Dad in his prime (early 1970's), on one of his many to-be-crashed racing bikes.
Another really bad thing that happened was that I was let go from the job I've had for 11 years. So my economy has suffered quite a bit. That I can live with; I've always found ways of getting by. But what astonished and upset me was how low my social status dropped among people. Persons I considered close friends would have nothing to do with me anymore. Apart from being unemployed I hadn't changed a bit, but they apparently thought I had. So I did what the modern civilized person does to retaliate: Kick them out as Facebook friends! Thank god I have my creativity to lean against. There is no better friend when the winds of life blow cold.
During the spring, I and my friends Daniel Lenneer,
and Christopher Johansson finished our H P Lovecraft film adaptation
“The Shadow Out of Time”, and posted it on YouTube. The reaction
has been (for us) incredibly positive, and the film has now reached
32000 views.
Almost immediately I was bombarded with suggestions
from the YouTube viewers about what we or I should do next. I had
contemplated adapting more stories and it's very likely I would've
done so anyway. Now it's certain that I will, and I'm already working
on the next one. More than anything people have suggested that I take
on “At the Mountains of Madness”, which was going to be produced
as a feature film by Guillermo Del Toro, but financing fell through,
and the world of Lovecraftian fans let out a groan of disappointment.
However, having read one of his screenplay drafts I'm not so sure his
version would've satisfied the fans anyway. I shall tackle this
rather monumental task by approaching it the only way I can; to make
a condensed version, but still with lots of (hopefully) interesting
visuals and monster action. I've already worked on preparing “The
Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath” for a while, and hopefully I can
seriously get that one going during 2013.
On a slightly similar note, my work on Rolando
Gutierrez´ Lovecraftian horror game continues with animations and
Photoshop duties. It'll be really interesting seeing the finished
version of this old-school interactive game.
Stills from the animations created for the game.
I also have a few older unfinished projects that I
shall see the end of during 2013, damn it! One I'm working on
finishing right now is what you could say is a dreamlike
contemplation on “Alice in Wonderland”; a video illustrating a
poem about the young heroine. Alice is played by Angelica, who
previously portrayed a feisty Elf and an equally feisty space agent
in my films. There has been lots, and lots of work creating the right
look for this one, with many new puppets, and tricks I haven't
attempted before. I hope you'll enjoy it when it's finished
It's astonishing how quickly a year goes by. When we
were kids a year lasted forever, and at least I seemed to get tons of
stuff done. I will attempt to trick time and get back to that slow
passing of things this coming year. In short, I shall try to do more
every month. Just a few days ago I got a call from some people who
seemed keen on hiring me in February, thereby vastly improving my
financial situation. I shall see how that works out, not holding my
breath, but it's nevertheless a good note to go out on this year.
Here's to 2013!
