Just got back from LA where we had a very successful GALLERY OF DOOM screening at the Newport Beach Film Festival.  Kevin flew out with me last Thursday and we landed just before midnight.  All the cheap rental cars were gone at this point, so we got a Jeep SUV for only $23/day.  I’ve never driven a car that tall in LA before, and I must say it was very nice.  I was able to see over traffic and drive much better.  We lugged the Jeep up into the valley to stay with my friend Orion Martindale, who produced my first puppet film, DUDLEY AND THE TOY KEEPER’S CHEST.  We stayed with Orion for two nights, while we did some sightseeing (Kevin had never been to Hollywood before), and then went down to Newport for two more nights in a hotel provided by the festival.  We didn’t do too much festival stuff, but the screening was awesome.

Orion drove down with Joey Monasterios, who played Princess Stacie in the movie, and the theatre was packed with kids.  Orion’s car broke down on the trip just before the screening and Kevin went to their rescue.  Unfortunately they missed the first half of the films, which included THE SURE SHEEP (which Kevin & I also worked on), and came in while I was doing Q&A for that.  The kids really responded well to it, and had a lot of applause to share, and actually asked a lot of questions afterward.  After the Q&A, puppeteer Alan Cook (of the International Puppetry Museum in Pasadena) put on his wonderful Billy Goats Gruff shadow-puppet show, and followed up with a shadow-puppet workshop.  After all this, the tiniest kids were advised to leave and a second set of films started, now aimed at ages 7 and up instead of All Ages.  GALLERY OF DOOM closed out this set, and got the biggest applause of the entire show.  I came up for another Q&A, and the kids had a lot more questions, and some even came up to me for autographs and personal advice, which I was happy to give.  It was a really good feeling getting to speak with some of the kids one-on-one, and I felt like I was getting to inspire the next generation of filmmakers.

The other major high point of the trip was the fact that Heather Henson was still in town when we were there on Friday, and offered to give us a personal tour of The Jim Henson Company lot on La Brea Ave. in Hollywood.  It was amazing beyond words.  So, I won’t attempt to use them here.  I’ll simply say that, at the end of THE MUPPET MOVIE, there is a lyric which says, “Then somebody out there loves you / Stand up and hollers for more (MORE!) / You’ve found a home at the Magic Store.”  Now I know where they were singing about.  In addition to being the Henson lot, it was originally built by Charlie Chaplin and it is where he made most of his biggest movies.  The sense of magic and history was palpable, especially inside the soundstage.  It was amazing.

As you can imagine, having a baby and a pre-schooler has been putting a serious drain on my free time.  So, not too much has gotten done since last we spoke.  I got a new version of my Demo Reel that has a couple of shots from the Pitch Reel.  I’ve been spending more time with Anastasia, our 3-year-old, and that’s been lots of fun.  She’s old enough now that she can help out with some projects, so I got her involved with what little work I’ve been able to do on the Pitch Reel.

We recorded some audio to use on the shots in my demo reel, and Anastasia went out to actor Kevin McGuire’s house with me to lay down the tracks.  I ran the camera (recorded the lines on-camera because I don’t have a fancy audio setup.  I usually go to a studio for this sort of thing, but thePitch Reel is being done on-the-cheap), and let Anastasia call “Action.”  Though, ultimately she got sick of that and refused to say “Action!” because she felt it was a bad word, and that “Stop!” would be a nicer word to use.  I convinced her that “Start!” would be more appropriate, but ended up calling the last few takes myself.  Once we got what we needed, we headed home and she sat with me and helped me pick the best take.  The one she picked really was the best, so I think I may have a new collaborator under my roof.

Lately she’s been helping me turn an old swivel-chair into a rig for shooting the miniatures.  I have a good toy pirate ship that’s fairly large that I think will work for the air ship, but I will need to paint it to give it character and figure out if I can make mechanical propellers to sit on top of the thing and spin, or if I should attempt to do them as CG elements.  I’m philosophically opposed to doing them in CG, but it may be a necessary evil.  I also need to find a good miniature biplane.  Tom lent me one of his kids’, but I don’t think it will work.  It looks a little too toy-ish in a bad way, and I couldn’t use it with the propeller it has, and it’s his kids’ toy, so I can’t very well break it off.   I found a very nice hobby shop near my day-job that has some good model planes for under $30, so I’ll probably end up getting one of those and painting it.

Also I turned 30 last week.  Disney has a promotion this year where you can go into one of the parks for free on your birthday, so I took a day off life and went to the Disney Hollywood Studios to reboot.  I think I saw Samuel L. Jackson entering the park at the same time as me, so that was a cool way to start the day.  I had a great time, and got some much-needed relaxation.  I wanted to bring a laptop so I could do some writing, but my wife put me under strict orders to just have fun and reboot.  Which was wise.

I went on Star Tours (just days after Tom shot an interview with George Lucas for a documentary about Drew Struzan), and realized ole George must have forgotten that this existed, because he hasn’t marred it with his CGI crayons.  And I noticed a big difference in the way it felt.  Everything on screen felt real.  Sure, it uses optical tricks, but everything on the screen exists (or at least existed) on the planet in tangible form, and it showed.  It made everything just feel right.  That is when I decided that I never want to use CG to emulate something real.  CG is great for cartoons (as long as it doesn’t completely replace hand-drawn animation), but not as a tangibility substitute.  Which is the root of my philosophical problems with using CG propellers.

After Star Tours, I went into the Writer’s Corner shop fully intending to obtain a bottle of Coca-Cola and indulge myself in caffeine to fuel the rest of the night.  However, they a machine with red slush swirling seductively inside its chilled chambers. I could not deafen my ears to its song, and I dashed myself upon its icy rocks.  Looking for a cozy place to consume my chilling concoction, I spied what is perhaps the most comfortable chair at Disney, stationed strategically next to a small televisor televising Goofy cartoons.  I sat.  I drank.  I shivered.  I smilied at animated shenanegians.  And then I fell asleep.  Right in the chair.  In front of the TV.  In the middle of the store.  Right across from the counter.  For about an hour. Eventually I woke up, peeled myself from the leather bed, and tried to walk out innocuously.  I was almost out the door when one of the nice old ladies working the store asked me if I had a pleasant nap.  I sure did.

So, Disney day aside, things have been really busy at my day job.  I’ve had to start working Saturdays (yay for extra income!  Boo for not having time to work on personal stuff!)  I have a fairly long commute, so when I get home it tends to be rather late.  I give Eva a bit of a break by hanging out with one of the kids for the rest of the evening.  Then we put Anastasia to bed, which usually results in Daciana (the baby) waking up and staying awake until 1 AM.  So, I hang out with her and Eva, and by the time she goes to sleep it is way too late for me to start working on stuff.  So, things are proceeding slower than I would like.  However, I am bonding with both my girls stronger than I have in a long time, so maybe having less time to myself is really a blessing after all.

Though I haven’t been working as much as I’d like, my fame does continue to grow.  GALLERY OF DOOM, without my involvement at all, has been invited to screen at the Screen4 Shorts festival in England this summer!  Also, it continues to tour with Heather Henson’s Handmade Puppet Dreams for Kids.  It will screen on April 26th at the Newport Beach Film Festival, which it looks like Kevin and I will be attending, then again at the Del Ray Beach Film Festival on May 25th.  Hope to see you there!

I’m a bit slow in getting word out about this, as it’s happening today, but both my puppet films: Dudley and the Toy Keeper’s Chest and Pupsock & Wendell in The Gallery of Doom are showing tonight at the event mentioned in the title.  Here’s a Green Room Orlando article about it:

http://www.greenroomorlando.com/Article.aspx?ID=1298

I’m very honored, as  my films make up 30 of the 180 minute schedule.  In additon, my puppet stars will be on display in the 1st Thursday gallery.  The whole event runs 6-9pm, with my films showing @ 7:30.  I know it’s short notice, but I hope you can make it!

The reason for my recent lack of updates is the recent birth of my second daughter, Daciana Guinevere Algermissen.  She’s been taking up most of my attention lately, one way or another.  Much to my delight

The Orlando Puppet Festival, Orlando Film Festival, and Melbourne Independent Filmmakers Festival were all fantastic!  Great screenings, good audiences, and great fun all around.  And as an added bonus, GALLERY OF DOOM won the People’s Choice Award at MIFF!  We’re very honored that the audience liked the movie enough to actually fill out their ballots and show their love.   Thanks to everyone who made this possible!

November is a busy month for the Princess Rescuing Duo, with screenings every weekend until Thanksgiving!

We kicked off the month with a screening at the Backyard Film Festival in Palm Springs, which came about as a direct result of our screening at the Palm Spings Short Fest.  However, this information is only useful to you if you read it well before I wrote it.

This weekend is Pupsock-packed, with screenings Friday night and Sunday, plus a parade on Saturday.  It’s all part of the Orlando Puppet Festival, which is where the movie premiered (in rough form) last year.  Hard to believe it’s been over a year already!

This year, the OPF has teamed with the Orlando Film Festival to have a screening of select Handmade Puppet Dreams films, including The Gallery of Doom.  The first screening will be held on Friday, Nov. 7th at 9:00 PM at CityArts Factory located at 11 E. Pine St. in Orlando, FL.  The second will be Sunday, Nov. 9th at 11:00 AM at The Gallery at Avalon Island located at 37 S. Magnolia Avenue (the green building at the corner of Pine & Magnolia) in Orlando, FL.  Both The Gallery of Doom and John Kennedy’s The Sure Sheep (which I worked on extensively) will be playing at these screenings.  John, I, and other filmmakers will be present for Q&A afterwards.

In addition, the OPF has teamed up with the City of Orlando in order to have a puppet section of the city’s Veteran’s Day Parade in Downtown Orlando on Saturday, Nov. 8th starting at 10:00 AM, and going through (I believe) 1:00 PM.  I’ve been helping John Kennedy build a huge eagle puppet that will trail behind the main float, and Pupsock will be operating one of the wings.  We were assisted in this endeavour by the Drama Club at Bishop Moore High School, and the young thesps. will be operating the eagle and Pupsock during the actual parade.

Next week, The Gallery of Doom will screen at the 10th annual Melbourne Independent Filmmaker’s Festival in Melbourne, FL.  Dudley and the Toy Keeper’s Chest played there to a great receptionin 2005, and I’m excited to bring Pupsock there this year.  That screening will happen on Saturday, Nov. 15th at 10:00 AM at the Premiere Oaks Stadium 10, located at 1800 Hibiscus Ave. in Melbourne.

Hope to see you at one of the events!