Jesus. You people.

The girl in that photo looks appropriately unsure about her current situation

Last edited by Jimmy B (2012-06-29 06:27:51)

Ok, as my screen name suggests, I am a pastor. I work for a church in Bakersfield, CA. I'm 37, I've been married for 14 years (as of last Wednesday 6/20) and have three kids, two boys (11 & 9) and a new baby girl who was born with a heart defect and had open heart surgery at UCLA a week after she was born last August. I used to lead our churches Jr high youth ministry until our senior pastor wanted to utilize my graphics and video talent more and got a new youth leader. I've been doing video and graphics at the church for the past 9 years.

I grew up fascinated by movies. I used to sit in front of our family's hifi and listen to the Star Wars sound track LP we had over and over again. I would imagine the movie in my head while listening to music. The two movies that influenced me the most, where I first learned the language of film making, were "Empire of the Sun" and "Tucker"

I am a complete Apple fanboy. Each year I try to take a vacation to San Francisco so I can swing by Apple headquarters in Cupertino to pick up some Apple apparel at their company store. I also love LEGO. I like people to think that I just play it with my kids but in reality I enjoy it more than my kids. I have a great time building custom MOCs (My Own Creations). My favorite mall is the Glendale Galleria. There's an Apple store next door to a LEGO store. It's my little slice of heaven.

Feel free to AMA. I know religious discussions can get a little heated but I promise that I won't get preachy or argue, just simply answer any questions. You may even be surprised by my answers.

Dbngaa, I'm truly sorry for your recent loss. I can't imagine losing my wife at this age.

Jimmy B, have you ever drawn Garfield? That's what I was famous for among my friends in elementary school. And by the way, my youngest boy wants to be a stuntman too.

Teague, how many times can you twist a balloon before it pops?

@TheMargarineMan

1.) What is it that you hated about engineering that made you want to pursue a different career?

I'm starting my undergrad in chemical engineering this September, and while I was looking forward to it a lot when I first applied and got accepted, the input of other people has begun to make me wonder. It's mostly just the workload I'm worried about to be honest. I've always enjoyed Math/Physics/Chemistry more than any other high school course (except for maybe Media Studies); but I'm worried that the workload and stress will be too much to handle. Which brings me to my second question.

2.) How much harder was first year in comparison to High School

So I've basically breezed through most of my high school classes (don't want to sound smug about it, but I understand the concepts well and have a pretty good memory). And I know that the marks in Ontario are much more inflated than the marks in Alberta, so I'm just wondering what I should expect when I get to university. The university I'm going to is Waterloo btw if that makes a difference (which I don't think it should since the curriculum is the same everywhere).

Well, okay. I'll throw in. I think I've got some good question fodder in me. AMA.

My name is Josh, and I live in Connecticut. I am neither a doctor nor a submarine. I am also not in the Navy, despite what the girl at Gamestop assumed when I gave her my email address (are there actual submarine doctors in the Navy? Are they doctors stationed on submarines, or do they doctor the submarines themselves?) I don't do as much movie making as the rest of you guys; my thing is criticism. I write and run a blog called Popcorn Culture which you can see in my signature. I've been doing that for about 2-and-a-half years now.

In real life, I have a pretty odd job. I sell soft-serve ice cream out of trailers at fairs. The hours are long and the pay isn't great, but I meet some fascinating people. Just the other weekend I sold ice cream to conjoined twins. One time a guy asked for a cup of sprinkles, which he poured down his friend's pants. I saw three people in one day wearing Confederate flags as capes. It's going to be great fodder for a book one day. On another note, I have both been hit in the head with a horseshoe and struck in the face with a boomerang.

Last edited by Doctor Submarine (2012-06-29 16:53:16)

The fair was in Goshen, so northwest CT. But it was a hick show. They were selling Confederate flags and "Don't Tread on Me" banners all over the place. I counted hundreds of cowboy hats.

I'm gonna be the DIF slut and go for everyone.

@Teague - How did you first get started with vfx? Did you follow Ryan's lightsaber tutorial and go from there like a lot of TFN'ers or did you take a different approach?

@TheMargarineMan - To what extent do you dabble in astronomy? I personally use Starmap Pro on my iPhone to identify constellations and such, but that's pretty much it.

@BigDamnArtist - When was the last time you performed onstage and why haven't you performed since?

@Jimmy B - Did the other guys in your high school think of you as a lucky bastard for being in a class with 12 girls?

@Saniss - What was the first full song you learnt on guitar?

@dbngaa - What comics are you currently following?

@Dave - How long have you been married for?

@pastormacman - What is the largest LEGO set you have ever built?

@Doctor Submarine - What is one of the most memorable customers you have had when selling ice cream?

Owen asked: When was the last time you performed onstage and why haven't you performed since?

This is kinda weird to answer. So the technical answer is alomost 3 years to the date. I was in a performance of Alice In Wonderland done by Central Alberta Theater here in Red Deer, we performed June 2009.

That's me!! (Backstage) \/

(If you can't tell what part I played...even I can't help you)

The trickier answer is a couple months ago. The Vancouver Theater Sports League has this new thing where basically they invite a bunch of people on stage and they do improv games and such, and the audience picks thier favorite, and the winner gets 20 bucks and then gets to perform with the professionals in the second half of the show. I performed, but didn't make it past round one /tear/ So I technically performed there, but it's not the same as being on an improv team, or rehearsing and performing a show.

And why I havn't, is for some gods forsaken reason I went off and did 24 months solid of film school immediatly after I finished Alice In Wonderland (Literally, Alice closed, and three weeks later I was in Vancouver.) And then I was unemployed for a while, and vancouver...isn't exactly... the easiest place to just walk into an audition, it has a very closed loop, incestuous, system for theater.

And then I got the job at LookFX, and even thinking about theater had to take a back seat, and then when I ended there, I was going broke again, and now I'm in Red Deer. Where I had an audition last sunday for a smallish theater/improv troupe in town. So I have my fingers severly crossed that I can get into that.

@Everyone: Guiltiest guilty-pleasure song.

She's perfect. :-)
She was diagnosed with a TAPVR heart defect. The arteries coming from her lungs didn't connect to the heart so the oxygenated blood couldn't get into the left side of the heart and it back flowed into the right side and mixed with the un-oxygenated blood. So the right side of her heart was doing all the pumping and she wasn't getting 100% oxygen-rich blood to her body. They went in and cut the artery and the heart and stitched them together and now her system functions properly. They said there should be no need to ever go back in, it's a one-time fix.

10188 Star Wars Death Star
3803 pieces. It's also the most expensive set I've ever bought at $400. It took me and my kids about a week to build.

Le Freak

(oooooooohhhhhhhhh...   FREAK OUT!)