Trailer's out !

The Surf's Up trailer is out.
Go watch it on Apple's site:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/surfsup/

Or on the official Sony Pictures website:
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/surfsup/index.html

Joshua Tree National Park : rock climbing

Rock climbing, originally uploaded by _esse.

Last weekend we headed for Joshua Tree National Park with a merry bunch of 16.
It was our second visit to the area, first one was a quick drive through with an occasional
stop on our August SoCal road trip. Our first impression than was nice, but not standing out
like the other National Parks we had done that far. More like a blend of some of the other
more spectacular parks.

This time however we had more time to spend and as a bonus, Tim, Nathalie and Christophe,
all seasoned rock climbers were in our party.

After setting up camp Saturday at noon we did some reconnaissance for good climbing spots,
which is a bit... well euh, superfluous, cause Joshua Tree is scattered with rocks, all of them
making sweet climbing opportunities of various levels of difficulty.

Saturday night we were lucky to join a stargazing party, organized once a year by a local club.
So the computer graphics geeks went to check out the stargazing geeks and their toys.
We got to see all kinds of constellations, nebula and even a comet, tail included.
Because of the remote location and the absence of any artificial light for thens of miles
JT is a sublime setting for all that.

Sunday we went for the real work and most of us went rock climbing under the great
guidance of Tim. Lots of fun. Beats indoor climbing by far. At the rock we met a crazy
free climbing dude which was almost

After breaking up camp around 14.00 we headed for the Cottonwood area of the park
to top of the day with a last hike. We got a bit surprised by the fast setting sun which
made we had to find our way back in the dark.

A smooth ride and a couple of hours later we were back in the entertainment capital
of the world. (?!?)

Pictures to follow soon.

Surf's up Surf Day : pictures and more

Last week Tuesday (september 19.) was Surf's Up surf day. The entire team headed for Malibu beach to do some serious field research. Boards, wetsuits, instructors, beach babes, food and beverages, a sandy beach and a gnarly wave, all ellements were present. Icing on the cake: the directors (Chris and Ash) and part of the cast (voice actors) + the amazing surf pro Rob Machado (www.robmachado.com) were there too.

While Rob Machado was surfing circles around us we were trying to survive one of the nastiest waves of Southern California. Not and ideal place for beginners, a while ago a pro broke his neck at that very beach, sets of waves were rolling in a very irregular pace. On top of that the wave was very violent, standing up out of nothing and breaking just seconds after, washing away all in it's path, each time resulting in a barage of surferless surfboards popping out of the wave like colorful popcorn.

Result: 1 stiched arm, 2 broken toes and 1 ripped out toenail. Word goes that the producers canceled all further events till the entire flick has been canned.

Nevertheless a wonderfull day with a magnificaent crowd. Who else get's paid to go surfing in Malibu except for Surf Pro's? And than again they don't get to work on the first animated surf feature.

Thank you Surf's Up production team for making this all happen!

Some pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikborzi/sets/72157594292117506/
http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/litow2nd/album?.dir=/1bb8scd&.src=ph&.tok=phEz_hFBSJePfltL
http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/davidstodolny/album?.dir=/ac1fscd&.src=ph&.tok=phy5BiFBs_w7fLGP








Rob Machado ripping it up on Sony Surf's up Surf Day.
(picture by Daniele Tosti)

Sunset over Two Harbours

sunset, originally uploaded by _esse.

Just a view we wanted to share with all of you guys. This was the sunset over Two Harbours (Catalina Islands) this weekend.

If yuo like the picture and you want to support it, please go 'fav' and comment it on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/esse/248020389/

Hollywood self-relativism

Hollywood self-relativism, originally uploaded by _esse.

Found this quite funny base line of a hotel around the corner:

If we were any more Hollywood, our pool would be shallow at both ends.


www.sunsetmarquishotel.com

Chakra Cleansing

Chakra Cleansing, originally uploaded by _esse.

Spiritualist Sandra is pushing through a big marketing campaign. I found this under my windshield wiper in the parking lot of Traders Joe in Culvercity.

I wonder if she could cure my camera which behaves like it's under a voodoo-spell.

Why go to work...

--------------------start email excerpt------------------------------------
subject: Why go to work...

body:
when you could go surfing!

Mark your calendars for next Tuesday (9/19/06) for Surf's Up surf day. This will be an employee only event (sorry, no guests) with surf instructors, boards, wet suits and lunch all provided. Details on the location to follow.

--------------------end email excerpt-------------------------------------

The Surf's Up crew received this email.

YAY!

Octopus eats shark...

Never put and octopus in yor shark tank is the lesson we learn from this one!

http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?g=2f3eee6e-6ed5-444c-8a74-6a0899fa0b85&f=06/64&fg=copy

Party Time!

Tonight there was a Surf's Up crew party because we are doing ... well. Cannot disclose how well, cause that's classified, but all's well. So the producer decided to throw a little party with food and drinks in the garden.

Concidentially today also was the day the trailler got fininished. Now don't rush off to Quicktime movies yet. We finished it, but it still needs to go through postproduction to make it webready. That might take another couple of days, but no worries, I will post the link the very minute the trailer is on the Apple website and other places.

Stay tuned!

Burning Man as seen from above.

Satelite's view on Burning Man camp in the middle of the desert. Everyone we heard was wild about the Belgian camp, "great architecture!" This year 40.000 people gathered to build and burn in the middle of the desert.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_Man

It's coming up, It's coming up, It's coming up...

It's bear!!!
Today we saw our first black bear (Ursus americanus). We have been longing to see one since we arrived in California in april. Despite several trips to national parks and forests and being on the look out like eagles for mice we hadn't been lucky so far.

When we arrived in Kings Canyon the numerous warnings, way more numerous and explicit than in Yosemite, didn't leave much doubt: this was bear country. When cooking food on the campfire on Moraine Campground saturday night we all of a sudden noticed a bunch of park rangers. They were scanning the environment with one of these antennas one often sees in wildlife documentaries. We hurried to them to hear that there was a female bear that had been scouring the campground lately for food. Since the bear was tagged with a radio device they were able to track it.
We stored all our food, toothpaste and anything that could attract a bear carefully in the bearbox, took the video camera and digital camera into the tent... hoping for... But no luck.

A hike on sunday and a night on a fairly remote campground at pretty high altitude, a perfect setting for a bear encounter, didn't bring any luck.

Monday we went for a last hike to Weaver Lake, high and remote enough, for... you guessed it, a bear sighting. But again, despite a beautifull and rewarding hike, no joy :(

When driving home we were chatting about how nice the weekend, even without spotting a bear. On the winding roads that take you out of Sequoia National Park we all of a sudden had to break because of a bunch of cars that had stopped in a bend. A couple of people were standing at the side of the road, gazing into the woods. One guy whispered 'bear... bear...'. Hilde grabbed the camera and jumped out of the car before I could stop. By the time I got out of the car I had spotted a big dark blob of fur making it's way towards an oak tree. A bear! In no time it made it's way high into the tree. From high up it was casually looking down while ripping off some twigs and eating them. Quite a sight seeing an animal of that size playfully hopping around in a tree. Minutes later it came down and continued it's way through the shrub.

We couldn't have wished for a better end to our weekend.

Luck often lure's just around the corner.

more pictures on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/esse/sets/72157594273103014/

We're off to Kings Canyon National Park

Memorial day weekend, monday september 3 is a day off.
We head for Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park.
http://www.nps.gov/seki