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Hula Sue's South Seas Hideaway |
harro
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Sep 05, 2005
Posts: 672
From: Australia / Argentina
|  Posted: 2008-05-03 6:03 pm Permalink
great start, will be keeping an eye on this thread for sure!
look forward to seeing what you do with that freaky eye thing too.
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Robb Hamel
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Mar 07, 2008
Posts: 1013
From: Ohio
| Posted: 2008-05-03 6:53 pm Permalink
Mr. PuPu Pants,
First of all, your name is funnier than anything that me & the missus has ever heard. We're laughing right now.
Second, your work on the basement rocks! We were floored by your baseboards! It's impressive how you've managed to get so many oddball things to work together so well. At least the equal of most tiki bars.
Keep up the fantastic work.
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Robb Hamel
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Mar 07, 2008
Posts: 1013
From: Ohio
| Posted: 2008-05-04 4:22 pm Permalink
You obviously have a broad variety of skills and a very new to T.C., maybe you could tell us a little about yourself, your influences, and the skills we haven't seen?
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GROG
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Jun 21, 2006
Posts: 6171
From: Tujunga
| Posted: 2008-05-04 7:03 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2008-05-04 16:22, Robb Hamel wrote:
and the skills we haven't seen?
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Keep it PG.
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Mr. Pupu Pants
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 06, 2008
Posts: 332
From: Edmonds, WA
| Posted: 2008-05-05 5:04 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2008-05-04 16:22, Robb Hamel wrote:
You obviously have a broad variety of skills and a very new to T.C., maybe you could tell us a little about yourself, your influences, and the skills we haven't seen?
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Sure Robb, allow myself to introduce.....my.....self..... 
I usually have some kind of project going (often more than one) because I just like to 'make stuff'--- whether it's a short film (editing one for a festival right now for my brother) or a themed room in my house or a prop or set for our yearly Halloween display. I'm also a big Disneyland fan and always wanted to have a house where different rooms were themed like different 'lands'. We've got a number of rooms in various stages of 'construction' (as time and budget allows). I was one of those guys who always tried to look behind the 'curtain' on the rides at Disneyland to try and figure out how they did an effect so I could try to make something like it at home. My brother and I used to walk around the back of the park and crawl through those big flowery bushes to peer through the fence and try to see 'behind the scenes'. It was sheer magic to us.
In addition to the Tiki room I'm building in the basement, we're turning our kitchen into a diner with things like a chrome candy counter, cash register and lighted menu board (and I'll be installing a tin ceiling in the near future).
Our Living room is Victorian themed (Main Street USA . The master Bedroom is sort of a Swiss Family Robinson's Treehouse room. It has a large bamboo bed, ship's wheel, ship's lanterns, floats, bamboo trim, wainscotting, etc. My den/craft room is in the process of becoming a Cowboy/Frontierland themed room with log cabin walls and a fake fireplace with one of those 1950s fake buring logs (and my animation desk -- didn't cowboys have those?). The downstairs rec room will eventually be a Sci Fi themed movie theater.
I've done a bit of 2D animation for film/video productions at work (film/video production for Microsoft) but my brother, Tom, is a director at Dreamworks (Madagascar) and is currently working on the sequel. He also does the voice of Skipper, the lead penguin, in the movie. Really proud of him.
When we were growing up in the '70's, we used to make stop-motion animated shorts and our own little adventure' films with a Super 8 camera. My heroes were people like Ray Harryhausen, George Pal and L.B. Abbott. At the time, we were the only kids we knew who made movies so it seemed kind of special. Not that the films we made were anything special
For me, it seems as though it's usually about 'putting on a show' -- in one way or another. Whether it's making a short film or building a tiki room for family and friends. The process is the fun part -- and it's always fun when you can put a smile on someone's face.
Blah, blah, blah.....anyway, that's probably waaay too much about me
I just want to add that I love this website because of all you 'creators' of cool stuff. I am humbled by the sheer volume of talent here and appreciate the opportunity to share the enthusiasm.
Glad to be here and I hope you're all having a great day.
John
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harro
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Sep 05, 2005
Posts: 672
From: Australia / Argentina
| Posted: 2008-05-06 07:24 am Permalink
fascinating read.
now that you've mentioned it, you may as well sneak a couple of pics of your other rooms onto this thread as well.
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sparklegem
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 20, 2003
Posts: 204
From: The Living Conditioned Homes
| Posted: 2008-05-06 08:57 am Permalink
Your house sounds so fun. Please post pictures of your other 'lands'!
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Polynesiac
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 29, 2004
Posts: 2020
From: San Pedro, CA
| Posted: 2008-05-06 8:46 pm Permalink
our house sounds like my dream house. I love the idea of different themes in the rooms - especially the 50's/60's western theme. I walked into a house in Torrance years ago, that had a giant western themed mural straight out of the 50's. I can only imagine what the place looked like back then. Since then, I've been fascinated with escapist decorating.
I too, would love to see shots of your other rooms, I bet their fantastic!
_________________
Polynesiac - putting the "F" back in "ART"
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Robb Hamel
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Mar 07, 2008
Posts: 1013
From: Ohio
| Posted: 2008-05-09 06:05 am Permalink
Thanks for the bio.
I never thought I'd meet another human being who knew who Leonard B Abbott was! I'm a fanatic about the 1933 King Kong: Mario Larrinaga is my absent master. If you're coming to the Hukilau we'll have to talk each other's ears off.
You shouldn't talk about others' creativity - yours is obvious from this post.
