As relative newbies to the stop mo world, we were super excited that pros like Tennessee Reid Norton and his wife Sara Beth took us up on our offer to come over and pow wow at our place. And though they stayed a good long while, it turned out to be not nearly long enough.They are GOOD PEOPLE, chill, open, friendly, together, very professional, with great energy and so much talent, skill and experience…..
We totally bombarded them with frisky puppiness. We showed them our set up, puppets and some of Justin’s unedited shots (and almost all of our brilliant children’s art as well-- which they were very gracious about). We also gave them the rundown of our story and got some great advice about lights, cameras, puppets, etc. (not to mention picked up on some very cool stop mo lingo….like “sticks” for tripod for instance. wow.).
We cooked some pretty bad food which they politely ate anyway (it takes a special kind of talent to make bad food on a grill!).
We cooked some pretty bad food which they politely ate anyway (it takes a special kind of talent to make bad food on a grill!).
Our home tends to be fairly bouncy with bodies simultaneously ricocheting through space on multiple trajectories which can be very distracting (and a bit overwhelming) but Tennessee and Sara Beth took it in stride and even gamely joined in (Tennessee has a pretty mean front flip on the trampoline by the way!). 
Justin’s best friend since Jr. High was here, and two of our 3 kids. My folks stopped by (who coincidently met Tennessee and Sara Beth before we did because they live in a retirement community with Tennessee’s folks--and Christina Cegavske of Blood Tea and Red String has family who live there as well--go figure!?!). But somehow amid all the friskiness and chaos we managed to hear about some of their dreams and goals too….INSPIRING!!!
That they are working together, dreaming BIG and MAKING THEIR DREAMS HAPPEN is particularly exciting, especially since their dreams aren’t so different from ours…….
We feel so fortunate to be able to connect online with the StopMo Community. We’ve been able to pick up so much info so fast mostly all because people online have been incredibly open and generous with sharing what they know. Tennessee has definitely been one of these people and meeting and hanging out with he and Sara Beth was definitely an honor. We’re hoping we can do it again, only next time maybe we’ll get a baby sitter, put on our big kid shoes, and find a quiet restaurant somewhere…..
But wait!..... that’s not all! Check it: We have a big date next weekend too, with two more super stop mo online community rock stars. Check it out here in a week to find out who/how/what and whatnot.
9 comments:
Aw man, I envy you so much. I bet you just met up because all you guys live in Hollywood. :)I live in Portland, and even the best animators from Vinton's have moved to where you are. Do I have to move to California now just to be part of your cool stopmo scene? :)
Oh boy, that's great. I like Tennesse and Sara Beth is so beautiful!
Say, can I get the name of that retirement community, you know...for later? It MUST have something great going for it!
See ya.
If i lived in LA I'd so be wanting to invite Cristiane Cegavaske round and squeazing tricks of the trade from her!
hey pram, no you don't have to move here to be part of the scene, your seepin' in it, man! you just have to move here to get the baddly grilled food!
shelley the retirement community is for retired ministers, missionarys, and i think people who've spent large parts of their lives working for social change, you know, the kind of people who tend to spawn stop mo kids (?).
ben, that's a good idea. it was nice to meet cristiane at the stop mo expo and really cool to see her puppets in person.
we definitely feel fortunate!
yeah man,
portland is crawling with stop motion. Coaraline is as good as it gets.
TALENT galores!
But yes we have un abundance of talent out here in Cali too!
and I feel lucky as hell they have been open to me and shel.
jriggity
jriggity
Wow. Reading this post, it's like... Watching the gods have tea together. Like Ganesh and Shiva came over and had some cucumber sandwiches with Zeus and Hera.
After LSGL is done, I gotta figure out when I'm coming down back down to LA.
you're always welcome here sven!!!!! looking forward to it!!
shel
Hey Guys!
We had such a wonderfull and inspiring time with you all. This family has SUCH talent! We truely are in awe.
Looking forward to having ya'll over to our humble Hollywood abode!
The food was great! FYI - I love my meat on the bloody side... come on you have seen 'Whomper' !!!
Oh yeah, Coraline...
Well, I was referring to something I could be a part of. It's fun to watch everyone else having fun, though. Maybe I'll get a college degree and see you in five years. :)
Hey T, I don't have to get an internship at Laika, I just wanna visit their sets!(do I need a college degree for that?) :P
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