On Beginning

The textbook I assign for my scriptwriting class has a great inspirational sort of mantra that I've always found to be true. In the book, it is attributed to Goethe - but this article explains the actual source. Where it came from doesn't really matter. The important thing is to read it and see if it helps inspire you to commit yourself to your dreams and endeavors. I hope it does.

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, the providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets:

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!"

- W.H. Murray

New Sculpture Finished - Agloc the Troll

My latest sculpture commission is finished. It's a 28mm scale miniature of an in-game avatar from World of Warcraft. I based it directly off of screen shots taken from the game. You can see the full set of photos here.


As in my previous undead sculpture, I wanted Agloc's base to shed some light on his character. The red sand, palm trees, tiki mask and hanging bones are all elements from his home village in the game.



For those of you who have been following along, here is a side by side comparison of Agloc and my previous miniature WoW sculpture - Anathea. I thought that working on a smaller scale might take less time, but I was wrong.


Sculpting Agloc was a lot of fun, but I'm glad to finally be finished. The list of things I want to sculpt has been growing rapidly, so now it's back to the drawing board to decide which one to do next.

We didn't make the cut.

Sadly, Nealham's horror film 'Eyes Wide Pus' did not make it into the Best of Portland show so we will not be in the screening on August 31st. To cheer you up, here is a wonderful silent film by my friends 7#$. They won the audience favorite award for their screening group and might just end up with some of the judged awards, too. We shall see.

Eyes Wide Pus

Nealham's 48 hour film for 2009 is now online for your viewing pleasure. We're still waiting to find out if it will be screened at the Best of Portland show on August 31st. Please stay tuned.

Genre

• Horror

Required Elements

• Character - A lab technician named Brian Merryweather
• Prop - A picture frame
• Line of dialogue - "For crying out loud."

Come see our fifth 48 hour film!

It is that time of year again. Team Nealham is preparing to shoot our entry for the 2009 48 Hour Film Project this weekend. All of the information you need is at that link, but if you want to cut to the chase and buy tickets for the screening this coming Wednesday the 19th at 9:30 PM, click here. I highly recommend buying your tickets early online, as the show often sells out.

I hope to see you there, but understand if you can't make it. You may have another chance to see our film on the big screen if we get into the Best of Portland show that screens Monday, August 31. I'll keep you posted.

Fawkes Featured @ Custom Toy Lab

My Guy Fawkes toy was featured at the Custom Toy Lab today. Check it out!

Nights like these

You know the ones. Events so perfectly timed, recalling their memory is no different than remembering your favorite film. Each seemingly-random delay leading to a meaningful encounter that feels premeditated - but not by you. You have drinks with your students for the very first time, since it was your last night together. Then, crossing a street, you run into your long-lost brother driving past. Give or take five seconds and it would have just been any other night. This delay gets you to the platform just in time to catch a familiar face nodding goodnight as his train pulls away. Immediately, from the other direction, a transvestite prostitute in the shortest shorts moves from one train to the other, listening to her ipod, singing and dancing the entire time. Once she boards the train, though, the music soon dies. The ipod is taken from her by two familiar thugs as the tax for crossing a sacred line of criminal turf. The air in the train car feels about to boil into violence, but the pock and ink-marked thugs leave the train without further incident. At the same time, through the same door, a friend of the prostitute boards, quickly soothing away the pain. The dust settles as they chatter. Through it, you notice another familiar face in the next car. He's sitting, reading the same flashy book you spied him walking up the same street with this same morning. A conversation ensues, pulling long-forgotten knowledge out of hiding. Ralph Bakshi, rotoscoping, Max Fleisher's Superman, Betty Boop. The guy next to him swears at the realization he's missed his stop - which alerts you that yours is next. As you swim home through the thick air of honeysuckle and roses, you get a text from your house one block away. Where are you? I'm here.