2016 Year in Review

CAREER

Followed a financially great year with one not so great.  I had 6 months off at the beginning of the year.  I meant to concentrate on pursuing scripted content, but in the end all I wanted to do was paint!  And so I did, and I put a lot of time and money into creating and selling my artwork.  In the end, I made a lot of contacts and even some fans and got a decent foothold into the group art scene in Los Angeles.  I participated in fourteen group art shows at galleries such as Creature Features, Bearded Lady’s Mystic Museum, The Dark Arts Emporium, Forgotten Saints, San Diego Comic Con Art Show, and even a longstanding dream come true: Gallery1988.  I became the resident artist at Cross Roads Escape Games in Anaheim, for whom I also designed a t-shirt.  I obtained a seller’s permit and had a vending table at Days of the Dead, Monsterpalooza and many smaller events around the city, selling prints and t-shirts of my work.  I sold a half-dozen original paintings, including one for $1k!

My feature documentary “In The Turn,” continued travelling the world and has now been officially distributed.  You can find the film so far on iTunes, Amazon and Vimeo.

I cut a second feature documentary this year called “Keep On Running,” about marathon runners from Sierra Leone.  I am presently going through the notes process with the director, who lives in London.

I cut two short films for the OutFest OutSet program. One is called “Hey Stacey!” and the other is called “It’s a Boy.”  I love them both and they’ve been touring around festivals this year all over the country.

I wrote a short horror film called “Inspiration” that was filmed for CrypTV.  Much of the same team from “Love in the Time of Monsters,” created it.  I also edited my first horror short called “Mystery Phone.”

I returned to professional editing in July.  As such, I was the Supervising Editor of a new MTV show called “Shinesty,” about a clothing company of the same name.  I was very happy to lend a few days work to this year’s TBS Christmas special called “Surprise! Instant Xmas Carols,” which was the official kickoff to the 20^th anniversary “A Christmas Story” marathon.  And I’m currently back as Supervising Editor for season 3 of “Triple Play” for Playboy Channel.

I once again did not vote in the Emmys this year, only the nominations…too busy!

PERSONAL

Still living with Chelsea, we’ve been together for 88 months now and our nub continues to grow.  I still love her and our life together with all my heart!  For our seventh anniversary in August, we basically ignored it because we were deep into terrible wedding planning and a month away from getting married.

Which we did!  We got married on September 18^th and it was awesome!  It’s official, bees for life, yay!  Obviously this is the highlight of my year.

Again, we did not take many trips this year because of not having money coming in.  But I did have a bachelor party in Vegas and my SCAD friends and brothers were there and that was also awesome!  And went to San Diego Comic Con for my first time, which was a blast.  And then I went to Savannah for a wedding in November.

I continued to get my Friday the 13^th painting autographed by stars and crew members, and I’ve done several more horror themed pop art paintings.  I’ve become a little part of the horror scene in LA as well and it’s super fun.

I met a lot of my heroes including famed comic book artists and creators Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, and lots of other people I met at SDCC, which you can read about in that post.  Met Tom Savini and Tony Todd for a third time, Ben Edlund twice, Sean S. Cunningham, Fairuza Balk and Rachel True, Larry Zerner, Adrienne King, John Carl Buechler, Bill Moseley twice (he bought a shirt from me!), Derek Mears, Jessie Lee, Leslie Easterbrook and Sid Haig again.

My running and fitness went great when I wasn’t working, but was destroyed this year by wedding planning.  I lost 22 lbs but I still had to rent a tux.  Then I gained all the weight back with interest :(

JAN 1, 2016 WEIGHT:  204

JAN 1, 2017 WEIGHT: 211

RESOLUTIONS FOR 2016

1) Write a good script.

2) Cut a horror film/short.

3) Cut “Keep on Running”

4) Solo art show.

5) Be really serious about fitness.  I want a new PB 5k and to fit in my tux.

6) Marry Chelsea.

7) Write a song for piano.

8) Continue learning to use more graphics in editing.  Use AfterEffects.

9) Love Chelsea like she’s never been loved before.  And then love her some more.

10) Continue being awesome.

RESOLUTIONS FOR 2017

1) Buy a home.

2) Cut another horror film/short.

3) Picture Lock “Keep on Running”

4) Solo art show.

5) Be really serious about fitness: Get weight back to 180s, new personal best 5k, and run 1000 miles.

6)  BHOT

7)  A secret resolution I will not tell you.

8) Continue learning to use more graphics in editing.  Use AfterEffects.

9) Love Chelsea like she’s never been loved before.  And then love her some more.

10) Continue being awesome.

I know, I gotta believe!

San Diego Comic-Con 2016

Despite being in heavy wedding planning mode and working full time, I took the weekend to join Chelsea in San Diego and fulfill a promise to myself and lifelong dream: attending the San Diego Comic-Con International.  It was huge!  I brought a LOT of stuff to get signed because all of my heroes were there...basically everyone who ever influenced me as an artist was attending.  So I lugged around a heavy bag of stuff all day on Friday and tried to meet as many artists I admire as I could.

I met:

-Bruce Timm
-Paul Dini
-Jeff Smith
-J. Scott Campbell
-Eric Powell
-Scott C.
-Lorelay Bove
-Geof Darrow
-Steve Purcell
-Kevin Eastman
-Ben Edlund
-Jimmy Palmiotti

And more!

I was really tired after dragging all this stuff around all day (plus adding more stuff that I bought!), so we didn't go out on Friday night.  Instead, we watched the first half of season 3 of Bojack Horseman.  It was great.

