Quick Hits 9 - Alex's Bucket List

Recording.

We should do a clap.

Okay.

So I'm supposed to be recording you but I have to check all the chords because I did

some moving around and I think I unplugged one of the chords.

Anyway.

Okay, so... Three, two, one, clap.

All righty.

For some reason I always clap and then I hear your clap come through afterwards.

Yeah, it's the opposite for me.

It's because there's like a delay on both sides.

It's because we're far away.

Far away, through the internet, above the hill and over the trees.

So far away, la la la la.

Do you like my song?

I do.

I feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Well, you're fucking better.

I wrote it for you.

Thank you.

I've never felt more alive.

Turned on.

Bonerific.

Oof.

Anyway, hello.

Hello, everybody.

Hello, internet.

Let's move away from the bonerific situation.

Yes.

Let's be not that.

Well, we have to always be bonerific, dude.

It's true.

And I mean, usually we are in our way of being.

And of having.

Having and being.

Being and having.

That's the way.

Uh-huh.

Uh-huh.

I like it.

Uh-huh.

Uh-huh.

I like it.

Anyway, today is the first time we've gotten on in a while.

Right, Brandon?

This is true.

We've been busy, and I went on an extended honeymoon.

And now I will tell you the exciting conclusion.

Okay.

Tell us your story.

Okay.

So...

Sigh.

My wife and I...

...land in Portugal.

And we are... so we're in Lisbon.

We're supposed to spend the night in Lisbon, and then fly the next morning to

the Azores, to an island where a friend of mine has a home.

And so his family had invited us to stay there for three or four days, and that was

the end of our three weeks of honeymoon.

So we're supposed to fly there, stay there for a few days, and then fly

home to Canada.

Okay.

So we get an Uber to take us from our hotel to the airport.

And all over the airport, there's signs that say, like, Use Uber.

It's good.

You get a discount.

Blah, blah, blah.

Whatever it says.

And...

My wife gets in the back seat, and I get in the front seat and push the

seat back, because...

And all the way up into that point, I'd mostly been getting in the back,

because it made me feel fancy, right?

Like, you're both sitting in the back, and there's a driver, and it makes you

feel fancy.

Right.

But I sit in the front, because we're, like, on a busy street, and the driver's

side, there's a bunch of traffic.

So I'm like, well, I'll just get in the passenger side to, like, let us get there

faster.

We weren't late or anything.

We just...

I just thought we'd get there faster.

But the seat was pushed all the way forward, so I pushed the seat back,

and, like, Michelle's in the back, like, putting her stuff down, and we get

our suitcases in the car, and we're going to the airport.

And we, like, the parking lot at the airport was super busy, so we're,

like, trying to navigate everything, get our bags out, everything else.

We roll up to the gate to check our bags in, and we're, like, a few hours before

the flight.

So we're, like, good to go and everything.

And Michelle reaches down to grab her passport, and she's like, where's my

purse?

And I'm like...

Oh, no.

What do you...

What do you mean?

Like, you had it on you, like, until we got to the car.

She's like, yes.

And I was like, I think you left.

I think you left it in the Uber.

And we were, like, two or three minutes from having seen the car.

And the airport was really busy.

So I'm thinking, like, maybe the driver hasn't even left the parking lot.

Because he had told us as we were driving in, like, he gets backed up, he gets

really busy, sometimes he has to sit in traffic.

So I keep all of our luggage.

She runs out to the parking lot to see if she can find this guy.

Okay.

She remembered, like, half of his license plate and the type of car that it was.

So she runs out there, and she's, like, looking, not finding anything.

Oh, dude, I'd be freaking out.

So, well, like, all of her ID was in her purse.

Yeah.

Some of our money, like, 50 bucks was in her purse.

Everything else was in our two backpacks.

And we had those on us.

So, yeah.

We didn't have a lot of cash, but, like, I had all my ID and everything.

And my wallet, she didn't have her purse.

So, we go into, we sit down at a table, we go into the Uber app, we tell the

ticketing agents, she's lost her purse, we're gonna, like, get her a passport,

we're gonna figure out something.

In the meantime, they're like, okay, we'll mark it down, so, like,

we're not...

We're not calling you to get on the flight.

You're not checked in.

If you find it, come back and we'll try to put you on the flight or the one that's

later this afternoon.

So, we're like, okay.

So, we sit down and she's, obviously, she's upset.

She thinks she's, like, ruined everything.

And I'm like, no, like, we're gonna work together.

We're gonna figure this out.

Like, so, I have her, like, tell me a list of everything she had in her purse just to

keep her mind, like, working.

She calls Uber, she talks to the guy, tells him, like, he's like, oh,

you must have, like, dropped it, it's not here.

And she's like, it's a black purse, it was under the seat, my husband pushed

the seat back, double plus on our side, we had an air tag in her purse.

