Wary Mini-Squirrel

Dear Reader,

With the Aliens delighting in talk of it coming down in cats and dogs outside (it's raining in LA), our mini-squirrel friends have been watching through the windows very carefully ...

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Sunflower Bike

Dear Reader,

Looking at some of the footage from the Nail Saloon shoot, I realized I never posted our version of the Ikebana bike I alluded to earlier.

So here's a frame grab :) I have to say I was pretty pleased with out effort!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Enter the New Glue-gun

Dear Reader,

For my big 40th birthday earlier in the year I was lucky enough to receive a personalized jewel encrusted glue-gun. Dazzled by the colors I actually missed just how personalized this glue-gun is until ... can you see what Alien One is pointing to?! And on the other side are the initials RW!

So cool :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Stills from Ed's House

Dear Reader,

It's been a while since he was last spotted, and he's now shot out, but last week we did catch a glimpse of Bob over at Ed's house. And if you look carefully, under the cover of darkness, you can also see Vlad eyeing Bob from the floor.

Earlier in the day, Justus was standing behind the camera and got this happy snap of my directing our wonderful star, Shi Ne :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Ed's House Shoot

Dear Reader,

I hope you too had a lovely little Thanksgiving break!

Ours was especially festive as we completed filming of three of our actors for the entire series the day before! Actually we finished well after midnight, but who's counting :)

Here's a couple of images of the preparations, including some of the props that were needed ...

... I thought it might be fun to share the mayhem before it left our apartment.

Tomorrow I'll see if I can find some production stills :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Framing Ed's Achievements

Dear Reader,

Today is a big day, the culmination of over a year of shooting Ed, our town's police chief, mayor, fire chief, forestry chief, ...

Fittingly we will shoot a slew of his certificates which have been carefully framed in bright licks of color and drawn by myself, the Aliens and our wonderful artist Rayshell Curtiss.

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Justus' Thoughts on Murals

While working through the moves on "Darkside of the Moon" (flag, heel hook, bump), I met a muralist who runs the Mobile Mural Lab:

And I remembered a mural I'd once done:

And then I remembered what Henry Ward Beecher had said:

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.

So true. Check out www.MobileMuralLab.com

Inspiration: Some Crazy Fun With Water

Dear Reader,

I came across this wonderful special effect a little while ago. Would love to incorporate it into The Squirrel King somewhere, but can't think of a spot yet. Hope you enjoy too:


It's kind of out of this world, and yet a little too real ...

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

A Glue-gun to the Tally

Dear Reader,

As many of you know, this project has been underway for a couple of years now. We are nearing completion of what is called Principal Photography on the series, which basically means we've almost finished shooting except for extras needs that crop up during editing.

Along the way we've burned through pots of paint, bolts of fabric and countless paper bags. Last night, while braiding and gluing hair onto a doll, Alien One added our first glue-gun to the list of retired work tools - it somehow started smoking and then we left it outside in the rain.

Echoing the theme of moving on, I also came across Alien One's wonderful Halloween poem. Hope you enjoy it too :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Edible Cookbook

Dear Reader,

It wonderful what exists in the world, and just the sort of thing Ed would have in his kitchen, an edible cookbook from Korefe.

Perfect for the cooling weather :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Last Shots of Paul

Dear Reader,

Last  weekend's Nail Saloon shoot was a picture wrap for Bill Watterson, our magnificent Paul. To celebrate, I wanted to post just a couple more pics of Bill working the bar at the Nail Saloon.

It's been an absolute delight working with you Bill!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Groovy Kids Yoga

Dear Reader,

Some time back Greville, the Aliens' wonderful old yoga teacher, recorded Alien One demonstrating one of their poses. Here it is for you too to enjoy :)


If you like yoga and have kids, check out the Groovy Kids yoga site!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Nail Saloon Shoot

Dear Reader,

After an afternoon of chaotic painting with the Aliens and their friends, The Trouble and Strife's creative genius rose to the fore taking the bowl of fruit and turning it into a bike for the bar in the Nail Saloon.

The next day during the shoot she moved behind the camera. Rest assured though, all is good; I got to make a cameo as one of the Nesting cyclists :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

PS I'm sure pics of my wonderful skin-tight lycra costume will surface at some point ...

Floral Bike

Dear Reader,

I've been inspired to try some Ikebana arrangements (floral sculptures, of bikes in our instance) for the Nail Saloon shoot tomorrow.

Searching for references I came across this wonderful sunflower bike by Daniel Baxter (who has a slew of other delightful upbeat images on his site).

I also came across the image on the right from London :) Such wonderful possibilities!!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Wheat Grass Juicer

Dear Reader,

No juice bar is complete without the wheat grass shot maker, and the Nail Saloon is no different.

It's in the foundational stages, but as you can see, the aliens are already intrigued :)

Watch out for the reappearance of our old potted plants!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Grassy Inspiration

Dear Reader,

Searching for inspiration relating to wheat grass shots for this weekend's Juice bar shoot, I came across Mathilde Roussel's wonderfully whimsical "Lives of Grass".

Though obviously still, the sculptures have so much energy and life. Simply fantastic!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

The Nail Saloon

Dear Reader,

In the small town of Nesting ...

Nail Saloon = Biker Bar = Cyclist's Juice Bar

As you can see, Alien One already has the namesake Nail!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Justus Plays the Bad Actor

Dear Reader,

Justus shared with me the other day this wonderful performance of his in a faux behind the scenes documentary.

Gave us all a good laugh, hope you like it too :)


Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

PS. I just want to reassure you that neither the tone of this clip nor Justus' character represent The Squirrel King.

Sometimes...

Sometimes life is hard. Like when you're 25 feet up a boulder and the ground is a patchwork of cacti.

It's times like these that I like to reflect on what a famous adventurer once said:

Facing it, always facing it; that's the way to get through. Face it!

-Joseph Conrad

I like to think he was talking to me: Top it out, always topping it out!

Think about it,

justus

Photo Credit: Monica Arone

Costumes in Action

Dear Reader,

The Aliens both had such a lovely time, that I just have to make one last post for Halloween.

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims