A tale for the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within — It must have been mid-2001. I was in Los Angeles to help oversee the colour grade of Square USA’s Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. …

What winds up, must wind down — Eighteen months ago I emerged out of an intensive period at work, slightly broken and tired. I knew I needed to get away. While the echo of work adrenaline still ran through my veins, I had a choice: to take a trip; or to crash. I kept a map with…

Redesigning studios and collaboration — The biggest surprise after our studio dispersed about a year ago was how quickly we were up and running remotely. After months of being out of the office, the discussion pivoted from when do we come back, to do we really need so much office space? It was no doubt…

Cycling down the Pacific Coast Bike Route in 2018 — In summary It didn’t rain once, although the coastal marine layer smothered us at times. I ignored the news. I slept deeply every night. We woke up, ate, rode, talked and laughed. We spun up some hills, hammered down some descents, stopped to admire the views, and slowed down to chat and…

Exploring Tokyo, Saitama, and Hiroshima by train and bicycle in 2014 — How to shove a bike into a bag and a plane and a train I spent a fair bit of time before leaving making new internet friends to ride with, and also researching the best rides. These ranged from challenging ones to family friendly ones. I thought some might be interested in some rides we did, and other details I know or discovered.

How unearthing old records realigned my relationship to music — Twenty years had passed before I found my LP records again. In the early nineties I had embraced the compact disc with vigour; then migrated to the brand new MiniDisc as I led an increasingly itinerate film industry life; and then I followed along with everyone else—ripping all of it…

Don’t ever think that your creativity can’t be replaced by an algorithm — In early 2021, I noticed a particular sort of Linked In post had started to appear. Some were just copy-paste memes, others were full blown screeds — but they all aimed to communicate the same thing: “Machines can’t replace me, because I am creative. Can a machine handle a client…

Learning to love a city built for cars on a bicycle — It’s easy to be judgmental from a distance, and even more so when you live here. I admit I used to cringe when I heard someone say, I love LA. The very words would just trigger a montage in my head: aggressive synth stabs, rockin’ guitar, and some mullet-headed guy…

Music, Covid, and the psychology of physical change — So here we are, almost a year into a rolling lockdown. February has already muscled in on a mission, oblivious that is is the minnow of months. How was your dry January? Mine first got the wobbles on January 6, when I needed a few calming sherbets to try and…