And we're seeing the air tag move around.

Okay.

Okay.

We know that the purse...

The purse is, like, in a car.

And it's near the airport, because we can see it moving.

Oh, my God, that's so good that you had the air tag in there.

So, like, thank God.

So, she says to him, like, no, we can see it, it's moving with you.

Like, we know you're on the road to the airport, like, leaving the airport.

Could you please, like, we'll give you a cash reward.

Could you do anything?

Could you please come back?

Blah, blah, blah.

He says no.

And then, because...

So, the way it works is you have to contact the driver through the app.

You can't contact them directly.

Right.

Why would he say no, though?

That's so stupid.

So, he then blocks us in the app from making any more phone calls.

Wow.

He says that we're harassing him.

Holy crap, that's ridiculous.

So, Michelle is freaking out.

So, we contact, like, Uber customer support, who we're already talking to.

They tell us they can't do anything within 24 hours.

And that the driver has, like, we're not allowed to contact him again for

24 hours.

Right.

So, I'm like, if he's not giving it back, maybe, like, he's being honest.

Maybe he doesn't see it.

Maybe, like, he'll get to the end of his route.

And then he'll be like, oh, like, it's here.

Like, I should call that woman back.

Yeah.

Right?

Or maybe he's just going to steal it because he thinks he can, like,

take our $50 and Michelle's fake jewelry.

Like, I don't know what to tell you.

There wasn't much in it.

Like, her credit cards were the most valuable thing.

So, we're like, well, like, we can't get on the plane because she doesn't have a...

She doesn't have a passport.

She doesn't have any ID.

So, we have to, like, if we can't get the purse back, we have to go to the Canadian

consulate in Lisbon and get her another passport.

So, there's a police station in the airport.

One of the...

There's a police officer outside that tells us, like, go.

There's, like, a station.

Maybe they can help you.

So, we go.

They're like, we can't help you.

Like, it's...

We're showing him on the map.

We're, like, we can see him.

His name's Carlos.

This is the kind of car he has.

This is his license plate.

He's like, we can't help you.

It's between you and Uber.

Like, there's 7 million people in this city.

What do you want us to do?

Holy cow.

So, we're like, okay, we'll go to the Canadian consulate because we're like,

what else can we do?

So, we take, like, a real taxi from the airport to the consulate.

The taxi driver is like, never take a taxi.

Uber.

It's full of, like, immigrants.

They're, like, robbers.

They're bad.

They were like, take you.

He kept saying, like, no good.

Only take taxi.

Only taxi.

And so, we're like, yeah, we're never taking an Uber again, obviously.

And he was explaining to us, as he's, like, speeding to the consulate,

because Michelle's crying.

He feels so bad.

He is telling us, like, So, like, if you want to be a taxi driver,

it's, like, a special license.

It's, like, a multi-month driver's course that you have to take.

Yeah.

It's, like, all these written tests.

And you get, like, a special license at the end.

But what Uber drivers are doing is, a lot of times, one person will take the

course and get, it's, like, a one- or two -day course in Portugal.

They'll get the special license.

And then, like...

Three or four people will share the car and the license.

Because they look alike.

Right.

So, like, someone will, like, own the car.

And then someone finds these, like, illegal workers to, like, work in the same

Uber account.

That's so fucked.

Right?

So, we get to the consulate.

And they're, like...

The police were not helpful.

But they were super helpful.

They were, like, okay.

So, the cops won't help you.

But, like, we're gonna get in touch with, like, the Canadian government and the

diplomat.

The woman was, like, she was, like, honestly, we can't do anything for at

least 72 hours.

And especially with the time change.

Because at this point, it's, like, 2 a.m.

in Canada.

She's, like, we can't do anything until tomorrow morning.

Because...

It's, like, it's already too late in the night.

And we can't get a hold of anyone until at least tomorrow.

So, she's, like, we can definitely get you a passport.

Like, you're gonna have to at least spend three days in Lisbon until we can get you

a passport.

And they, like, they made sure, like, I still had my credit card.

So, like, we could get money if we needed it.

We still had a little bit of cash.

So, we were okay there.

They gave us all the forms.

They said, like, go get your passport pictures.

Here's, like, a place to go.

Here's where you can get train passes.

Do you have a place to stay for your hotel?

They took all our information so that they could help us.

And Michelle, luckily, she had had her phone on her.

And when we landed in France, we had got her, like, a local, like, an EU SIM card.

Right.

So, she had a local phone number that they could call if anything came up.

So, they gave us the paperwork.

We leave.

We go to where it's like a metro station, like a subway station, where they have the

passport, the photo place.

So, we go get our pictures.

We start filling out the forms.

They made an appointment for us to come back the next day.

Okay.

