and made with the help of several folks from my Writer's Group. Have a look.

TRON!

2009-07-10T11:11:00.001-07:00

This Tron Fan Film was made by my buddy Ben, and just hit the web. Check it out!

NINJA JUSTICE

2009-06-25T15:32:00.000-07:00

Been awhile since I'd watched this, and thought I might post it.

This was a short that we made a couple years ago to enter in a Ninja Film Competition. (That's right.) The rules were that it couldn't be longer than 3 minutes, and it had to have a Ninja in it. We were like, "Well why WOULDN'T we do it?"

The only problem was that we found out about the contest 2 weeks before the deadline. DOH! So what you see here is two weeks worth of hard work by some really fantastic people. I'll list them with links to their IMDB pages. (Everybody needs a Star Meter boost once in awhile!)

STARRING
Ninja - Susan Smythe
Mr. Caine - Ethan Keogh
Mr. Troy - Kevin Sage
Insurance - Danny Albano

STUNTS
Jonathan Eusabio - Fight Coreographer
Hiro Koda - Stunt Coordinator

CREW
Produced by - Bill Murphy
Director of Photography - Kyle DeVriendt
Camera Operator - Matt Krupke
Stills Photographer - Bridgitte Krupke
Written by - Your Get Kraken Blogger
Directed by - Tim Cunningham and Myself

And here's the website.

College of Santa Fe - R.I.P.

2009-05-21T23:58:00.000-07:00

From CSF - R.I.P.

It's all over.

The College of Santa Fe, the place in the desert where I went to school, made friends, found love, and learned to make movies, ceases as an institution as of today. What was a wonderful place to go to school...and for me, the perfect place...is now having it's final day of classes.

I'll never be able to explain what I found at the corner of Cerrillos Blvd. and St. Michael's Dr. When the buildings are gone, the Prairie Dogs have been relocated, and the paths I used to walk are bulldozed, the only things I'll have left to remember those four years are the friends who I still party with to this very day, and the touch of my wife's hand as she holds mine.

Thanks for everything, CSF.

God speed.

From CSF - R.I.P.

1 Hour of Sleep and a WHOLE LOTTA Bullets...

2009-02-03T00:11:00.000-08:00

So, for those of you who don't know, I wrote my second paid screenplay last year. As it happens, the movie has actually been shooting, and they wrap this week. Whoda thought?

It's a CIA spy thriller / action film titled "Ballistica," and I actually got a chance to go be on set for a night of filming. It was Saturday night, and instead of just a casual visit, it turns out that they needed me for an on-set re-write of the ending. I got off the phone with the Director at 4pm, after finding out that my call time was 6:30pm, and we would be shooting throughout the night.

I had gotten up at 8am that morning to workout.

Awesome.

Regardless, I spent 14 hours watching them shoot a movie that I wrote (mostly,) all the while doing fixes on the fly for the Director and the actors. (So if you're keeping track, that means that I left at 8am the following morning...I seem to only update this Blog after all-nighters.)

This was where I was set-up...sandwiched behind the monitor cart.

It was a blast. Tony, the Producer, had told me a week prior that they had secured two actors for the movie whose attachment would help sell the film. He mentioned their names, which I promptly forgot, and when arriving on set, found out that they were Robert Davi (Special Agent Johnson from DIE HARD,) and Marty Kove, (The Evil Sensei of the Cobra Kai in THE KARATE KID!)

Yeah...Special Agent Johnson and Mr. Cobra Kai together on screen! That is GEEKTASTIC.

Now, obviously, I thought both of these guys would be absolute hard-ass mothafuckas. In fact, I was a little hesitant to talk to Marty Kove at all because he had his students beat-up Ralph Machio. Imagine my surprise when he and Robert both turned out to be REALLY nice guys. Robert heard my name once when I was introduced to him, and remembered it all night long. That's a hell of a lot better than I could do.