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Mr. Pupu Pants
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 06, 2008
Posts: 332
From: Edmonds, WA
| Posted: 2008-05-13 3:17 pm Permalink
Sorry I haven't posted a picture in a bit. Here's a recent one and I'll be posting more progress very soon
Hey Robb, I'm a huge fan of 'old school' effects. The digital stuff done today is amazing but to me, nothing beats the look of a well-done model or a good in-camera effects shot (imho). Even when it doesn't quite look real, it still has it's own cool reality. I guess I just really appreciate the hand-made aspect of it. I still try to do things that way at work if I can get away with it.
Speaking of Mr. Abbott, have you ever read his book 'Special Effects: Wire Tape and Rubber Band Style'. Great book. Early issues of Cinefex are great for that stuff too. I've gotten that magazine since the first issue. My brother and I did lots of experimentation on super 8--from double exposures to scratching/animating laser beams onto the emulsion side of the film.(Oop, forgot I was posting on Tiki Central there for a second)........and...uh....there were tikis....um...everywhere!
Harro, Sparklegem, Polynesiac, I'll try to take a few house pics this week although I kinda want to wait until those rooms are completely done.
Thanks again for the nice comments and feedback you guys.
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Robb Hamel
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Mar 07, 2008
Posts: 1013
From: Ohio
| Posted: 2008-05-13 4:06 pm Permalink
I haven't seen Abbott's book, hafta look it up. I have the first 20 years of Cinfex, and have done the film-scratch laser beams also.
The room looks beyond awesome!
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Numastar
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Jun 13, 2007
Posts: 14
From: Santa Cruz, CA
| Posted: 2008-05-13 6:13 pm Permalink
Looks Great! Seems like you got an amazing start. Can't wait to see more pics of the progress.
Cheers
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Polynesiac
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 29, 2004
Posts: 2020
From: San Pedro, CA
| Posted: 2008-05-13 9:27 pm Permalink
Beautiful. thanks for the update!
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Mr. Pupu Pants
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 06, 2008
Posts: 332
From: Edmonds, WA
| Posted: 2008-05-14 11:25 am Permalink
Quote:
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On 2008-05-03 17:53, etohliver wrote:
Wow, that is going to be one sweet retreat!
I feel you're a kindred spirit Pupu. Disneyland is a worthy inspiration (or Disney World as it's called round my parts).
I don't have a basement or spare room to convert into my theme park, so I'm using what little backyard I have. I can see you are working along the same lines as I am in your project - it's the details that make up the whole. Coincidentally, we had a party today in the backyard and my friend who is a great woodsmith gave me a nice compliment (without even knowing my affinity for Disney). He said "from every angle you always see something new, just like at Disneyworld."
It's easy to see that you will achieve the same effect in time. I've been at my backyard for lots of weekends for going on 2 years now, and am maybe 50% done (although when your outside it's easy to work for a couple hours and then admire your handiwork from the hammock for the next six). When people tell me I could do this kind of thing for a living I say: "yeah, just find me someone who can wait 5 years for a finished project." When I hired a tile guy to do my pool tiles and pavers, and he and his crew came in and finished in 8 or 9 days I remember thinking: "What fun is that? I could have had a good six months of laying tile!"
My guess is that as soon as you "finish," you'll have to start "updating." At least that's what I'll need to do - I know I won't be able to go cold turkey!
Anyway, don't rush it - the journey is almost all the fun!
And one more thing, more pics!
[ This Message was edited by: etohliver 2008-05-03 17:58 ]
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Hi Etohliver, I've been meaning to respond to your post above. Definitely kindred spirits here. My family and many of our closest friends are Disneyland nuts. I've made the trip down to Disneyland more times than I'm willing to admit. My wife and two sons are right with me My brother went to an animation school founded by Disney in Southern Cal called Cal Arts to begin his career. A friend of ours used to animate for Disney in the '70s when the last of the nine old men were still there working (he ended up with a huge neon sign from a tiki bar that used to sit across the street from Disney Studios called the Pago Pago. It's now in his backyard--outside his own little tiki bar).
I usually take alot of pictures when I'm down there (including many architectural) to use later when I'm building things. You never know when a good reference photo might come in handy (and who does it better then Disney did). I usually always try to put my own twist on it though. It's all about the details and, even if you don't notice them individually, they definitely contribute in a big way to the overall effect. 'The whole is definitely greater than the sum of it's parts' with things like Tiki bars. Or is it 'Sum parts are greater than whole ones'? Something like that.
Another project I'll be working on later this summer (or possibly next year for budgetary reasons ) is a backyard deck (as though it were a tropical dock bordered with facades of different hut and building fronts built onto the back of our house.
In fact, that project is what got me building the tiki room when it was originally going to be built into the back of our garage (which also would border the deck/dock), It would have had flip-up window/awnings to make it open-air for parties in the summer. I'd love to see pics of your backyard for inspiration.
For practical reasons, we decided to use the basement for the tiki bar so, at some point, I still might build an exterior storm cellar entrance to the basement from the backyard so you can easily access it from the deck (maybe I'll make it look like a lava tube or something.
Anyhoo, I'm totally with you on the journey being much of the fun. I also jump back and forth from one project to another (to the occasional dismay of my wife) but they all get done eventually. Or at least to a phase I can call done -- before I'm officially in the 'updating' phase.  There must be some union rules about that.
Thanks again for the comments. Really nice to meet you,
John
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sungod
Grand Member (7 years) 
Joined: Feb 07, 2003
Posts: 219
From: Tampa Bay/New Port Richey
| Posted: 2008-05-15 1:02 pm Permalink
Nice work!! Can't wait to see the finished product.
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