And, like, do the passport if we couldn't find it or get it back from the Uber

driver.

Right.

So, we start filling out the forms.

We do that.

I book us.

I get us bus passes and subway passes for the next few days.

We book the same hotel for three nights so that we have a place to stay.

Because we can't go anywhere until Michelle has a passport, right?

We, like, eventually...

We go back to the hotel, Michelle, like, calls her parents, uh, cancels her

credit cards, puts a hold on her debit card, like, makes sure, like, everything

gets, like, said as lost or stolen.

The only thing we didn't do is mark her passport stolen.

Because the, the consul, the lady at the consulate said, if we report it as stolen,

it's now invalid.

So, if, like, if you're able to get it back...

Before tomorrow...

Right, because you need it still, so you can't do that.

So, she, she, like, we needed the number to, like, book a hotel.

Oh, man.

So, luckily, the hotel we stayed at the night before had it on file.

And they were like, it's fine, like, we'll, we'll, like, we'll still

honor it.

And we'll just put it on your husband's name.

Like, so that was fine.

So, she's like...

Once you get it back, I want you to be able to use it, like, like, let's wait

till tomorrow, kind of thing.

And honestly, she was just trying to, like, calm Michelle down, which was really

nice and helpful.

So, she was like, this happens all the time, like, we'll make sure you get home.

Like, that's not a concern.

Don't worry about that.

So, it's, like, six o'clock at night.

Michelle's like, the hair tag, she, we've been tracking it on her phones

all day.

She's like, it stopped moving, hasn't moved since 3.30.

I think, like, it's there, my purse is there.

So, I'm like, all right.

If, like, I look up the bus schedule in Google Maps.

If you want to go, it's a 20-minute bus ride.

If we go now, we can get there, have 45 minutes to look, and still have

enough time to get the last bus back to our hotel for the night.

She's like, I want to go, I want to go.

Right.

So, we take a bus.

We're literally, like, we're going out of the city.

People are looking at us like, like, what are you doing?

Why is she crying?

Like, it was, it was emotional.

Well, yeah, because no one else obviously understands what's going on.

Right.

And you guys are like, are we going to have to, like, get stuck here?

We don't speak Portuguese.

We're like, anyway.

So, we...

We go to where it is.

There's a highway, and then a hill up, and then a little street, and some,

like, businesses.

But it's, like, very industrial.

There's, like, old, like, you could tell, like, they used to be factories,

but they're closed down.

Right.

So, we go to this, like, dirt parking lot, and there's just, like, brush everywhere.

And we're walking up and down with our phones, like, trying to, like,

find the airtight.

And every once in a while, it's, like, the object is near you, or,

like, faint signal on our phones.

So, like, walking around, we're like, it's got to be here.

And in my head, I'm, like, trying to hold out hope for Michelle's sake, but I'm,

like, the guy, like, threw the airtight out of his car and, like, took the purse.

Right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

If he wanted the purse, and he thought it was valuable.

That's what he took.

So, there's this...

That's what logic would dictate, anyway.

And I'm always, like, thinking the worst -case scenario, right?

So, there's this store across the street.

It's, like, a hardware store.

They sell, like, lights and, like, stuff to put lights in your house.

And we go in, and there's a woman at the counter.

And Michelle's, like, do you speak English?

And she's, like, a little.

And Michelle starts telling the story, and she's, like, sorry, no.

Like...

I don't speak English.

But Michelle put, like, explained what had happened to us on her phone, translated

it, and wrote it in the Notes app on her phone.

So, she gives her the Notes app.

The woman reads it, and she's, like, oh.

She goes and gets her husband.

Gets her husband to read it, and is, like, okay.

So, he, like, goes into the parking lot, and he's, like, this is our car.

This is the neighbor's car who lives upstairs.

And there's, like, another, like, car that clearly was on fire at one point

at the side of the parking lot, like, busted out windows, everything.

He's, like, there was another car here earlier, but we didn't know whose it was.

So, we're, like, looking, and he's, like, our cars have been here all day.

They're locked up.

Like, we haven't seen anybody suspicious.

But, like, we'll help you look for the purse.

So, he helps us look.

Look, we're not finding anything.

He's, like, there's a police station down the road.

Maybe they can help us.

Or, like, at least you could report it as missing.

So, we start walking, and his wife comes out, and she's, like, no, no, no.

Like, yelling at her husband, like, you drive them.

So, he drives us down to the police station in his car.

Michelle's so paranoid.

She's, like, what if he stole the purse?

And he's now, like...

Gonna kill us.

I'm, like, Michelle, like, calm down.

Jesus.

This is such an endeavor that you guys went through.

It's, like, 6.30 at night at this point.

We had gotten to the airport at 11.

So, this started at, like, 11.30.