Marty Kove, Tony Kandah (the Producer,) Robert Davi, and Gary Jones (Director/ridiculously nice guy.)

Robert Davi in his Trailer, telling a story about how he met Sinatra.

Gary at Video Village.

So after a long night of shooting, I basically came to two realizations...

1. SCREENWRITER is the BEST position to have on set. The only thing you have to lift is your laptop, and they let you sit up front at video village. Oh yeah...and you get to interact with the Director and the Actors over the story. (At one point I was discussing the differences between the CIA and the NSA to Special Agent Johnson, and almost sucked myself into a Black Hole.)

2. I had forgotten how much movie crews are like Flash-Families. You're with these people who you don't know for no more than a couple weeks. But during that time, you sweat and laugh and bond with them as though you were all related, and then when its over, you never see them again. I showed up at that set knowing four people, but by the end of the night, I was part of the family, like I'd been there the whole time.

Me and my long-time friend, Vera.

This was lunch at 1am. VERY tasty.

The sun coming up at 6:30.

Gary, me and Robert. (I'm not that guy who asks to get my picture taken with celebrities. Robert was about to walk away, saw me and said, "Hey! We didn't get a picture together yet!" So that was cool.)

But for as surreal as the night was, my biggest geek-out moment was when I got there. The props master had brought a friend with him who I immediately recognized, because he recently played DRACULA in low-budget Vampire film that I LOVED.

His name is Tom Downey, and his character in Dracula's Curse is named "Rufus King." Of course now I've totally spoiled it for ya, because you don't find out that he's Dracula till the end of the film. So try and forget that in case you watch it. (Although I've never met anyone else who's ever seen it, so you're probably not in any real danger.)

Turns out that he's also a really easy goin' funny guy, and since I've learned not to TOTALLY geek out on people, I think I came across as fairly normal. As a result, we had an un-awkward fun time that night...even though being the Vampire Lover I am, couldn't stop thinking "THAT'S RUFUS KING!"

So as I was leaving, I did brake my rule and asked him for a picture. As we were posing for my iphone, I turned to Tom and said, "Give me your best Rufus King."

MF says I look really gay in this picture.

And she's right.

But I love him.

Does everybody have to do a STAR WARS post?!

2009-01-19T12:31:00.000-08:00

Well...I guess so.

I was cryin', this was so funny.

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

VAMPIRE Redux!

2009-01-16T11:48:00.000-08:00

Outstanding! I told Marcie that I posted her Waking Vamp pic, and she immediately said, "Oh, that needs to be updated."

So here, a mere 24 hours later...is the newly revised "Waking Vamp '09!"

(God Rays make everything cooler.)

VAMPIRES in 2009!

2009-01-14T15:28:00.000-08:00

It's my FIST Post for 2009!

From Get KRAKEN

And I figured we should have some Vampires up in here to get the Year started off right! This is something that Marcie sent me a little while back. She did a whole LOT of Vampire illustrations for me once upon a time for a project that never got finished. Maybe one of these days I'll put some of those fantastic images up here, but for now, WAKING VAMP!

You can see Marcie's other work here: MARCIE KLINGER

Have a very KRAKEN XMAS!

2008-12-24T23:13:00.000-08:00

Have a very Kraken Xmas, everybody!

From Get KRAKEN

(This is actually my neighbor's front window...I don't have a tree...but my iphone is good for spying!)

NEW MARCIE ART!

2008-12-18T15:21:00.000-08:00

My friend Marcie just sent me the SUPER RAD picture you now see at the top of this Blog. That's right...it's a Vampire being attacked by a KRAKEN!

It's so fabulous, my eyeballs melted.

Check out Marcie's other Awesomeness here: http://www.marcieklinger.com/

Dear Somebody...

2008-12-15T23:45:00.001-08:00

...we're running out of Poster ideas...

STEAMPUNK, CYBERPUNK, and 4 HOURS OF SLEEP

2008-12-09T11:21:00.000-08:00

Where do I start?

This last week was one of little sleep as I was juggling two major projects:

1. Post-Production supervisor on an irreverantly funny internet video about Santa Claus.

2. Assistant Camera on a Documentary about my Boss's Father and Step-mother.

So basically, my days were spent shooting this documentary on 16mm film, and my nights were spent advising on file-transfers, and trying to schedule people for delivery of this Santa Video to Atom Films. And only as I'm writing this, (having finally gotten some sleep,) do I realize that my days were all STEAMPUNK, and my nights were CYBERPUNK.

STEAMPUNK because 16mm is a film format. I haven't shot anything on actual film since film school, and now I remember why. It's partly because shooting film is SOOOO expensive, time-consuming, and void of error-checking, but also because it's just plain HEAVY.

We prepped and picked-up our camera package on Tuesday, at which point something became immediately apparent to me...if we had been shooting on any kind of digital format, we would've had 2 to 4 cases to walk out of there with. Instead, we had TWENTY-TWO. The camera package took up the entire van, and it weighted a ton. So, being the techie that I am, I had plenty of inner monologues about how useless film was nowadays and why the smart movie maker would shooting everything digital. But while we were on set, building these camera-rigs of metal, gears, servos, latches, screws and hinges, I suddenly became aware of how beautiful it all was. Even though today's film cameras run on electricity and have simple digital read-out on a small panel, they are still, in essence, a late 1800's victorian technology. I so rarely get a chance to touch the past in my life, but slapping a film magazine on the back of one of these heavy-as-shit mechanical cameras filled me with such a sense of history and respect for the craftsmanship.

Of course, Dion and I still had our quiet asides to one another like "If we were shooting on digital, we could play it back and see if it looked okay," or "If it were digital, we could shoot for longer than ten minutes at a time," but when all was said and done, it was the closest real-life Steampunk experience I've had.

CYBERPUNK was when the sun went down, and the heavy machinery was replaced by cell phones, laptops, flash-sticks, FTP sites, and Final Cut Pro. Saturday and Sunday night especially saw me driving around in my car in the middle of the night, running over to friends' houses, jumping on their computers, and trying to work through technical processes as fast as possible in oder to get this 4 minute video about Santa Claus ready to upload to the web.

It was Saturday night at about 3am when I drove through a deserted Hollywood neighborhood to drop a DVD off outside the gate to a friend's apartment building. I texted him from my iphone that the frames he needed for his VFX shot were waiting outside, and as I drove away, I felt like part of the god-damn digital video ILLUMINATI!

Sunday night I arrived at Ric and Jen's place in Burbank where my old College buddy Dave Barnaby had been working on the sound for the piece, and twenty minutes into the 8 o'clock hour, he leaned out of the room he was working in and said, "Man, this is just like bein' back in School! It's a lot of fun!" And I suddenly realized that I hadn't really done anything like this for a long time! I mean, I'm an editor for a living, but this was for somebody's personal project, and we were doing it late at night on our own equipment, bringing all of our experience and creative technical know-how to bear on it.

And then we wrapped at 5am, just in time for me to go home and sleep a few hours before going to work Monday morning...shades of my days on AMANDA HADES.

So overall, it was a fun, exhausting weekend of revelations for me. What the upshot is, I have no idea...but you'll be able to watch Aaron's Santa Biography on Atom films as soon as they post it, and you'll be able to see the 16mm documentary several years from now if you happen to be friends with the film makers.

PS: I also got pizza.

Just finished another Draft.

2008-12-01T02:31:00.000-08:00

Big night in Sean-world. I just finished Kraken on the latest draft of my gargantuan space-epic. This is a project I've been workin' on sporadically for 5 years now. My assignment this time around was to get the first script (yes, it's a trilogy,) down from 230 pages to a more manageable length.

