Big Holiday Update ...

The holidays kicked my ass this year. The last month of the year is insane for most and mine was no different, especially considering my birthday is the 22nd and now Bronson is old enough to participate ... It was a crazy but successful end of 2011, which wasn't a bad year all around. I'm gonna do a quick catch-up update here but will be back a could more times before 2012 - of course I've got to update tomorrow, the release date for my directorial debut and then there's the end-of-the-year wrap-up post, so come back before New Years!

As I said, it was my 40th birthday on the 22nd. Lynh threw an awesome surprise party here at the house last weekend. I'm kind of a baby-face and it frustrates me to no end that I can't grow a manly beard, so Lynh and my good buddy Jeff "The Beard" Sisson collaborated to have my friend and special FX maestro Jim Ojala apply a big-ass ZZ Top beard for my party. Check it out:

Here's Jim getting ready to apply the beard:

My lovely wife and organizer of the whole she-bang:

Billy Bakshi, star of CHOP:

Author and director extraordinaire John Skipp and Allison McGillicuddy:

ISLE OF DOGS and KILLJOY 2 director Tammy Sutton with Tim Polecat:

And me pre-beard with my main man, David Chirchirillo:

Good times were had by all and it was great to see all of my friends, old and new, who came to usher me into what is considered middle age ... So thanks to everybody who showed up.

The day after my birthday, I began my descent into a mid-life crisis by getting a tattoo, something that I haven't done in 20 years. I figured why not make it count and totally made myself unavailable to work in the corporate world by doing my hands ... What the hell, right? I mean, I am halfway through my projected lifespan. And I'm playing this artist/creator thing to the bloody end. Check out my gangster/nerd ink work:

That's it for personal updates. I'm thinking about resurrecting my Facebook page but only to use it as a portal to this blog ... gonna see if I can figure out how to make the page live, but disable commenting, etc., so that I can simply throw up links to new blogs ...

I'll be back tomorrow for a big CHOP RELEASE update.

- T