Tuesday, March 24, 2015

You need a "side hustle"

My buddy Andrea just posted this article, and I thought I'd re-post it here. This rocks:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/danny-rubin/9-reasons-why-every-twent_b_3605590.html

This is a cool little concept which I love: a "side hustle". It's promoting the importance of having projects "on the side" from your job, things like volunteering, working on an iPhone app, writing a blog... (hey, or why not all of those things?!)

As a man who loves the side projects, I really like the phrase "side hustle" -- it rocks. It's something that really helps inspire me and push me to challenge myself outside of my day-to-day job. Even with a demanding job and an inspiring job (like I am so lucky to get to do every day), it's still super epic to come up with something that matters and cruuusssh it on the (late late) weekday nights, or on random weekends... I love it. Do all the things!

This also sortof reminds me of a shirt my buddy Jahkeeli posted once:

So, like that, but minus the sleep part.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

From TED 2015: T-1000 does it again!

A great TED Talk was just posted to TED.com from the TED 2015 conference happening now in Vancouver, BC. Check it out: http://www.ted.com/talks/joe_desimone_what_if_3d_printing_was_25x_faster

This is a 3D Printing company who were inspired by the T-1000 robot in Terminator 2, and have made a 3D printer that is 25-100x faster than those currently on the market.

Looks like the T-1000 didn't just inspire my career... seems like this brilliant visual effect is still hard at work, changing the world for for the better :) 

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Batkid Begins: Opening Night at CINEQUEST 25

It's been a few busy weeks since the opening night of CINEQUEST 25, and I've just now had a moment to download my iPhone photos and drum up a few fun links to share from our crazy evening opening the Cinquest Film Festival in San Jose, California.

What an EPIC time. Sweet damn, was it ever epic.

We started the evening standing in the beautiful February air in San Jose, basking in the glow of the Marquee: "Cinequest 25 Film Festival", ready to head in and open the festival with Batkid Begins.

Here we gooooo!!! Batkid Begins kicking off the 25th CINEQUEST Film Festival!
Bling
Ted (who owns "the" Batmobile from the Batkid Day), arrived in style :)
Welp, this is exciting
M'lady
After a short wait, we all headed inside and began to crowd around the Red Carpet. We took some photos and a few of us did some interviews. That rocked. This documentary is such an excellent platform to further spread the message of banding together with other determined people to make your community a better place... I gladly took the opportunity to continue spreading our message!

Me, Rob (Animation), Jake (Cinematography), about to walk the red carpet
Dana knocking interviews out of the park
CINEQUEST Red Carpet
Let the games begin!
Me, talking animatedly about... something :)
"Rock and Roll": Ted, Patricia and Me
Patricia showing off the Bat-Clutch
You know, doing our thing!
I don't have the CBS 5 KPIX interview, but here's some video from The Daily Quirk of Patricia and I chatting about the Batkid day: http://thedailyquirk.com/2015/03/02/video-an-exclusive-interview-with-patricia-wilson-and-mike-jutan-of-batkid-begins-at-cinequest/

After some photos and chatting with some interviewers, we headed into the wondrous and beautiful California Theatre just in time for CINEQUEST founder Halfdan Hussey to introduce the 25th Season and our Opening Night Film: Batkid Begins.

The opening night of CINEQUEST 25
OMMMGGGGG
The sold-out 1200-person screening was an amazing success and it was just a pleasure to watch it with such a large crowd -- a crowd much larger than anyone I'd seen it with prior (including Slamdance). People were incredibly gracious and kind afterwards and it was a really great experience.

After the screening, Cast and Crew all went up on stage and answered some questions.

Cast and Crew on stage after the screening
Sold out crowd!
Woo!
Cast and Crew
Laughing with Patricia and Don
And of course, back to the red carpet to fool around and have fun with the cameras, but also to do some more serious chats and take some more photos.

CBS 5 KPIX interview with Patricia
Looking on in awe at the living legend, Patricia Wilson :)
A little blurry, but good :)
Ommmggggg
Selection of Batkid Cast and Crew: Dave, Dana, Me, Kurt, Naomi
And that was that! An amazing opening night and a really stellar crowd of filmgoers. From there, we all headed over to the After Party at The Farmers Union. It was incredibly well organized, the food was glorious, the drinks were flowing... and most excitingly, the people were just SO jazzed about the message in the movie. That, to me, was the most exciting part. Lots of folks came up and were keen to chat, but not just to take selfies... but to actually chat about what the Batkid day means, if other cities could follow San Francisco's lead, how community service has been changed by social media. I had a stack of wonderfully inspiring conversations with inspired, smart, passionate people. Isn't that just exactly what the Bay Area is ALL about?!!

And... time for a beer
Batkid Begins Cinequest Opening Night After Party
 And then, of course, the After-After Party...

...and then Joe and I took a Lyft to a Jack In The Box drive-through for 2am dinner. Dave very psyched about the curly fries.
What an incredible evening and I am so grateful that CINEQUEST chose the film to open the festival. It was a real joy and a pleasure to be there and to take part, and the audience really was top-notch, as evidenced by all the conversations with folks afterwards. CINEQUEST, take a bow!

Sal Pizarro from San Jose Mercury News posted an awesome article following the evening (where he introduces me as "an exuberant engineer at Lucasfilm" -- haha): http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_27597364/pizarro-batkid-begins-makes-cinequest-opening-night-wish?source=infinite

IndieWire also mentions the film: http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/cinequest-at-25-from-batkid-begins-to-barco-escape-20150227

And perhaps my favourite article was this review by Artsalot: https://artsalot.wordpress.com/2015/02/27/review-batkid-begins-cinequest/, showing just how much people in the Bay Area "get it", and understand exactly the message I think the movie portrays so powerfully. I love this city!

​What an amazing and truly crazy time. I was so honoured to have been there with the (majority of the) cast and crew. What an experience to all have together as we continue to share this beautifully captured moment-in-time with the world. :)

This was my third time seeing the movie in a theatre and I'm still overwhelmed with feelings of "being there"-- it really does transport me back to the big day and the visuals and editing and music and sound effects and animation all play so perfectly together. I can't imagine any possibility of anyone telling this story more eloquently than Dana and Kurt did.

Thanks again to CINEQUEST and to Dana, Liza, Kurt and Ian and the rest of the cast and crew for making this a night to remember!

To tie a bow on an already perfect gift... on  March 10th, CINEQUEST announced some more epic news...
The votes are finally tabulated…and the AUDIENCE WINNERS for Cinequest 25 are:

AUDIENCE AWARD: NARRATIVE FEATURE
Traces of Sandalwood
Director: Maria Ripoll

AUDIENCE AWARD: DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Batkid Begins: The Wish Heard Around the World
Director: Dana Nachman
Wahoo!!!

Saturday, March 14, 2015

The rise of the driverless car

Absolutely fascinating. Didn't make the leap to this completely changing the parking lot industry too... Totally nuts. This is really a huge, huge, huge cultural and social change we are on the precipice of! http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/01/27/how-ubers-autonomous-cars-will-destroy-10-million-jobs-and-reshape-the-economy-by-2025-lyft-google-zack-kanter/

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Robert Downey Jr. gives young fan 3D-printed Iron Man arm

Man, the Avengers are rockin' it. First, Capn' is visiting children's hospitals, and now Iron Man is delivering Bionic Arms. :) Incredible...

http://www.cnet.com/news/robert-downey-jr-gives-7-year-old-3d-printed-iron-man-arm/

Batkid Begins documentary to be distributed by New Line Cinema

INCREDIBLE news for the little-turned-big film about our little-turned-big Batkid day in San Francisco!!!!!!!

As per this article just announced on Variety.com:
New Line Cinema has acquired worldwide distribution rights to “Batkid Begins: The Wish Heard Around the World,” as well as the rights to adapt the documentary into a narrative film.  
I'm so excited and happy for the incredible crew and Mazel Tov to Dana, Liza, Ian, Kurt and the rest of the wonderful people who so perfectly captured the spirit of the Batkid wish in San Francisco, and the spirit of community service that us "cast" of Batkid day really believe in. So excited that this message will be spread!

Read more here on Variety:
http://variety.com/2015/film/news/new-line-nabs-batkid-documentary-distribution-future-film-rights-exclusive-1201451610/

and on The Hollywood Reporter:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/batkid-documentary-new-line-picks-780999

Sunday, March 08, 2015

Chris Pratt and Chris Evans in costume, visiting kids in hospitals

Wow. Super heroes being real-life super heros... I bet this meant so much to everyone involved... well done guys, well done. Major kudos to the brilliant people behind this awesomeness.

https://www.facebook.com/seattlechildrens/posts/10152695727277061

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Cinefex Blog: Inspiring ILM

The popular Computer Graphics and Special Effects magazine, Cinefex, just posted a great blog in their "Inspiring" series, featuring me and some of my colleagues from ILM. Check it out.
What drives people to work in the visual effects industry? The glamour? The technology? All those ravening monsters and exploding spaceships? Or is it just another job? In an ongoing series of articles, we ask a wide range of VFX professionals the simple question: “Who or what inspired you to get into visual effects?”

Here are the responses from the staff at Industrial Light & Magic.
Check out the article here:
http://cinefex.com/blog/inspiring-ilm/

Monday, February 09, 2015

Biking Hawk Hill with my epic new Specialized Sirrus Comp Disc bike!

After many months of research I decided to go with the epic 2015 Specialized Sirrus Comp Disc bike!! It is a "city" or "fitness" bike, and I've also seen it referred to as "flat bar road" bike. It is totally awesome and I am already loving it.

Sweet ride, bro
Uggggh it is soooo aweeesooome.

The weight of the bike is really light and it's really fast. The 700cc x 30 tires have an incredible amount of "pick up" compared to my old mountain bike. I am really happy with how fast it can accelerate, and also how it can crush the San Francisco hills. The 2 x 10 gears are working out well so far, even for some crazy hills.

Here are the specs!
The Sirrus Comp Disc with Fitness Geometry provides flat bar handling so you can ride faster on longer rides, yet be stable and quick in town. The hydraulic disc brakes mean you'll have confidence to ride regardless of the weather or what you're carrying on your racks.
  • New E5 Premium Aluminum frame w/ Fitness Geometry built for speed and versatility
  • FACT carbon fork w/ Zertz provides lightweight and smooth handling
  • Specialized Espoir Sport Reflect, 700x30c tires for performance and visibility
  • Specialized Body Geometry Targa, lock-on grips w/ integrated bar end for no-slip performance
  • Tektro Gemini, hydraulic disc brakes for maximum stopping power
  • Shimano Tiagra, 10-speed derailleur for plenty of gearing options
  • Body Geometry Targa Sport saddle w/ steel rails for all conditions comfort
  • Compatible with Specialized Plug + Play Fender Set
Technical Specifications
FRAME
Specialized E5 Premium Aluminum, fully manipulated butted tubing w/ smooth welds, internal cable routing, tapered/integrated headset, fender/rack eyelets
FORK
Specialized FACT carbon w/ Zertz, alloy steerer/crown
HEADSET
1-1/8" sealed Cr-Mo bearings integrated w/ headset, 15mm alloy cone spacer
STEM
Specialized Comp Multi, 3D forged alloy, 4-bolt, 12-degree rise
HANDLEBARS
Specialized flat, 6061 double butted alloy, 10-degree backsweep, 4-degree upsweep, 31.8mm
TAPE
Specialized Body Geometry Targa, lock-on w/ integrated bar end
FRONT BRAKE
Tektro Gemini, hydraulic disc, resin pads
REAR BRAKE
Tektro Gemini, hydraulic disc, resin pads
FRONT DERAILLEUR
Shimano Tiagra
REAR DERAILLEUR
Shimano Tiagra, 10-speed, long cage
SHIFT LEVERS
Shimano Tiagra, 10-speed
CASSETTE
Shimano Tiagra, 10-speed, 12-30
CHAIN
KMC X10, 10-speed, reusable Missing Link
CRANKSET
FSA Omega, forged alloy, 50/34
PEDALS
Sirrus, 1.5mm Varus angle, nylon body, symmetric alloy cage, low profile bearing system, toe clip capable
FRONT WHEEL
AXIS 1.0 Disc
REAR WHEEL
AXIS 1.0 Disc
FRONT TIRE
Specialized Espoir Sport Reflect, 60TPI, wire bead, Double BlackBelt protection, 700x30c
REAR TIRE
Specialized Espoir Sport Reflect, 60TPI, wire bead, Double BlackBelt protection, 700x30c
SADDLE
Body Geometry Targa Sport, steel rails, 155mm
SEATPOST
Alloy, 2-bolt, 12.5mm offset, 30.9mm, anti-corrosion hardware
SEAT BINDER
Alloy, 31.8mm
So yes, this is amazing.

To really give this a test, I decided to go with my buddy Alex over the Golden Gate Bridge and all the way up Hawk Hill in the Marin Headlands which is a big climb. Even crazier, we decided to go DOWN the other side of Hawk Hill which is one-way, but super steep. As these were brand new brakes I took it slowly, but in the video you'll see Alex just flooring it down the hill. :)

At the top of Hawk Hill
Yuuuuppp
I could have never done that ride before on my 26'er mountain bike. This bike really allows me to do harder, steeper, longer rides like this one. I wasn't sure if it could handle this as well as a road bike, but I found it really did. Super awesome bike. After the long ride, we stopped in Sausalito for ice cream, obv.

A very important part of the ride
The other cool part of the ride is Alex was testing out his new gimbal stabilizer for his new GoPro camera. It makes for some really smooth video (and you can really see the difference when you compare the video from Alex's bike with the video from the GoPro mounted to my helmet). The stabilized footage looks amazing. Check out an edited clip of some of the bike highlights here!



Tuesday, February 03, 2015

Slamdance/Sundance 2015 Day 2: Red Carpet and Getty Photo shoot

Day 2 at Sundance was truly epic too.

