DANGER! GASOLINE!

Neill, I'm a child of the 90's. Don't get me wrong, I loved the 80's, lots of fond memories, and the decade that contains most of my favorite films. My aesthetic though, totally 90's. You can tell because of the 'Danger: Gasoline' lettering on the above skull..helmet...lawnmower...thing.

What is it? Shit if I know. I had a few minutes and needed to completely unwind. Been a while since I decompressed like I have been lately. Feels nice. I need to get moving though, lots to do. Of course, last night I saw a Facebook post from a friend that completely bummed me out. Nothing about the post, in fact it was a very nice and kind post, but about the other project I was working on. The project I could still be working on, because they offered a longer gig.

I had a tough choice to make, and after talking with my wife decided on the more long term job. I don't mind too much, I get to see my kids everyday, I enjoy being home, I was able to experience this awesome NW hot summer; but I still have a lot of regret. I was handed my dream job, and literally the kind of experience that I dream about. It was amazing.

That being said, I love my current job. It's also a dream job, and I have a shit ton of control. The first zombie game I pitched was in 1997. I've always been a Dawn of the Dead fan, since middle school, and never felt like people made zombie games right. There's a level of gore, fun cheese, fear, and emptiness that most games today just can't pull off. Maybe they're afraid of it. I don't know. Weird time in my life, man. It's too good, my regrets are not taking a dream job because I'm currently in a dream job.

I think I've used this analogy before (maybe even on here) but it's like I'm fucking Salma Hayek, but thinking about fucking Sofia Vergara.

I guess what I'm getting at; you could lessen the blow if you put me on some preliminary work for Chappy.

What?

Doug

PS-On a side note, Parents; tell your kids to be artists.

The Next Neill

Click the image

Neill, sup dog? I got someone who's nipping at your heels. I mean, he's not taking your job; you're all aliens and spaceships and he's all demons and robots. Totally different, but still...

Seriously though, man, this guy is really good. He's a lot like you; writer, director, sfx artist, illustration artist, modeler, family man, grill master, etc. Full package, man. Wait...why am I promoting this guy? He's totally going to take my job with you! Stay away Francisco! STAY AWAY!

No, I kid. Francisco's a super nice guy, arms dealer, and has amazing grace and skill while dumpster diving. One of those things is not true. One.

Check out more of Francisco's illustration work on his blog. Seriously, this guy is the real deal. Check his blog at: http://fruiz-fruiz.blogspot.com/

Sigh...everyone's talented but me.

Doug

Buk Wus? Buk Was? Bookwas? Bukwas? I'm ready to call the thing Wildman.
Neill! Sup chili-chonga dog? Dude, did you know that's a real thing? A Chili-Chonga Dog? It is, and I ate one. It was horribly good. What is it, well; a chili dog (bun and all) wrapped in a tortilla, fried, and covered in queso sauce. Don't roll you eyes at me! It's true, I have 'effing proof!

See?!? SEE?!? It's full of stars Neill, it's full of stars...or, maybe beans...and meat. At any rate, I ate the whole damned thing. ALL OF IT. I also had a great beer to wash it down (Manny's).

In other news, I think I know why I'm fat.

Any who, here's some sketches from that flick I want to try and shoot. I found lots of great locations over on the Olympic Peninsula where I grew up. I'm planning on a small practical prop for the longhouse entrance, and thinking I might be able to pull it off in my back yard.

It could work. The only thing stopping me from going all out on this thing is time. That and the sci-fi short I'm thinking about, that might actually be easier to shoot. Dan, dammit, it might be. I didn't say it was. Now lets not argue in front of Neill. Dan's gonna' be my cinematographer. He's goooood.

Well Neill, that's about all I gotz. Fuel has a special today that I'm debating to eat, and I need to focus on that.

Tell Copley, sorry for all the teasing. I really was just trying to troll him out of hiding. I'm guessing he's really stressed about preforming his love scene with Matt Damon. I would be too.

Dougwas

Toot my horn.

Neill, guess what. We released a screenshot of the game I'm working on. So...here it is.

Oh, and here's a tiny movie showing our day and night cycle: BOOYAH!

I owe a certain someone I worked for recently a big thanks for teaching me not to be afraid of color, and to adopt his love of light beams. Not to mention, how to have a back bone, and say what I want. If he's reading this, and he'll know who he is, thanks man. For everything. And I'm not lazy. Well...maybe a little lazy.

A big thanks to my amazing art team, you're doing amazing shit, there's only four of you, but you're making a world that rivals worlds made by teams of hundreds. You are all truly incredible. Especially with your ability to put up with my shit on a daily basis. Thanks so much.

To Jeff Stain, thanks for giving me this chance, I hope I'm doing you proud. And thanks for always having my back and supporting our compelling game location.

Thanks to the rest of you Undeaders for all you do as well. Even though I don't understand most of it.

Well Neill, that's it for today. Drink a beer, and have a good weekend.

Doug

Totemy

Neill, how goes it homefry? Seems like you've sequestered yourself away to work on the flick. I'm guessing those shots of Damon from the other week were his attempted escape photo's. He was trying to get away so that he could tear off his shock harness and go on a wild coke and whore bender with his new best buddy Copley.

That's right. I hate that you had to hear it from me, but Matt and Copley are...bromancing. Like hardcore bromance. Sorry. Trust me, he'll come back, Sharlto knows that you and him belong together. He'll be back. Just hang in there, and don't blame him; I mean, have you seen Matt Damon? My God, those teeth are gorgeous.

Anyway, here's another image from my short I'm hoping to make. I'm planning on cardboard tubes with spray on foam as a base for the totems, and them hot wire carving them. Off course painting and throwing on moss as well. In all I'm hoping for four or five practical totems, and the rest will be in matte paintings. Next up, the longhouse, which will be a practical door and faked exterior. The interior will be the pain in the ass to make.

Hope all is good, have fun making the movie (that 'have fun making the movie' has to be read in Billy Crytal's voice from The Princess Bride)!

Doug

Double Whammy

Dude, Neill, you must be busy as shit right now. I bet you get to check out this blog only like twice a day now. I'm guessing keeping Copley and Damon apart must be rough. I bet they're constantly getting into arguments about muscle cars and shit. You should have another credit on the film, babysitter. AmIright?

Well, this doesn't look so bad.
Oh.

Anyway, first of dude, let me talk about my current geek crush. I'm so in love with Troy Nixey's and Guillermo del Toro's Don't Be Afraid of the Dark right now. I mean, the original sort of fucked me up. Seriously, it's a film that isn't really gory, isn't really scary in a traditional horror film sense; but something about it really haunted me. So luckily GDT has decided to bring back the nightmares! Thanks...so....much.

I know, right? But trust me, they're scary!

But the thing is, now it's well thought out, and even has a back story about the creatures and where they came from. I can't recommend this book enough. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark: Blackwood's Guide to Dangerous Fairies is awesome. Beautiful illustrations by Nixey, a fun story and a background on some nasty fairy beasties. I really love it and recommend it, even if you don't want to see the film, I think you should pick this book up. It's why I sketched the above fairy pupa. I want to draw it's several forms, the life cycle of a fairy.

It's so fucking good.

I love that Guillermo trusted a first time director with something he wrote. You have to have some balls to do that. Those balls are also why I'm amazingly excited for Pacific Rim, can you imagine what somebody like GDT will do with a Kaiju film? Holy fuck, it's going to be great!

"My dick is this big when it's limp. You should see the balls; enormous!"

Now, on to you, I see you found a way to keep Damon's rage issues in check. I'm guessing that this contraption he's wearing shocks him and locks up when he starts to go berserk. You're a smart man my friend, at some point you'll have to tell me how you got it on him.

SHOCK! SHOCK! SHOCK!

Ah ha, I also see you employ blow jobs to keep him relaxed. You have thought of everything. Good show, ol' chap!

Anyways, have a great time filming, I'm sure it'll be stressful, but I have no doubt the end result will be fantastic.

Doug

Johnny Come Lately

Neill! Sup dood? Look, real art that's fresh and new! I'm making a few key frames for the short film I want to make. This might be a bit yellow and too magical, but as a stand lone piece I kind of like it. I'll probably mist it up and go darker and wetter with it later.

So, dude, I want to make sure you know; I was here first. Of course, now that you have a kick ass viral flick for Elysium, and Matt Damon (don't hit me) running around bald and badass looking (ps, "Well maybe you're a shitty cameraman", Ha ha ha, you are my hero. Don't hit me.), suddenly everyone wants to praise your genius. Like Glen Schaefer over at The Province. The whole story is here. Well, Glen decided to grab a bunch of people who probably only held you back, but now are all "Oh, I love Neill, he's soooo smart!" I mean look at these quotes:

“We loved watching him work because he was so quick and so inventive, and of course he was fun,” says Marianne O’Reilly

“Neill is a stand-out unique talent. Elysium is coming from him, he wasn’t handed a script,” she says.

O’Reilly says no-one who knew Blomkamp was surprised at the success of his first feature.

“He’s definitely kept me in the loop as to what’s happening with the new project the whole way through,” says Clarke. “A lot of it was just: ‘I’m still writing, I’m still writing.’ The guy is extremely focused.”

Hey kids, here's the bandwagon, feel free to jump on. I don't care if they knew you first, did they start any websites devoted only to you? Do they write you poetry about you? Do they teach classes on 'how to paint Neill Blomkamp the Neill Blomkamp way'? Do they have a lovely shrine for you that gets a weekly goat sacrificed to it for your continued success (should it be daily?)?



No. No. No. No. No. They didn't and Don't. All they did was talk to their buddy Glen and 'poof' suddenly they're your best friends who always knew you'd succeed.

So don't forget who did all that for you Neill. Don't forget.

So....how are things otherwise?

Doug