It's now 6 o'clock in the evening.

We're still looking for this purse.

The police are, like, alright.

Like, the best we can tell you is keep looking.

If you can't find it, like, here's the address and the location of the

headquarters.

Go there and, like, do a formal report.

And at least, like, you'll have it on paper.

But, like, that's the best we can do for you right now.

So, we go back to this side of the highway and we're, like, total crime scene

investigator mode.

Like, CSI.

I'm, like, alright.

If he was driving a car and the car was going 50 kilometers, an hour, he was,

like, an able-bodied man, but he threw it out at the passenger side.

Like, you couldn't have thrown it that far if he threw your purse.

How many, like, feet?

How many, like, you know, how many meters do you think it could have gotten?

And we're, like, walking through the brush.

And at this point, the husband, the store owner, is helping us look.

And he is, like, I don't know, like, he's looking in the parking lot.

We're looking further down the road where the highway is.

He starts whistling.

And there's something up in his hand.

Like, for, like, like, motioning for us to come to the parking lot, back to where

he's standing.

Michelle is, like, crying.

She's, like, is that my purse?

Is that my purse?

Sprinting up this hill.

We get, we would later learn his name was Paul.

Paul has her purse in his hand.

He found it on the side of the highway behind this, like, broken down car.

And, like, all her stuff is just scattered in the weeds.

Her entire purse was there.

So they obviously threw it out of the window or something.

Like, or, like, he stopped on his brake or he threw it out from the highway.

I think he, like, stopped the car, searched the purse, threw the purse,

and drove away.

Because he was worried about you guys tracking him.

Right.

Or he just, like, took the money and he took, she had some, like, earrings and

some, because she didn't take her real wedding rings.

She took, she bought fake ones on Amazon.

Oh, so that you didn't have, like, the really expensive stuff while you guys

were on vacation.

That makes a lot of sense.

We both got, like, $15, $10 rings off Amazon and wore those instead of...

And Michelle had them in her purse that morning.

She was like, I was going to put them on when we got to the airport.

So he took her jewelry that was worth all of 20 bucks and 50 euros.

Right.

And threw the rest and, like, her wallet, everything was there.

So we put everything back in the purse and Paul, Paulo, is like, I close up my store

at, like, 7.

I have, like, a few calls.

If you guys are willing to, like, stay for half an hour, we'll take you back

to our hotel.

Like, we feel really bad.

Like, and we're just happy we could help.

We want to show you they're, like, good people in Lisbon.

So they, like, let us sit in their store.

They give us water.

They start telling us about, like, don't trust Uber.

It's terrible.

They were the nicest people.

They, like, tell us, like, we're sorry you didn't like Lisbon, but, like,

please, like, here's the best places to see.

And we, like, took each other's email addresses and we need to, like,

send them flowers or, like, something to say thank you because they were just the

sweetest, nicest people.

That's such a wild story, though.

Like, and we found everything.

That's what I mean.

Like, it's absolutely insane.

So we ended up, we couldn't get any flights to the Hazors like, in time for us

to fly home.

So we ended up canceling our flight home and just booking an earlier flight.

We got, like, not all of our money back, but most of it.

And just booked a new flight straight from Lisbon to come home early because Michelle

was pretty done with her.

Yeah.

I mean, for good reason.

Like, holy cow.

Like, I was in shock that we found her purse.

Like, I could not believe it.

I mean, like, what are the odds?

You guys got so lucky.

I thought for sure he, like, threw the air tag.

Or, like, we'd find the purse, but her wallet would be missing.

Well, like, almost certainly, right?

You guys are, like, one in a million that you actually found that.

Well, and, like, like, the way air tags work is they have to ping off of,

like, an iPhone.

So an iPhone had to be close enough for long enough to register.

Yeah, that's crazy.

And, like, we had to go within, like, with how many...

We had to be within, like, 10 feet of the thing for it to actually, like,

register on our phones.

And the battery had to be strong enough so, like, yeah, we got so lucky.

And so lucky they were willing to help us.

Like, we would have been searching for hours.

And who knows if we would have actually been able to find it.

Like, I don't know.

Yeah, that's just... I can't believe it.

What a crazy fucking story.

Thank you.

That's insane that that happened to you.

Thank you, Polygra, for helping us.

But even just, like, for them having the patience to, like, you know, try and

figure out what you guys were trying to say and, like, help you guys.

Like, that they're genuinely good people, obviously.

They were just the kindest people.

And, like, she, at one point, Carla was on the phone and she calls her son and is,

like, telling her son.

She's like, they're from Canada.

This happened.

Like, it was just crazy.

Wow.

That's insane.

So, Michelle's like, I'm never taking an Uber again.

Never again.

So, that's my story.

That's a pretty good story, man.

I'm glad that I got to, like, get it out.