Michal and I started off early with a nice brekkie with Batman and Damsel (as one does) and then headed off to the Eccles Theatre to see the film "Sleeping with other people", an offbeat romantic comedy, what the director referred to as "When Harry Met Sally -- for jerks". It was hilarious and the acting and script were both really well done. At the end of the movie, we were surprised that the lead actor and actress, Alison Brie and Jason Sudeikis, both came out for a long Q&A along with the film's director Leslye Headland. We had a great time at the screening, the Q&A rocked, and it was fun to actually go to a Sundance screening while in Park City.

To the Eccles Theatre!
Alison Brie, Jason Sudeikis and writer/director of "Sleeping with Other People"
Sundance!
Gotta love those chair lifts right through town
From here, Michal and I went to wander around and found the Roots store in Park City! Roots is one of the most famous Canadian clothing brands, and so it was so crazy to see it there. My buddy Noah said to keep an eye out for it -- it is still there after the Olympics that were in Salt Lake City (the year when Roots did both the Canadian AND USA olympic team clothing). It was super fun to check it out and Michal and I bought (almost!) matching hoodies which were Roots Park City themed, with a small AMERICAN flag on the top of the hoodie! This, of course, is very odd for a Roots hoodie which is always adorned in Canadian maple leaves. But yet, super awesome, so... now we have almost-matching hoodies. Win.

This afternoon was all about press and photos, which was a super fun opportunity to drink some tasty free coffee and hang out and goof off, all things that I love doing more than just about anything else.

Slamdance Red Carpet
This is exciting
Red Carpet
One more Red Carpet photo, where you can see the actual red carpet :)
We took a wander after this, walking into the Acura Studio area and watching a free concert, and getting a cup of life-changingly perfect (and free?!?!) hot chocolate from Intelligentsia, as well as a pour-over coffee that tasted like a dream of a simpler time.

I had pre-booked a ticket into the Indiegogo event, and by chance it just turned out there was a secret Tim (freakin'!) Hortons in there -- talk about a Canadian's dream!!! We got a cup of free coffee (why is everything free here?!) and told them how psyched we were to see Tim Hortons there. As my usual luck tends to go, the staff there high-fived us for loving Tim Hortons so much and gave me like 10 packs of Timmy's coffee and some Tim's tote bags. YUP. We walked into the Indiegogo thing to see the end of an interview with Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords. I love this place.

Epic theatre
Yep, there is a freakin' Tim Hortons here!
Oh look, it's Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords!
Well that was amazing. All caffeinated, we headed to the Getty Images studio which was sponsored by none other than McCafe -- time for another hot chocolate, I'd say!

This was the final official event of the day, and we hung out there with Robert Johnson (!!) and some other NFL players who were there also to shoot some photos with Getty Images for the "Sundance Film Festival Portraits: Day 2" album. We got some coffees and chilled out until it was time for makeup and photos.

Chillin' at the Getty Photo shoot green room
Hanging out before our makeup and photos
OMG LET'S DO THIS
Oooh fancy hair!
Getting into the mood for photos
And... smile!
The two lovely ladies
Dana looking sharp!
Wahoo!
Another angle :)
A good looking group, I'd say!
Woo!
Of course, I ridiculously asked the legendary Getty photographer Larry Busacca if we were clearly the "most attractive group he's shot all day", to which he said "Of course!" without skipping a beat. He also high-fived me on the way out. Man, this experience was awesome.

Whew! So that was super fun and I didn't try the free (again, free) wine beforehand for fear of looking too red for the photos. Cue, a cheers to this day! We hung around a bit longer in the green room, dancing around, generally being silly, and then getting tweeted by McDonald's. All in a day's work, I suppose!

Ok photos are done, time to celebrate again!
Chillin' post photos
And then we put on McCafe sweatpants and busted a move in the Getty photo studio #canttakeusanywhere
Posing for the McDonald's cameraman, just because
Rob drawing us a "Batkid is lovin' it" sign for the McCafe wall
Put up those wings!
Boom!
And then McDonald's tweeted us.
Another amazing day in Park City, and a weekend I will never forget! What a great bunch of hardworking and fun-loving people. I love the Batkid wish team, and I'm so happy our little Batkid family is even larger now.

It was so cool to go to Park City and enjoy the festivals and the many, many free coffees and hot chocolates -- but even better to be able to do it in the company of such wonderful people. It's especially gratifying to me, because the Batkid Begins movie is not just a movie -- it's a charity project, and also it's an awareness film that sends a message out, loud and clear. I think it aims to inspire people to be a little kinder, and a little gentler, and a little more decent to each other. Isn't that just exactly what our goal on this earth should be?

Congrats to the Batkid Begins crew on an out-of-this-world weekend at Slamdance and a glorious launch of the film. To many more successes, and I hope lots and lots of people get to see your hard work and see how you helped tell our story far and wide.