sent from: London, UK. destination: Wellington, New Zealand

Oscar nominations were announced today in the VFX category; a large number of those people are known to me, many of them I’ve worked with, although to call them friends would be stretching it. 15 years ago, when I started, they were my heroes, my idols. Phil Tippett, Ken Ralston, Dennis Muren, all had nominations, or were in the running at least. I dreamed of meeting them, no – seeing them, to meet them seemed impossible. Let alone to work with them, to be in the same field, to be considered.. an equal, no, impossible. They did the impossible, broke barriers. Maybe your own generation can never seem the equal of those who came before; my generation aren’t worthy of inspiring anyone – there’s that guy who I got drunk with, there’s the other guy who either ignored me, or fired me, or ruthlessly climbed the career ladder. They’re not heroes or idols, they’re all so.. human. They, the heroes, dedicated their careers to a craft, to telling stories. Today we fiddle with our pixels and call ourselves clever, and wonder if our next project will be in Asia, or Canada, or Russia, and worry about if we’ll have healthcare, or a pension, or a living wage. It’s all very down to earth.  ps. “impossible” is used 3 times in this card, I think my quota has run out.