I mean, like, it's insane.

How many people have you told about this so far?

Thank you for listening.

Of course.

To my TED Talk.

Like, we told our parents.

We told a few friends.

Michelle has a friend who had her purse stolen.

Um, at one point.

So, we had...

So, I actually also had, like, a little sling and we got the kind of,

like, you couldn't cut as, like, metal in the strap because we had heard

these stories about people getting their stuff stolen.

And even when we were in Greece, our tour guide said, always put it to,

like, the front of your body.

Make sure, like, the strap is tight across your chest because, like, people...

and keep the zippers, like, on the side closest to you because people will,

like, snatch and grab.

It's a big issue in busy streets, like, in the downtown area.

And it's all very touristy.

Wow.

That's, like, mind-blowing, though, that you were able to actually get to this

place and meet these people.

They helped you and you found it and you, like, it didn't, like...

Yeah.

Like, that's... that is crazy to me.

And they helped us find it and, like...

Well, yeah, that's what I mean.

Like, they had the decency to, like, help you find it.

That's...

that's even more crazy, right?

Because that doesn't... like, the fact that you even met them and they wanted to

help you in the first place is insane.

Wow.

Congratulations on your finding everything and getting home safely.

Thank you for not getting abducted and dying.

I am... yes.

Much appreciated.

At one point, we're in the...

car with the...

with Paul and the, like, seatbelt thing starts dinging.

And Michelle's like, is that my purse?

I'm like, no, put your seatbelt on.

But we were just so worked up, like...

Well, for good reason, though.

Like, that's a really stressful situation that you guys went through.

And you survived it and you are stronger for it.

I am... honestly, I am...

I am very...

in a way, like, I'm like, we got through it together.

So, that was the good that came out of it.

Right.

Yeah.

That's bonkers, man.

Anyway.

Thanks for not getting abducted and dying through all that while you were gone.

You're welcome.

I don't want you to die, Brendan.

I love you so much.

Yes, I...

I don't want to die, either.

Good.

I know I will one day, but hopefully not today.

Well, yeah.

Definitely not today.

Anyway, I want to hear about your things.

About my time?

After my half-hour soliloquy.

Well, anyway, that was a good story, though.

It's very entertaining.

So, people...

It kept me on the edge of my seat while I was listening to it.

So, I don't have as many crazy things to report, but...

The one thing I do have to report that's, like, a big deal in my life is I hit a

milestone with work recently, where I have a published work of animation that I

supervised the animation on.

And it was through Pixar and Lego.

So, those are, like, two of the biggest companies you could possibly work for.

And I now officially have published works on Disney+, created by both of them.

So, that's really cool.

And it's kind of, like, accomplishing a goal I've had for a really long time.

So, it's, like, a huge milestone in my life, and I'm very proud of myself for

that.

So, they're called Pixar... or, Lego Pixar Brick Toons, is what it's

called.

It's on Disney+.

We're gonna do a little podcast watching one or two of them right now.

We both got our Disney Plus accounts from our wives.

Yes, we did.

We got our account info and learned what it was so that we wouldn't disappoint y

'all.

So, how long...

How long have you been working on this?

So, the last time that I was back visiting you...

Well, when we came back for your wedding, actually.

I was currently working on that stuff.

Okay.

Because you had your new laptop.

Yeah.

So, I was working for this production, and I worked on it from last year,

beginning of October, until this year, beginning of April.

So, about eight months.

About six months.

Seven months.

Anyway.

Okay.

Okay.

It might have been a little earlier than October.

It started last year.

But yeah, it was like seven, eight months of animation alone, working on it.

So, a lot.

Yeah, it was a long time.

So, yeah.

We put a lot of work into it, and it turned out really nice.

Although, being an animation supervisor, I still see things when I watch it where

I'm like, I wish I would have been able to adjust that still.

You are very critical.

Yeah, I'm hyper-focused on things that need to be fixed, because it's my job,

right?

I also think the more experience you've gotten, the more critical you've gotten of

animation.

A hundred percent.

In a good way.

Yeah, a hundred percent.

But I mean, it's cool.

I can point out a few to you after we're done watching the shorts.

And you can...

Is there a specific episode or a specific sequence that you would like us to watch?

So, there were two supervisors on the Pixar Shorts show.

Before it was called Brick Toons, it was called LPS, Lego Pixar Shorts,

because they weren't decided on a name yet.

Disney often does that with productions.

They won't tell the people working on it what it's actually going to be named until

it actually comes out, which is kind of funny.

But, yeah, so my...

The ones that I personally supervised the whole thing are...

There's an Incredibles one and there's a Finding Nemo one.

So I did both of those entirely.

I was supervising and animating on both of them the whole time.

And then there's a...