You're probably asking yourself, "230 pages? Are you insane? The average screenplay is only supposed to be 90!" It's true, and normally I would never have written something this long, but it's an adaptation of a book. So, it started off with EVERYTHING in it. Now you're saying, "Dear God, Rourke...why are you wasting your time adapting a book when you don't own the rights to it?" Public Domain, baby.

I've managed to get the page count down from 230 to 173. So, its running time is now 3 hours instead of just under 4. BUT, I've managed to avoid going into that sad, sad territory of combining characters, truncating events, and changing the story in order to fit the time limit. I guess that'll be the next pass?

Jesus.

Anyway, the above image is a piece of concept art I did for it awhile ago. The model is Susan.

2007 Warnings about a Financial Collapse get laughed at...

2008-11-24T17:23:00.000-08:00

This is awesome.

I love going back after a disaster and hearing what people were predicting. This is a compilation of news clips from one guy who saw all of this financial disaster on the horizon, and people just kept laughing at him on these pundit talk shows. It's a lot of fun to watch.

Lack a' Kraken

2008-11-19T15:13:00.000-08:00

My own sister just emailed me with the following message:

"I just wanted to remind you that its been 3 months since you put
something new on your blog and that aint kraken."

And she's right, of course. So how about some Kraken FOOD PORN from my trip to New York last weekend?

Mmmmm...Apple pie filling on French Toast...

Claymation Zombie Movie!

2008-08-21T16:40:00.000-07:00

This is OUTSTANDING.

VAMPIRE Books!

2008-08-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

MF and I ducked into a Borders recently to kill some time before a movie. We were barely in the door when I spied a table in the main aisle, TOTALLY covered in Vampire Books!

This made me smile. The fact that Borders is pimping all this new Urban Gothic fare is wicked cool to a Vampire fanatic like me. And it isn't even Halloween!

Of course the reason why they're doing it is because of the new Stephanie Meyers book that just hit stands called "Breaking Dawn." It's the end of her 4 part Twilight series, the movie of which is due out at Xmas. I haven't read Twilight myself, but MF has, as well as a number of other folks who I've been bumping into lately. It seems to be one of those guilty pleasure books, especially for girls, since it deals with a high school love affair between a clumsy girl and a fantastically beautiful Vampire boy.

I'm not making fun. This is me standing in line outside Barnes & Noble a few weeks ago for Midnight Madness of the Breaking Dawn release.

The girl in pink is looking forward to the film, and thinks that all the actors are dreamy.

Yes, I was eavesdropping...I was by myself.

I got lots of points from MF the next morning when she found the book waiting on her chair.

I will, however, make fun of the fact that every girl who exited that bookstore with a new copy of Breaking Dawn had to scream at the top her lungs before running off into the night.

I love this shit.

I got Interviewed...

2008-07-21T18:36:00.000-07:00

I was just recently interviewed on FAN FILM PODCAST by my friends, Chris Moshier and Fanboy Will.

http://fanfilmpodcast.mypodcast.com/200807_archive.html

We talked about everything from Amanda Hades to the Midnight Men, and all sorts of stuff in between. The interview is broken into two parts, and each one runs for almost an hour, (yeah, they're audio.) If you're brave enough to listen, it's the knida thing you can stream and listen to while doing something else...like...the dishes...or Mah Jong.

?

So anyway. If ya happen to hear it, tell me what ya think.

-Rourke

Where the Hell is Matt?

2008-07-01T23:52:00.000-07:00

This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a looong time.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Thanks, Dan.

Knight Rider GPS...

2008-06-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

So, I'm usually never lost (yeah right,) but if I were, I'd totally want this new Knight Rider GPS system with the voice of KITT to guide me around LA!

mio knight rider gps from knight rider online on Vimeo.

I saw it on Gizmodo!

http://gizmodo.com/5019065/hands+on-knight-rider-gps-verdict-its-kittastic

FIRE!!!

2008-06-13T17:49:00.000-07:00

This is a fantastic time-lapse video of the Fires that were devouring Simi-Valley back in 2005.

Firestorm from powrslave on Vimeo.

I saw it on Boing Boing.

New Camera

2008-05-29T19:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've never flown a remote-controlled plane before, but this just looks too badass.

http://www.hobby-lobby.com/fpv.htm

It's a video camera that mounts onto an RC plane (or whatever you want,) and sends a real-time signal back to a set of VR Goggles that you wear, (which look very 80's in a totally Rad kinda way.)

Ya gotta watch the video. It'll make you think of mounting this camera on all kinds of stuff.

I was even thinking how sweet it would be to get some bad-ass aerial shots for a movie with this thing. It looks like the signal is NTSC, so it's probably no better than 720x486, but what a nice touch of production value you could add to a standard-def movie! Imagine an aeriel shot flying over two sword-fighting combatants on a ridge, ala Highlander!

I saw it on BOING BOING.

Writing Assignment...

2008-05-11T22:52:00.000-07:00

(Just a quick piece of concept art. Anna Perilo's the model..from a shoot we did a couple years ago.)

So the cats from my Writers Group have been talking about handing-out writing assignments for a while now, and last week Dave made good on his threat. The parameters were these:

1.) There should be some mention or depiction of a
case of mistaken identity.

2.) At some point, make use or mention of an annoying
or aggressive animal. This could be a pet, a pest, or
even an obnoxious picture on a bumper sticker, or tv
ad. Or anything, just get him/her in there.

3.) Can not take place present day. Forwards or
backwards in time by at least 20 years.

4.) Sentence - must use "I guess you just don't see
that sort of thing coming."

So, this is what I came up with.

DEAD FANTASY

2008-04-15T22:16:00.000-07:00

Not the latest Romero film. (Sorry, Kyle.)

What if my girls from Dead or Alive went up against the chicks from Final Fantasy?

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/193489.html

Damn.

Get on the Frakin' Ship!

2008-04-11T15:52:00.000-07:00

This must be seen to be believed.

http://www.galacticruise.com/

Frak Yeah!

What would be great is if along the way, a rag-tag band of smaller boats fell into line behind the cruise ship, and then at somepoint, a whole fleet of like a hundred guys on Jet-skis attacked, dressed-up as cylons, and everybody on the cruise had to hop on their own jet-skis, and Dirk and Richard have to lead the charge to protect the fleet!

Yeah...

...that'd be Sweet.

New Word...

2008-04-09T14:39:00.000-07:00

From my friend Lindsey:

OBNUBILATION

Main Entry: ob·nub·i·la·tion
Function: noun
: mental cloudiness and torpidity

I'd like to add my own definition if I may...

OBNUBILATION

Main Entry: ob·nub·i·la·tion
Function: verb
: to completely obliterate N00bs

Harrassed by Aliens.

2008-04-09T10:59:00.000-07:00

It's actually not me that's being harrassed. Some poor guy in Belgrade has had 5 consecutive meteorites hit his house since November.

"Man 'targeted by aliens'
----------------------
A Bosnian man whose home has been hit an incredible five times by meteorites believes he is being targeted by aliens.

Experts at Belgrade University have confirmed that all the rocks Radivoje Lajic has handed over were meteorites.

They are now investigating local magnetic fields to try and work out what makes the property so attractive to the heavenly bodies.

But Mr Lajic, who has had a steel girder reinforced roof put on the house he owns in the northern village of Gornja Lamovite, has an alternative explanation.

He said: "I am obviously being targeted by extraterrestrials. I don't know what I have done to annoy them but there is no other explanation that makes sense. The chance of being hit by a meteorite is so small that getting hit five times has to be deliberate."

The first meteorite fell on his house in November last year and since then a further four have smashed into his home. The strikes always happen when it is raining heavily, never when there are clear skies.

He said: "I did not know what the strange-looking stones were at first but I have since had them all confirmed as meteorites by experts at Belgrade University.

"I am being targeted by aliens. They are playing games with me. I don't know why they are doing this. When it rains I can't sleep for worrying about another strike."

