Craig Crane

They are the Hale & Pace of my family……

So, this is where I watch movies because I generally find the experience of going to a real cinema annoying and empty….

This is my family

Pretty awesome, I’d say!

Had some good news this afternoon so it takes the edge of what was a crappy weekend, as well as a really shite commute to work….

Well, the review has been done and submitted to the mag. I wish I had more space to do maybe a half page extra as these Gnomon DVD’s really are jam packed with great stuff. This latest release is great, and I only wish I had access to it when I was doing the space shots for the tour. Still, If Jeff wants some new and better establishing shots, he knows where to come.

I wont pre-empt the published review, but all off the techniques use on this disc are as home on Terra Firma as they are in Space… I have to say, I have normally avoided using software rendered particles, being more biased towards hardware render buffering and the techniques learnt from Andrew Orloff… but this disc has given me some great ideas of how to apply some whizz bang to my reel, and I guess at the end of the day thats one of the many reasons we buy these discs.

I know there is a growing trend to just use stock explosions and the like, but when I blow stuff up I like to have complete control over the effect…

Anyway, very impressed (AGAIN!)

Should be getting the new Houdini title in the post this week or next for review. I have been watching Houdini quite closley, and as long as most of it is covered in the interface and not dependent on scripting (my weakest point really) then I should be ok. Only a handfull of people are using H at work at the moment, and I like what they do…. I want to be part of their little clique, because they are the cool kids (ha ha ha)…

Looking forward to seeing what Craig does with this disc…

Ha! There are some people that I have met throughout my travels that I insist on keeping as far away from my present life as is humanly possible…. People who may have had an impact on my life, for better or worse. Regardless, they are in the past for a reason, thats where they belong.

One person though has come back from the past to say hi. Whilst trying to arrange the college reunion, I came across her name whilst doing a search for people that I knew, albeit not ones that I went to college with. I eventually sent out a very polite “hello”, not expecting a reply at all. But to my surprise she did and I was very thrilled.

I remember seeing her for the first time… I didn’t know what to make of her other than she really caught my eye, and as I tended bar in the Black Horse Sidcup, I eventually worked up the nerve to ask her out on a date. I was convinced she was out of my league. She looked bright and full of life… she had a outward going smile that looked as if at times she wanted to reel the smile back in a little, embarrassed that people might thing that she smiles and laughs a lot. Me? I was this tall, painfully skinny guy, who was too embarrassed to say that he was studying to be a dancer. But still, she must have seen something in me I guess (although what, I don’t know!)

her little kooky friend Gina was quite instrumental in pairing us up early one morning at Gina’s house….

The plan was to meet her at the Covent Garden General Store where she worked at the weekend and then go and see Dangerous liaisons at the Warner West End… from that point onwards I was smitten. She was my first true love I guess.

These pics were taken in 1990, 17 years ago…. Jeez, where does it go?

Well, time has a habit of changing things, and after a couple of years, we changed. We grew apart and wanted different things. I wanted to be a Puppeteer and perform, and she wanted to be a teacher. This was 17 years ago. I worshiped the ground this girl walked on, and even to this day, THERE SHE GOES by the La’s brings it all back as well as anything from Robert Smith or All About Eve…. but the past is the past, we move on, we grow and hopefully, we still remember the good things about the past and ourselves….

Well, She now teaches, and I still puppeteer… so I guess that it wasn’t all for nothing, and chatting to T again has been a very enjoyable experience indeed. For the time that we were together, her family embraced me as one of their own, and were really dependable in times of need. Something I don’t think I ever got the chance to thank them for, as it all came crashing down during a holiday to Majorca…

So, to the Strawberry blond Goth who still knows how to rock…… Hi!

There are indeed far worse ways to spend a weekend!

…..you just know who is going to be a bit of a handful when she gets older….

Im very excited!