The Coco one that I also worked on quite extensively and I supervised for quite a

bit of the time because the other supervisor was away for about three

quarters of that episode.

Did you...

So when you say supervise, did you do the actual...

Like, I'm very ignorant.

Did you do the actual animating or did you supervise the animators?

I did both.

So I both animate on the show depending on what needs my attention.

And then I also supervise the animators as well.

So, and I basically review every single thing that comes in and I put back notes

and then they send it back again.

And it's just a lot of back and forth.

But yeah, it's definitely been an experience.

It's been interesting.

Or it was interesting working through all that stuff and working on all of it.

So I'm excited to show you.

And hopefully the listeners are loyal loyal fans who have stuck around through

Thick and Thin will enjoy going and watching some of these shorts and knowing

that someone they listen to in a podcast actually worked on them.

Your name is in the...

That's amazing to me.

So it's called Lego Pixar Brick Tunes.

Yes.

Which is very cool.

And the two that are like the main ones that I... I worked a little bit on all of

them, but the main ones that I worked on and had a lot of creative decision making

on.

Like Influence on are the Pizza Night, which is the third one, and Field Trip,

which is the fourth one.

Pizza Night is the Incredibles one, and Field Trip is the Finding Nemo one.

Well, I say that those are the ones that we watch.

100%.

I have not seen these.

I have some questions, though, because I'm curious.

Okay.

How does...

As an artist that you are, you're a very talented artist, but as an artist and an

animator, I know you've sort of explained to me like you're in your process when it

comes to like animating the look and feel of different characters.

Right.

But because these are Legos, how is that...

Like, what was different in your process?

How is that different to animating a person?

Or was it like... To be completely honest, it's not that different.

It's pretty similar like in the process that we animate them.

It's just in the...

In the critiquing process, like my personal job as a supervisor, like that is

a lot harder for me with Lego because I obviously... This was my first time ever

working on a Lego production.

So I had to like be really critical of like the Lego style and try to keep it in

that style for the whole time.

Did you watch other Lego things to see?

I did watch a little... Like I watched the Lego movie when I first started on these

so that I could get an idea.

One of the biggest challenges was finding Nemo.

Because I personally animated the cycles that were worked over top of for all of

the swimming for all the fish in that one.

And I did a lot of like the underwater looking animation and like taught people

how to do that properly.

So it looks like they're actually underwater.

So that was really interesting.

It was hard to do.

It was pretty hard to like wrap my head around and like work through.

But it ended up working out really well.

The short's really nice.

It looks like they're actually underwater in the short, which I'm pretty proud of.

Because I put a lot of time and work into like making it look like that and making

sure the animators knew how to.

But yeah, that's like the biggest thing.

The biggest difference is like trying to figure out the Lego style and like figure

out how these different shorts would work in the Lego style.

Also the mouths on the characters weren't actual mouths.

They're like sticker plates that we like animated separately and like had different

plates to switch between.

So that was kind of interesting.

It was almost like animating stop motion in a way.

So...

And then they just like superimpose that over the...

Yeah, so it was in Maya like visually for us as we animated.

But yeah, they almost like...

It's not like After Effects where they like composite it.

Right.

Like some of it is composited in the end.

But for the most part, it is just like kind of in the 3D animating program.

And we're like doing it on the fly while we're animating.

But yeah, it definitely was a weird experience because you don't have like an

open mouth to work with.

It's like a flat thing that you're kind of like changing and animating.

Why do they do it that way?

Because the Lego faces are stickers.

So they wanted it to look more like Legos.

So it's less like fluid.

Yeah, pretty much.

You'll notice when you watch it.

Actually, it looks really good in the end.

But yeah, it's definitely interesting to have that perspective on it.

But overall, it was very fun.

And I'm excited to show you.

Without further ado, why don't we start up the Pizza Night one.

The incredible one.

I'm ready.

Even the Pixar is Lego.

Yeah, so I actually supervised this.

To the animator that was working on this.

You did this?

I didn't animate this myself.

No, but I supervised it.

It was like giving notes and stuff and making sure it looked pretty close to the

actual Pixar logo.

Have you seen actual Incredibles, the movie?

I have not.

Oh, man.

So all of the voice actors are the same in this.

That were the voice actors on the actual movie.

Pizza Planet.

Yep.

I will say in Disney in Orlando, my favorite was Toy Story.

Yeah, the Toy Story Land is awesome.

It was the best.

So, Pizza Planet.

Isn't... aren't they also Incredibles?

Yeah, so all of the whole family has like superpowers.

And Jack Jack like just has random powers.

So that's like the what's funny about this.

He's sort of like amalgamates himself into the dough.

I animated a lot of shots on this series on this short myself, too.

I love the way they do that.

I mean, that's the vibe of the movie, too.

It's kind of like retro.

Yeah, fifties.