-------------------------

It's either that, or God just hates him.

Linked-In...

2008-04-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

So, I had this weird thing happen to me last night...

When I checked my email, I saw that I had a Linked-In request from Sean Rourke.

?

I'm Sean Rourke.

Why would I send a Linked-In request to MYSELF?

I pondered all the possibilities in the the two seconds it took for me to open the email...this was some kinda clever spam, phishing tactic, identity theft, doppelganger, message from the future, etc. Regardless, I clicked on the link, and found this:

It's just a guy in Arizona with the same name. And ya know what? It WOULD be fun to be linked. So now we are. He also sent me a follow-up email:

"That's great...We're two of a kind. Thanks!"

We certainly are. And you're welcome.

Yeah, I'm a Commando.

2008-04-07T11:47:00.000-07:00

This composite was done by my friend, Jeff Centauri.

I've been writing a script for him over the last month called "1000 Bullets." It's Jeff's next feature, and he's been doing some 3D storyboards and concept design for it. Today he sent me this.

Sweet.

I know a girl named Bridgitte...

2008-04-03T22:47:00.000-07:00

I just want to take a moment to brag about my friend, Bridgitte.

Bridgitte is an AWESOME photographer. She's been taking pictures for as long as I've known her (since College,) but I hadn't really seen the full scope of what she was capable of until she sent me the link for her new website.

www.bcnkphotography.com

Her imagery is gorgeous, and I implore you to have a look.

And James Paris has never looked so sexy.

The FIVE Killers...

2008-04-02T23:43:00.000-07:00

Jack just sent me this link, and it looks so cool that I spontaneously sprained a kidney.

http://web.mac.com/eric.calderon/iWeb/Site/The%20Five%20Killers/The%20Five%20Killers.html

The Trailer took my breath away. Looks like EXACTLY the kinda story I wanna see told.

This is the description that the creator has posted on his site:

"When the best five killers are hunted
by the ultimate assassin:

3 Die.
2 Survive.
1 Lives... Forever.

Set in the high tech, high stakes world of espionage and global conspiracy, The Five Killers reunites the world’s greatest assassins years after their bitter retirement. One of them has been found murdered, and the message is clear: they’re next."

It's being made by Studio Gonzo, who are a BIG Anime Name these days. The cool thing is, the creator/producer and the writers are American.

And it has a Vampire.

Giant Squid attacks France...

2008-04-01T10:28:00.000-07:00

This is very cool.

A Giant Squid caught in the Deep Seas of New Zealand has been plasticized and hung in the French National Museum of Natural History. The thing was over 9 meters long when caught! (It has since shrunk to just over 6.)

From the BBC Article:

"The biologist who helped organise the donation said there should be a giant squid in the country of Jules Verne - the Frenchman who wrote the celebrated novel 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.
That was an epic tale of struggles between sailors and tentacled monsters, featuring a giant squid that tried to engulf a submarine."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7322217.stm

Did you know that of all the creatures we've discovered on the planet, the Giant Squid has the Largest EYE? Lookin' at the picture, you're like, "Well...yeah."

(I found this on Boing Boing.)

KRAKEN Cake!

2008-03-31T16:54:00.000-07:00

Okay, technically...it's a Cthulu Cake, but the message is still the same.

I found it on Boing Boing:

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/28/cthulhu-cake.html

Creepy CG Girl

2008-03-31T16:27:00.000-07:00

I'm not really sure what to say about this one.

http://cubo.cc/

She's evidently totally CG, and animated in FLASH.

When SkyNet does go online, I hope it doesn't choose this chick as it's avatar.

THREADLESS is KRAKEN!

2008-03-31T16:03:00.000-07:00

Sweet!

One of my favorite shirts from THREADLESS has been reprinted this week.

It's called "Loch Ness Imposter."

