New Years in Paris

I expected the french to cut loose a little more. But Paris was awesome.

Christmas in Paris

Alicia and I are in Paris for Christmas. Yesterday we bought an X-mas tree and ornaments near Notre Dame and hauled them on foot back to the hotel near the Arc D'Triumph. For Christmas Day we slept until 1pm. After eating and exchanging gifts we saw Woody Allen's Dixieland Jazz Band in an old fashion music hall.

On X-mas Eve we had the classic French waiter. He was a impatient prick. Even the French patrons at Cafe Pont Neuf took notice. Today we had two great waiters who were patient with my limited french.


View Larger Map

London

Alicia and I are in London for a few days before heading to Paris for the Holidays. I got a head shave and beard trim at Truefitt and Hill. Established in 1805, Truefitt and Hill have had Winston Churchill and members of the Royal Family as clients.

Read Me in Russian

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/5893922115/sr=1-3/qid=1197056497/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1197056497&sr=1-3&seller=

X-mas @ Nickelodeon CG Dept

http://picasaweb.google.com/McSteeds/NickChristmas

James Bond Suit

While in India last year I took a bunch of photos of Sean Connery's suit from Gold Finger into a Taylor and said "make this."

More Pictures

http://picasaweb.google.com/McSteeds

Adopt a Platoon

Let someone know what it is they are serving for. Whether you agree with the war or not is irrelevant. Do what you can for the people who are away from home while we get upset because traffic was bad or McDonald's had slow service. I've spent a month at a time overseas for work and it got lonely and hard. That was only a month and no one shot at me.

http://adoptaplatoon.org

More Pictures - London 2006

http://picasaweb.google.com/McSteeds/London2006

Lots of Pictures

I'm in the process of posting all my photos on Google's Picasa. Check back often.

http://picasaweb.google.com/McSteeds

Hot Lips wasn't so Hot

Sally Kellerman was a much better Hot Lips. This one has far too many teeth. Surely there are more than the standard issue 32 in that grusome set of choppers.

Flying My Plane Home

Back in April I bought myself a Grumman AA5-B Tiger.

After 22 hours, spending the night in a shack waiting out tornado warnings,and witnessing my first IFR flight through the clouds (Daylon Bakken at the wheel), I'm home.

Daylon is an amazing pilot. He flies in bad weather all the time for work. When we landed for the storms in Texas we had a 30+ knot direct crosswind(Very Crazy!) and no choice but to get down. He ran out of rudder and welanded on one wheel but it was a pretty smooth landing.

In Payson, az I met Daylon's family. His uncle is a guide for taking peopleon huts for Black Bears.

Flying Cloud, MN - Albion, NE - Goodland - KS - Gruver, TX (Stopped forTornado warning) - Amarillo, TX - Los Cruces, NM - Payson, AZ - PalmSprings, CA - Burbank, CA

http://picasaweb.google.com/McSteeds/FlyingMyPlaneHome

I love the plane. The avionics are amazing.


View Larger Map

Dangerous Motorcycle Gang

From Sunday

Catalina by Air

This weekend I had a little flight to Catalina. My friend Dave (who also has a Grumman Tiger)and I met in the air over Dana Point and then flew to the island at 8500 feet. I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures.

At the restaurant on the airport I had a Buffalo Hot Dog.

Here's a picture of my plane.

Baseball?

I saw my first Major League Baseball game this sunday at Petco Park in San Diego. The Padres beat San Fransisco's Giants 5 to 1. I had a few requirements for that game. Most were met.

.

First and foremost was to have a Hot Dog. Check. Second was beer. Check. Peanuts and Cracker Jacks. Crackers Jacks has peanuts in it so Check. Home Run by the Padres. Check. Catch a foul ball. Shit.

.

I hated baseball when I was a squirt. In 5th grade when the teacher asked someone to give and example of an opinion I blurted out 'baseball sucks!' Its really shocking to some of my friends that I went. I still think its basically a boring sport but as may have said going to the game is better than watching it on TV. I decided to be into it; to scream and whistle for the team. I stomped my feet and swore at players.

.

So, am I a fan now? Kind of. I want to be a fan but it will always be casual.

Colin McRae Dies in Helicopter Crash

http://colinmcrae.com/

Not many people in the US know who Colin McRae was. He was an amazing driver from World Championship Rally. He's to WRC what Tiger Woods is to golf. He brought in a lot of previously uninterested fans.

Knock on Wood

Saying 'knock on wood' has taken the place of doing it. I think there's dangerous and growing false sense of security because the act of the luck maintaining has not been preformed so many times. Please people . . .

Penn Needs Vacation

Sean Penn, activist-actor, needs a vacation and a decent nights sleep.

Jason Diorio - Thief!

http://jasondiorio.blogspot.com/

Much of the artwork on Jason site is ripped of from artist at Nickelodeon. The prick has the nerve to put the work in a gallery, and have his smiling mug photographed with it.

His deception is premeditated. He posts drawings and then several days later post the paintings. The sketches were done by Mike Dougherty and Jen Woods. The paintings were done by Bill Dely.

I've seen people do this several time in my career and I'm blown away that these idiots think they can get away with it.

Bye bye Jason. Have fun with Viacom's Lawyers.

Drawing of Me from 'The Cigar Box'

Michael Dougherty, badass character designer, drew a picture of me based on my short film The Cigar Box

My Videos on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/ChrisNeuhahn

Tak and the Power of Juju

Hey everybody,

Tak Premieres this Friday on Nickelodeon. This is the project I've been working on for the past 1.5 years. Its cost me (or gave, depending on my mood) two tips to Hyderabad, India. Hyderabad has had two bombings while our people have been there. Fun.

I was Supervising Animator on one of the 11 minutes cartoons, The Woodifest. The supervising animators on this show are responsible for making sure the show is do-able during the script/board stage, and after the animatic is locked we guide the show to completion. This is really wrestling the animation from India into submission using a lot of notes and drawovers.

I'll post some of these drawovers later.

More news for Vacant Planet

I've got the BG look nearly nailed. A couple more little tweaks to go.

Barack Obama

Normally I avoid posting anything related to politics here. But this is pointing out a weird irony rather than political commentary. It has nothing to do with Barack.

Barack Obama gave a speach at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars recently.

Ole Woodrow pubicly ripped Teddy Roosevelt for being the first president to have a black man visit the whitehouse. Only he did not say black man.

Oops.

PS I know I'm applying today's stardards to our forefathers.

Kevin Langley - Cartoon Connoisseur

Kevin Langley posts and discusses cartoon greats from the Golden Age.

http://klangley.blogspot.com/

Ratatouille

Ratatouille, Pixar's latest film, was pretty damn good. Here's a review.
http://ricksflickspicks.animationblogspot.com/2007/06/29/ratatouille-2007/

A Whole Mess of Travel

By Saturday I will have been on 11 flights in the last month. Bold letters mean that I actually spent some time there (as opposed to just going through the airport). Blue means that I was there to visit a studio.

Los Angeles, USA > Taipei, Taiwan > Singapore > Hyderabad, India > Bangkok, Thailand > Seoul, Korea > Taipei, Taiwan > Seoul, Korea > Singapore > Hyderabad, India > Kuala Lampur, Malaysia > Los Angeles, USA

Sheesh.

Here's a rundown on the Airports:

• LAX - Some parts new and nice, others old and not so great. (Before you start comlaining about LAX this list is relative).
• Taipei - Very clean fairly easy to navigate if you are using the right airline. One terminal looks hatched in the sixties.
• Singapore -Nice. There are transit hotels for layovers. One even has a pool.
• Hyderabad - Pure Squalor. Please, someone just get a sponge a whipe down the fucking walls. Old and Chaotic like the rest of the city. People can just walk up to the terminal making it crowded and chaotic to get in. I cannot use the word chaos enough when talking about India. Also people just walk through immigration without even drawing a glance from the officers. Sometimes officials don't have matching uniforms.
• Bangkok - New Airport, very nice. The airline even shows you a video before landing that tells you where to go for connections and whatever else you need. Business class gives you shorter Immigration lines.
• Seoul - Nice and new.

The Golf Pro

Check out my work of fiction; The Golf Pro

Originally I had intended on John Apple being seen as a real person. But I just don't have the time to dedicate to it. Still I'm happy with the writing in it.

Start from the oldest posts.

Ah, The Internet

Let me tell you why I love the internet. Because its such a waste of time. I don't mean this sarcasticly, I'm serious. You see, I want to smack people when they say "someone's got too much time on their hands." To me it's a grand acheivement to have time to waste. We need gaps in the business to play, to create, even if it doesn't add up to anything.

Shit, sometimes the stupidest little thing ends up adding up. Take Matt of http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/ His silly way of recording his travels earned him an offer to go around the world again on someone elses dime.

Not that this is going to happen to you. But the net is an outlet for every inane bit of creativity. You can put every doodle in front of a large audience.

Michael Dougherty

Check out Michael Dougherty's site. He's doing some TOP SECRET character design for Vacant Planet.

You Tube is Cruel

YouTube.com had some bad news for me while I was creating my profile.

In India Again

I'm on my third tour of duty in the chaos and squalor of India for Nickelodeon. We are trying to usher Tak to its first major delivery.

A Curious Bit of Scrap

A Curious Bit of Scrap
See 1280x720 HD version at http://www.vacantplanet.com/
Chapter II will be out around November.

MSN's Crappy Headlines 3

Holy shit! A talking bird speaks in it own defense. MSN.com's Headline writers need help.