And the music is all like old style.

All the elements like they're not actual Legos, are they?

Yeah, everything in the short is Legos.

No, no, no.

Like, oh, like, you can't buy a Lego set of this.

Like, they're not actually.

They didn't like build it.

I animated this shot with him punching the dough, by the way.

It's crazy.

But yeah, the so that you didn't actually build it.

No.

No, they're like modeled in 3D and they just look like Legos.

Yeah, yeah.

We didn't build them from scratch with Legos or anything like that.

The dough on his face.

That just.

Yeah, it's good stuff, right?

It's pretty hilarious.

There's a fun thing that happened.

Well, I say it's fun.

It wasn't fun for me because there's a snow globe thing in this short that you'll

see coming up where they put Syndrome in like one of Violet's bubbles and shake him

around.

And I animated all that stuff.

And I'll tell you what happened with it when we get there.

But it's it's pretty just a typical animation studio like production thing

that happens sometimes.

So you can tell watching it to that their faces are like little stickers that we

sort of animated.

Like all those little pieces.

I bet that was a bitch.

Yeah, it's super was.

So him shaking around in the snow globe.

Like that.

Did you see all the sand in there?

Yeah.

So that's effects.

But I actually animated him bouncing around in that snow globe with all the

pieces and took me like three days to animate it and make it look good.

And then it got covered up by the sand effects completely.

You can't even see it.

It's adorable.

Yeah, I love that he's just been in the dough the whole time, like messing with

his dad.

Honestly, that would be the best thing about having super speed.

You can get pizza super fast.

Okay, what's your name?

It'll be coming up pretty soon here actually.

Oh, they put the stupid.

Oh, you can click on it and it'll play big again.

Okay.

Yeah.

So it'll be...

There's your name.

Yeah, right at the top man.

At the top.

I don't know who this Rob guy is, but they should just take his name out of

there.

He did nothing.

You're like, he's my best friend.

He's a really nice guy.

He did the best thing.

He did lots of work too.

Rob was awesome.

And a really good teammate.

But yeah.

So these are all the people that you worked with.

Yeah.

So I, my lead animators were all like really, really good.

They all did a really good job on the show.

And then they basically like, it's like a pecking order, right?

So like the leads like do a lot of technical animating and like they handle

stuff that I delegate to them.

But then like, I always like review all of the work by everyone throughout the show.

So, but the other animators obviously are all, some of them are seniors and some of

them are at different levels in their own ways, but they all, they all do their

part.

And then like it all comes together and becomes one show, you know?

So.

That is very, that is so cool.

Yeah.

But yeah, this is a, this is my name in a Pixar and Lego production on Disney Plus.

I am very proud of you.

Thanks buddy.

Yeah.

I'm proud of me too.

This is a big like bucket list accomplishment for you.

Yeah.

That's very cool.

Very, very cool.

And soon I will...

They should like...

Play these in Times Square or something.

In Times Square.

It's amazing.

All right.

Are we watching the Finding Nemo one?

Yeah.

I don't see why not.

If you want to watch it, we can do that.

Sure.

Are the faces in this one the same as the other one?

Yeah.

So these are the, the eyes are, um, are built into the rigs and then the

mouths are stickers.

Stickers.

They're not actually stickers.

It's just the easiest way for me to describe sort of what happened while we

were animating it.

Like, so yeah, you'll see like the fish sort of floating up and down.

And like all these like idle animations on their fins and stuff in this one.

And all of that is me.

Like I did all that animation on the idle animation for the fish.

So, and then obviously the animators adjusted it accordingly, according like

for each shot and like animated on top of it.

But them actually like floating and looking like they're swimming is probably

about 90% my animation.

Is that actually Ellen?

Or did they get someone else?

It's not Ellen because there was some stuff going on with Ellen DeGeneres during

this.

Okay.

But Marlin is Marlin, right?

Yeah.

So Marlin's Marlin.

Mr. Ray is the same actor.

The person that plays Nemo's voice is the same.

So is the idea, do you think?

I mean, I know you don't know, but like, are they going to do more

feature length Lego, like reboots?

I hope they do more shorts.

I think that would be fun.

I don't think they'll do Lego full length stuff.

Cause they did Lego Star Wars.

Yeah.

Did they?

Yeah.

That was actually our studio as well.

That did the Lego Star Wars shorts that came out recently.

And the Lego movie.

The Lego movie was not our studio, but yeah, they did do the Lego movie.

It would be cool if they did like a full length movie, but I don't know if they

would do that.

I just can't like, they look like Lego.

Yeah.

And I mean, they are Lego.

Like, I'm sure you could put that together if you wanted to.

My biggest hope, honestly, Brandon, is that they make real Lego sets for these

shorts, because I would buy every single one of them.

