Late night madness

I'm uncomfortable lately.  This is not necessarily a bad thing.  Artists seem to be more inspired when there is that bit of something nagging at their subconscious, a small creature munching away on feeling secure and safe.

My subconscious is definitely nervous, and that is a good sign.  It means it's still functioning at some level.

I've been so overwhelmed with just paying the bills and struggling with keeping all the balls in the air that there really hasn't been time to be creative outside of sheer necessity.  That 2 a.m. stroke of brilliance that makes a deadline doable is appreciated and wonderful, but that's been about it.  I have felt like I have been drowning in a sea of adulthood, and that inner child is starting to get tired of treading water.

I miss the old me.

So I went on a bit of a binge today.  I went to the movie theater by myself and watched 2 movies back to back.  Now don't beat me up to badly regarding my choices.  The late time slot I had didn't give me a whole lot of options.  I saw the Tower Heist and Breaking Dawn.

The Tower Heist was actually a lot of fun.  Eddy Murphy reminded me a lot of the OLD Eddy Murphy.....which was awesome. All in all it was a good, solid, popcorn flick that wasn't half bad.  I stopped looking at the makeup about 15 minutes in, which means I was enjoying myself.

OK......why in the world did I see Breaking Dawn?  Because Brian Sipe did the pregnancy makeup with another artist and I wanted to check it out.  Morbid curiosity about how bad it really was.  And yes, I have read the books and am a closet addict.  Native american men running around without shirts is a plus, not a negative.

I felt bad for the makeup team on this film.  Every other shot was a super tight closeup where you could count pores.  Gah.  I know super tight closeups are the new thing, but after a while you start to feel bad for the actors if they are having a bad skin day or didn't get enough sleep.  When you can tell someone has dry lips or lots of under-eye cover for dark circles it just feels invasive in some way.  There is only so much a makeup artist can realistically do.  I was excited to see subtle makeups where you couldn't spot edges on the prosthetics though.  Go Brian and company!

The movie itself was looooong drawn out scenes, milked for every second so they could break it into 2 movies and get as much money as possible.  It was painfully slow, but very pretty, and better than the last one in my opinion.  The last one had some dialogue that made me wince and cringe and slink down in my seat at times.

But I really needed a day in the theater.  Because it reminded me of how much I have always dreamed of working in the film business.  How there is a kid inside of me that wants to help make fantasy happen, and monsters come to life, and dreams walk and talk.  I left with creature designs dancing in my head, and a strong desire to start practicing some makeup techniques I'm a little bit of a novice in.  There is a lot of work to be done, and I have a long ways to go.  But I'm feeling refreshed.

Leaving Utah

Well, just finished up doing makeup for the film Blackjacks in beautiful Utah. It was quite the ride, great crew, amazing locations, and an awesome cast. No drama, just a whole lot of wonderful work.