Roots

I wrote this from Saarinen-East Coast (Newport, RI) originally on 7/29/11. When you're from a tiny town in smallest state in the country it's always great to come home. Within 24 hours, I saw everyone (literally) I grew up with and am typed this 1/4 mile from the hospital in which I was born. It's just really good to go back home. We had the Folk Festival in the last weekend of July... amazing!

Speaking of amazing... Theresa Wingert with Sticks + Stones has been having a great year. Constantly working and bidding... go Theresa! Click here to view her work.

What Pico Watches:

In a three-day span I watched three different documentaries about eating, the food industry, and the growing of food. 1.) Food, Inc. 2.) Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead 3.) Foodmatters

Let's just say that my outlook on how/what I eat has totally changed. If you've seen any of these or are into juicing or just super organic eating, I'd love to chat with you about your experiences.

Discover... Again

(originally written on 7/5/11) From time to time, I try to rediscover things in my past that I sort of stopped appreciating. Maybe something new came along to tickle my fickle attention span. Or maybe I just forgot how much I enjoy doing something. I re-learned this weekend how much I miss playing volleyball. Even though I stood there like a barnacle who had hip surgery seven weeks ago, it was nice to remember how fun hitting every ball out of bounds can be... or maybe it was just cool being with friends.

ACME Filmworks is our A-list animation company that I feel needs to be rediscovered. They have some of the best animators and CREATORS on their roster. They've been around forever... which sometimes I feel gets overlooked as we search for that next best thing. I'll be shooting over WD with a few of their spots. The Nathan's "Lose This Child" stop-motion is amazing! Click here to view.

What Pico Watches:

Super 8: I feel like I would have love love loved this movie when I was in the 6th grade. To me, it felt like one big homage/hybrid of all the movies JJ and SS have done in the past. Very cute, however. 8/10

Cars 2: Sorry, but this didn't have enough of that 'oh look, they are parodying something in human world.' Not enough winks to the adults in this. 6.5/10

Transformers: I really did NOT want to see this. So, maybe this into the Pico Low Expectations Theory. Although you chop 20 minutes of 'we're trying to be Inception' filming out of this and some Bay-ologue, I still give this a solid 9/10. * Pretty violent for the kiddies.

One Namers

As I compose this blog, the marine layer is starting to grey up the skies. I have been telling myself that 'there will be no June gloom' for those of us that sleep west of the 405. It's a belief so powerful that it WILL come true... and it looks like that little yellow guy in the sky is starting to show his face. Good job, me!

Speaking of belief... Fredrik Callinggard of Bully Pictures is going to be a one-namer... like Dante, like Noam, like Buckley. Fredrik is inching closer to having people call me and say, "hey, we want to single bid Callinggard." I believe it! Click here to see his latest work.

What Pico Watches:

Hangover II: Not much to talk about. A solid 8.25/10

Modern Family: This is really the one show I can watch re-runs and find something new to laugh at. 10/10

Resident Evil - Afterlife: If someone made you watch this movie, I'd like to engage with you on this geyser of awfulness. Within minutes I text my friend, "this is the worst movie ever." And I watched the whole thing. -100/10

New Work & Signings

For those of you who expressed condolences and helped us through February, we want to start off by saying THANK YOU. February was a rough month for Team Saarinen. We receive a lot of warm wishes and prayers from many of you and the support of our production companies makes us proud to be a part of a big family. Thank you to all.

On that note, our family of production companies have really been thriving and doing amazing things. We had a chance to take a sneak peak at Bully Pictures' new space in Santa Monica. OMG is all we can say. Soon, very soon, they will be having a 'come check us out' bash and you will be impressed. Click here to view the work.

Time to Remember

For those of you who expressed condolences and helped us through February, we want to start off by saying THANK YOU. February was a rough month for Team Saarinen. We receive a lot of warm wishes and prayers from many of you and the support of our production companies makes us proud to be a part of a big family. Thank you to all.

Gravity's Pull

Gravity has a new creative director and his name is Eric Bauer. For nearly a decade, he's been working as a director, creative director, designer and animator at/with studios such as Eyeball, Stardust, Brand New School, Digital Kitchen, Imaginary Forces, and Superfad. He has helped imagine campaigns for The Gap, Sony, Nike, Miller, HBO, Cartoon Network, CNN and Bravo. Click here to view Eric's work.

Eric Bauer's hiring is part of the continuing expansion at Gravity which includes the recent hiring of Nic Seresin VFX Supervisor and Lead Flame Artist previously with Smoke & Mirrors NYC and The Mill & MPC London. Nic has worked with some incredible directors including Adam Berg, Frank Budgen, Jonathan Glazer, Rupert Sanders, Peter Thwaites, Michel Gondry just to name drop a few.

Karin Levinson, VP of Features and Televison is spearheadinPublish Postg the launch of the West Coast office as Gravity will be the sole VFX Vendor for "Crazy, Stupid, Love," and "Arthur;" Delivers Work for "Adjustment Bureau," and Awarded Work on "Tower Heist". Bob Samuel heads up the NYC office as Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Producer.

Springing Forward

Bully Pictures is making some big moves.... literally and literally. To assist with their astronomical growth, Astrid Downs has been brought on as EP/Head of Sales to manage the company's directors, oversee productions, and to grow its directorial staff. As of this morning, veteran automotive director/dp Dana Christiaansen has joined Bully. He's recently helmed spots for Jeep, Hyundai and Suzuki. His work is beautiful and contemporary. click here to view his work