Reflections

Dear Reader,

Schools can be amazing places, and our local one is one of the best I've seen. Beyond the superb education, the extra curricular activities always abound.

This week was "Reflections" week, and those who took part were tasked with crafting something that reflected what they felt would make the world a better place. I was actually coaching my youngest on the soccer field while my eldest built this wonder!

I love that nature is so high on her wish list. I also love the way she expressed that wish! Truly Squirrel King as another parent remarked to her :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

PS Perhaps camping this weekend paid off more than just the rejuvenating effect I felt!

Whimsy from Oakoak

Dear Reader,

I stumbled across Oakoak a couple of months ago and was struck by the beauty, simplicity and lovely juxtapositions of his work.

The images are always arresting and often surprising in their inspired use of what's lying around.

Hope you have a great weekend and perhaps see some new and whimsical possibilities in the world around you :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

P.S. Oakoak's website has plenty more images.

Just Trucking Along

Dear Reader,

One of the joys in life is getting glimpses into the myriad possibilities the world offers. So yesterday, how fun to be a trucker for a day :)

Our big shipment of new card deck instructions finally arrived and I was on the bill of lading to pick it up!

Having visited the warehouse to pick up the goods - which was the size of at least a couple of football fields - I now want a turn with the forklifts!

Keep an eye out for fun new opportunities yourself and share what you know with someone else; this morning I'm going to open my daughter's eyes to Pascal's triangle and the amazing world of binomial coefficients :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Halloween Shoot Continues

Dear Reader,

The squirrels have entered the graveyard and the Halloween shoot continues.

Over the weekend, my wonderful and talented friend Tom Clancey (the cinematographer, not the resurrected writer) stopped by for a couple of days to lend a hand on the graveyard shift. What ensued was a master class in photography for me :) Learning is such a joy and learning from a good friend is all the more fun!


Then yesterday, I watched Boxtrolls with my youngest, and at the end of the movie there was a little piece showing the makers moving the individual characters shot by shot. It was pretty cool, and it made me want to share a couple of images of the concentration that goes into making our little pieces - here's a couple of images my lovely wife caught of me :)

Yes, that's a candy bag in my hands :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Closer and Closer to Halloween

Dear Reader,

The final hours of the set build are always the most fun as things really start to take shape, so ...

today I thought I'd give you a quick glimpse into the evolution of the table-top cemetery!

I love the way a world gradually materializes in just a few hours :)

And it's always interesting to see what goes where and how fundamentals such as the ground beneath our feet make some of the biggest differences.

There's still a little way to go, I mean obviously we need a night sky and a few more tombstones, but all in all its getting close :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Halloween Cast of Characters Coming Together

Dear Reader,

Even squirrels like to Trick or Treat and of course they get dressed up for the occasion!

So far we have skeleton squirrels - insisted upon by my youngest, and now my own personal favorite - a witch - complete with broom - and still to come a ghost squirrel and of course the mummy, a regular favorite.

Finally, there's the stomping grounds including the night sky and the moon! Super excited to put the final touches together and shoot these later this week. I'm pretty sure everyone will have a good chuckle :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

PS there's a mystery guest character in the Halloween clip, see if you can guess :)

Spiders at the Natural History Museum!

Dear Reader,

This weekend we made a trek to the Natural History Museum in LA to help celebrate the opening of their spider exhibit.

A fun time was had by all and in the end the kids that stopped by crafted about 500 furry friends!!

Spiders were creeping all over the place, and they weren't shy of hogging the limelight ;)

And when it came to construction, even the security got interested in crafting an assistant (look at the end of the table in the shot to the right)!

Keep an eye out next year, the sheer joy of it was so great that I think we'll try figuring out how to bring this craft to you in a kit. Then the spiders can truly take over :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims