Golden Compass out today

Sep 29th was my official last day on Compass, which came out today. Unfortunately rotten tomatoes has it at a rotten 44%, though the general audience gave it a barely fresh 63%.

To remind my audience, my technical title was: TechAnim TD - which means Technical Animator Technical Director. What I really did was character effects, like hair & fur, collision/s, floppy skin/ears, muscle tensing/buldging, and other such effects. The comopany I worked on worked on the human dameon companions (not the armored bears), and their interaction with the scene and environments.

Working at PDI/Dreamworks

October 29, I started work at PDI, the bay area Dreamworks location as a Character Effects Artist. Or as it's called here CFX. The movie most of PDI is working on is Madagascar 2, though some of us are on Monsters vs. Aliens or Kung-Fu Panda, both of which are mostly tasked to the Glendale Dreamworks location. So as you can see the 2 companies share work across site. And down the line I might help out on other projects that might not be mainly up here but down in soCal.

The building I work in is sick! It's 4 levels of glass and steel, in a corporate office building park, called Pacific Shores Center, that's out on a landfill in the Bay Area. To the south we (on the 4th floor) have a picturesque panoramic view of some salt flats, the bay and the Dumbarton Bridge. And to the north we can see the Pacific Shores Club, with it's outdoor lap pool, grassy amphetheater and pretty landscaping, as well as the Redwood City Port behind the trees.

Besdies working on funny films with other awesome people. Working here has other perks, like free chef cooked lunch, free crap like animated DVDs and Shrek toys. On my floor right by the elevators there is a Wii and Xbox 360 each with it's own 50" screen. And my favorite perk is the gym. The Pacific Shores Club boasts a full gym, free yoga, core, and spinning classes, as well as an indoor climbing wall and outdoor lap pool.

Let's just say that I hope I don't have to blog another job change for years to come.