I didn't realize it as much at the time, but having that heavy bag on my back all day really did a number on me, and I have remained sore and aching the last two days.  So Saturday I didn't bring anything with me and I spent a lot of time meeting independent artists and supporting them.  I ended up running into some more great heroes just walking around on the convention floor:

-Tim Bradstreet
-Greg Nicotero
-Tom Kinney
-Joss Whedon
-Olivia de Berardinis
-Babs Tarr

And I saw some fantastic original and classic art on display.  Again, so tired we didn't go out on Saturday night either.  Although we did stop for dinner at Morton's and I made eye contact and waved hello to Michael Chiklis, who came to eat there while we were sitting out front.  He nodded to me while he held the door for his dates.  That counts as meeting, right?  Then we went back to the airbnb and watched the second half of Bojack season 3.  It was great too.

Then we left Sunday morning and came home.  I've been doing a lot of work on my She-Ra painting, but it's time for bed because I have work tomorrow :*(

I also had some artwork in the SDCC art show, and I sold four out of five pieces!  Hooray.  Chelsea had a press pass, so the tickets were free.  And she did so great at her panel that a video of it went a little viral and she got a lot of new twitter followers and some invites to speak at other conventions.  Yay!

2015 Year in Review

CAREER

Followed a pretty good year with a great year.  I worked solid all year to build back up the old savings account.  I got to do a lot of work I’m very proud of, all as a Supervising Editor.  I started off the year with a tough competition show pilot for MTV called “No Rules.”  Then I supervised a new show for Playboy Channel called “Triple Play.”  Next I was very proud to supervise season 6 of “Gigolos” for Showtime, and personally cut the season premiere.  I cut a pilot for TBS, supervised another season of “Late Nite Chef Fight” for FYI, and did a myriad of development work for the company.  Finally, I cut a broadcast pilot for Cooking Channel called “Cookin’ With Salt-N-Pepa,” and I even spoke to Pepa on the phone and she said I did a great job!

My feature documentary “In The Turn,” continued travelling the world at different festivals and I made it to several more screenings.  Most notably, Chelsea and I went to see the film in Sydney, Australia at the Mardi Gras Film Fest.  We saw the film in San Diego, I saw it in Long Beach and Atlanta, Sacramento and Davis.  Altogether we had about 60 film festivals all around the world.  The producers recently signed an exciting distribution deal and hopefully you should be able to see the movie wherever you are in 2016.

I cut a short film called "Spare Parts" as part of the OutFest OutSet program. It's touring around festivals now, and there was one festival this year called OutWest in Reno, NV where both "Spare Parts" and "In the Turn" played AND both won awards!

I’ve begun work on my second feature doc, tentatively titled “Keep on Running,” about marathon runners from Sierra Leone.

I maxed out my Roth IRA again, and I hope to do the same next year.

I did not vote in the Emmys this year, too busy!

PERSONAL

Still living with Chelsea, we’ve been together for 76 months now and our nub continues to grow.  I still love her and our life together with all my heart!  For our sixth anniversary in August, I finally proposed marriage to her and she accepted!  I learned to play “our song” on piano, despite having no musical abilities in the past, and then I surprised her by getting a swank hotel room that had a grand piano in it.  I melted her brain by playing the song and then busted out the ring and proposed.  Since then I have been continuing my piano lessons, mostly learning classical stuff and chords.

I didn’t take as many trips this year because of working back some of that savings, but we did go to Vegas in the spring to see the Kids in the Hall perform.  And I finally got all my childhood stuff from Georgia and drove it out here to LA, stopping again in Vegas on the way.

I had another couple of paintings in Eat Your Art Out, which was Twilight Zone themed this year, so a lot of fun for me.  I painted a great piece this year that is a Roy Lichtenstein knockoff using the character Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13^th.  I got the piece autographed by several F13 alum, including composer Harry Manfredini who encouraged me to have prints made.  So I did and for the first time every, I am offering prints for sale!

I met a lot of my heroes including famed horror auteur George Romero, Yaphet Kotto, pinup artist Olivia DeBerardinis (again) and her husband Joel, Tom Savini (again), Tony Todd (again), Dana Gould, Kane Hodder, Ray Wise and Calvin Jeung from Robocop, Sonny Chiba, Guinivere Turner, Jennifer Rubin, Dean Cameron, William Lustig, Masuimi Max and her husband famed rock photographer Morat666, Gia Genevieve, Charles Band, Roger Corman, Leslie Easterbrook, Sid Haig, Dita Von Teese, Patricia Tallman, Tom McLoughlin, Greg Cannom, Mike Mignola and Ron Perlman, Tim Bradstreet and Ken Kerzinger.  And the biggest thrill of all for me was meeting Tony Jaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My running and fitness was destroyed this year by overextending myself with work.  Unfortunately held steady at this weight I don’t care for.

JAN 1, 2013 WEIGHT:  204

JAN 1, 2014 WEIGHT: 204

I’m going to get heavier into training this year because I gotta get ready for our wedding in September!

RESOLUTIONS FOR 2015

1) Write a good script.

2) Cut something scripted.

3) Buy a nice engagement ring.

4) Use it.

5) Be really serious about fitness.  I want a new PB 5k.

6) Get a piece in another art show.

7) Run another marathon.

8) Continue learning to use more graphics in editing.  Use AfterEffects.

9) Love Chelsea like she’s never been loved before.  And then love her some more.

10) Continue being awesome.

RESOLUTIONS FOR 2016

1) Write a good script.

2) Cut a horror film/short.

3) Cut “Keep on Running”

4) Solo art show.

5) Be really serious about fitness.  I want a new PB 5k and to fit in my tux.

6) Marry Chelsea.

7) Write a song for piano.

8) Continue learning to use more graphics in editing.  Use AfterEffects.

9) Love Chelsea like she’s never been loved before.  And then love her some more.

10) Continue being awesome.

I know, I gotta believe!