Post #378304 by Mr. Pupu Pants on Mon, May 5, 2008 5:04 PM

On 2008-05-04 16:22, Robb Hamel wrote:
You obviously have a broad variety of skills and a very new to T.C., maybe you could tell us a little about yourself, your influences, and the skills we haven't seen?

Sure Robb, allow myself to introduce.....my.....self..... :)
I usually have some kind of project going (often more than one) because I just like to 'make stuff'--- whether it's a short film (editing one for a festival right now for my brother) or a themed room in my house or a prop or set for our yearly Halloween display. I'm also a big Disneyland fan and always wanted to have a house where different rooms were themed like different 'lands'. We've got a number of rooms in various stages of 'construction' (as time and budget allows). I was one of those guys who always tried to look behind the 'curtain' on the rides at Disneyland to try and figure out how they did an effect so I could try to make something like it at home. My brother and I used to walk around the back of the park and crawl through those big flowery bushes to peer through the fence and try to see 'behind the scenes'. It was sheer magic to us.

In addition to the Tiki room I'm building in the basement, we're turning our kitchen into a diner with things like a chrome candy counter, cash register and lighted menu board (and I'll be installing a tin ceiling in the near future).
Our Living room is Victorian themed (Main Street USA :). The master Bedroom is sort of a Swiss Family Robinson's Treehouse room. It has a large bamboo bed, ship's wheel, ship's lanterns, floats, bamboo trim, wainscotting, etc. My den/craft room is in the process of becoming a Cowboy/Frontierland themed room with log cabin walls and a fake fireplace with one of those 1950s fake buring logs (and my animation desk -- didn't cowboys have those?). The downstairs rec room will eventually be a Sci Fi themed movie theater.

I've done a bit of 2D animation for film/video productions at work (film/video production for Microsoft) but my brother, Tom, is a director at Dreamworks (Madagascar) and is currently working on the sequel. He also does the voice of Skipper, the lead penguin, in the movie. Really proud of him.

When we were growing up in the '70's, we used to make stop-motion animated shorts and our own little adventure' films with a Super 8 camera. My heroes were people like Ray Harryhausen, George Pal and L.B. Abbott. At the time, we were the only kids we knew who made movies so it seemed kind of special. Not that the films we made were anything special :)

For me, it seems as though it's usually about 'putting on a show' -- in one way or another. Whether it's making a short film or building a tiki room for family and friends. The process is the fun part -- and it's always fun when you can put a smile on someone's face.
Blah, blah, blah.....anyway, that's probably waaay too much about me

I just want to add that I love this website because of all you 'creators' of cool stuff. I am humbled by the sheer volume of talent here and appreciate the opportunity to share the enthusiasm.
Glad to be here and I hope you're all having a great day.
John