I would love having all five of them and just like put them in my office.

Did I show you the one we, my dad, we got my dad the Mustang?

Oh yeah.

Those are really cool.

The car ones.

Cause you could open the doors and everything.

For Christmas, Michelle got me a retro computer.

I don't know if I showed it to you.

I don't think so.

I haven't been there since before Christmas.

That's true.

I made it on Boxing Day.

It took me like seven hours.

Holy crap.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

It was so much fun.

It's like a whole little monitor and a keyboard and a mouse.

Did you put it in the, in your office?

Yeah.

On one of the speakers.

I'm looking at it right now.

That's awesome.

It even has like, the screen looks like Windows 95.

Yeah.

So when we have to animate all these like Lego bricks falling too, it's such a pain

in the ass, but it's worth it cause it looks cool after it's done.

Are you laughing about the assembly guide?

Yeah.

It's like amazing.

Yeah.

It's really cool.

They do like a whole building the ship boat again thing with it.

Was that a bitch?

Not really.

I mean...

How do you, so how do you know what order, like, is that already done for you?

What do you mean?

What order the shots go in?

Like, yeah.

Like which bricks?

Well, I mean, we, we have to like bring the stuff into the scenes and like place

it where we need it and stuff.

There was actually a huge pain in the ass with the, um, with the, this whole set

because, well, it's all built together now, but like with the broken ship set,

there was like a lot of issues with it because there was like set dress

everywhere that like needed to go in certain places and it kept like moving

around and we couldn't figure out why.

So, but a lot of that's done in layout or like the previous departments.

And then we just adjusted accordingly to like how we needed an animation.

And then you just like, like the assets are already done.

Yeah.

So that's like separate departments.

Okay.

So like modeling models them and then rigging, we'll put a skeleton in it so

that we're able to animate it.

Um, and then like compositing and stuff does all the eyes and like all the,

all the look of everything like complete when it's done.

But I like how they like don't want to dress her clear short-term memory loss.

Yeah.

They kind of ignore it for most of it.

It's pretty funny, but yeah, it is wild though.

Like I remember when I was 13 and, um, Nemo came out like the actual movie

and it was like, it's, it's to this day, it's still one of my favorite Pixar

movies.

And then I get to work on something like this, which is like all the same

characters and the same world, you know, but just with Lego.

I froze it on your name again.

Cause it's so cool.

I do it every time.

Every time I watch these or show people, I always pause it on my name.

It's awesome.

So you could put like a screenshot of this if you want in the cliff notes for the

podcast too.

Oh, I'm making a screenshot right now.

Yeah.

Yep.

It's right there up at the top though.

Son of a...

Oh, go back.

But yeah, that's the two ones that I like had the most influence on.

That is amazing.

It's pretty cool.

Right?

So yeah.

Hopefully, um, all of our loyal fans, you guys will go and take a look at these.

They're, they're 10 minutes each and they're, they're, they're pretty great.

They're heartwarming and very funny.

And I have to say the animation is top shelf.

Well, thank you, sir.

Thank you very much.

For, for what it's worth.

I know I'm not, uh, I feel like you have a bit of a creative eye for that kind of

stuff anyway, but, um, yeah, that's that.

They're pretty cool.

Um, we're probably going to do a little bit of, of some different stuff with our

podcast in the future.

So stay tuned.

We're excited about it.

We are reorganizing.

Yes.

That's the best way to put it.

So, um, but yeah, it's always fun and we're going to probably try and get some

more of this in now that Brendan's done his honeymoon and he's done dead getting

married and being an adult and all that good stuff.

So I still got to go on my honeymoon at some point too, if Steph and I haven't

decided when we're going to do that, but Where are you going?

We want to go to Greece.

Oh, I went there.

Yeah.

But I mean, I might try and convince Steph to go on a Disney cruise.

Cause it sounds like it'd be really good.

We did a Virgin cruise.

It was, it was very, very good.

No kids.

Um, what else?

The food was incredible.

They had all these restaurants.

And so every night for dinner, you pick where you want to go.

Yeah.

That's really cool.

Yeah.

I'm going to look into it and see if I can like book something and then be like,

Hey, Steph, guess what?

You're going on a cruise.

I don't know how her like seasick, like if she'd be seasick though,

cause she's got the stomach issues.

So it might be something that we need to like talk about and see if it's okay,

but still it would be really fun.

I think it would be really cool to go on a Disney cruise, especially now that I can

tell people I animated on it on like Disney productions and stuff, you know,

and not just be like making shit up.

That would be very cool.

Yeah.

That would be really cool.

But, um, I'm glad we were able to jump on tonight, buddy.

For sure.

Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Oh no.

This has been another refined...

Nineties.

...Quick Hits.

Pixar Quick Hits.

Pixar Quick Hits.