For those of you who don't know about THREADLESS.com, it's a t-shirt website where all of the designs are submitted by users. They release between 6-8 new t-shirts every week, and they are only printed in limited runs, so they sell-out fast.

http://www.threadless.com/product/281/Loch_Ness_Imposter

I have many times had to put my t-shirt buying in check so that I could afford things like Xmas and Cocaine.

Righteous KILL!

2008-03-24T19:01:00.000-07:00

I thought HEAT was good.

This looks AWESOME.

I sat in the theater, rocking back and forth in my chair...never wanting the Trailer to end! The idea of DeNiro AND Pacino playing cop partners...that's the police force I'd wanna work on. Hell, just give them all the cases! How could you not catch every badguy out there with those two guys workin' the streets?

PS: Carla Gugino.

SUMMON the KRAKEN!!!

2008-03-23T23:34:00.001-07:00

One of the only things I enjoyed about Pirates of the Caribbean part 2 was the fact that about every half hour, Davy Jones would shout out, "Summon the Kraken!"

I was like...I have need to do that about once a day! And it's usually at times like:

1. Sitting in traffic behind someone who's looking for an address

2. Listening to someone explain to you how to do your job...incorrectly

3. Having to read someone's screenplay when it's full of descriptions like, "...and then he holds the gun GANGSTA style!"

4. Getting the same MySpace Bulletin from the same person via his 5 different profiles

5. Ordering Ice-Tea without being told it's Passion Fruit

6. When people bring their Dogs into work

7. When I'm watching JUMPER

And I wanna SUMMON THE KRAKEN, because really...what better way is there to to destroy everything in sight? So for that...here's the next, and possibly, most important of our game-cards.

Get KRAKEN...

2008-03-18T18:27:00.000-07:00

So what the hell is GET KRAKEN all about?

It's about GUNS and RESPECT!

Okay, it's not about that.

I love the title because it seems to say "Quit Fuckin' around," while at the same time, battling a giant octopus.

Which pretty much sums-up the human condition, I think.

BLOODRAYNE is KRAKEN!

2008-03-16T23:41:00.000-07:00

So I just picked-up this sweet book at Wizard World called "Visions of Bloodrayne." It collects the cover artwork from all the various Bloodrayne comics. This is awesome for 2 reasons.

1. I LOVE Bloodrayne.

2. The Covers were the ONLY good thing about the comic.

It may be unfair for me to make that second comment since I've only read about 3 or 4 issues, but they were DREADFULLY written. It confounds me how such a great character from such an awesome game can REPEATEDLY be 100% marginalized in every other form of media she appears in.

The big win, however, was this cover:

That's right...she's fighting a KRAKEN.

Sweet.

In Memory of Gygax...

2008-03-11T00:31:00.000-07:00

Bill will be happy to know that I've gotten several pages written this evening...but instead of talking about that, I thought we'd start off with an image.

Last week, we lost Gary Gygax...creator of Dungeons & Dragons. I'm still just coming to terms with how much his influence is felt in this world of pop-culture that we play and work in, and I'm realizing more and more just how much of my creative process I can trace back to that game.

In honor of Gary's memory, and to inaugurate the new Blog, I though I'd post a custom Game-card in the tradition of the Games that this man gave us.

The model is Susan. And this game is Kraken!

Who Needs a Movie?

2008-03-09T12:53:00.000-07:00

Every once in awhile you come across a video that completely keys-in to the Spirit of the Indie filmmaker. I have to thank Craig for this reminder of what it is that we're all working so hard toward.

The BLOG Returns!

2008-03-07T12:07:00.001-08:00

Since both of my dedicated readers have asked that this not be the end of the Blog, I have decided to extend it.

This is my Second FIST Post!

My FIST Post!

2008-03-07T01:32:00.000-08:00

I love the fact that a good friend of mine, when starting his new Blog, instead of writing "This is my First Post," he got a little dyslexic and wrote "This Si my Fist Post!"

Awesome.

So this is MY Fist Post!

And my Last.

Thanks for stoppin' by!