Gareth Harrison

Well, another bank holiday yesterday – it only seems a few weeks since the last one!!

I went for a walk in the afternoon with some guys from Reach – we drove over to the Peak District and parked up by Derwent Reservoir, just off the Snake Pass. It’s actually where I went with Jamie a couple of years ago for my first bike ride in 16 years(!), and I’ve realised it’s certainly a lot quicker to go round on 2 wheels rather than walking!

We only did about 4 miles – we got quite a bit round one side of the reservoir, but soon realised that it would take us ages to get round the next one and back down to the car! So after examining if there was anywhere else where we could cross, we turned around and walked back pretty much the way we came.

The weather was pretty rubbish – it rained a bit – but it was just really nice to do something different. Not been out for a walk for quite a while… we used to do them a lot more regularly, and I guess I miss it a bit. But this was good and hopefully I’ll get to do it again.

Something I’m not sure that I’ll be doing again too soon is what I did next! It was John Cieszynski’s birthday on Friday, so last night he had a murder mystery party!

Now, I’ve never been to one before, and it’s never been something I’ve been in a rush to try, but since it was for John’s birthday I decided I should go. The big problem for me was that it’s all taken very seriously! Basically from when it starts, you’re supposed to then stay in character for 3 hours until all the different elements are solved! Add into that the fact that there were 27 people there in character – most of whom I didn’t even know in real life(!) – and it becomes my biggest nightmare!!

To be fair, pretty much everyone else seemed to like it, and maybe if I was doing it with a much smaller amount of people, and if I actually knew them well to start with, I might find it okay. But it really wasn’t my kind of thing, and luckily my role wasn’t an important character so it didn’t matter that I kept a low profile!

John seemed to really enjoy it though, which is what’s important… next time though, I’ll suggest to him a night out at the pub!

Well it’s been a pretty busy few days… I was in the office for most of the Easter Weekend trying to get some graphics work finished for this show we’re doing for Tiger Aspect. It’s basically a couple of documentaries about Fawlty Towers for G.O.L.D. (very similar to ‘The Vicar of Dibley‘ and ‘Blackadder‘ ones we’ve worked on previously), and we’ve been working on titles, stings, episode guides and interview backgrounds.

But I did manage to get a few hours off on Monday to go to the beach! I was in the office preparing another time-consuming render, when I got a text from Dave saying that a group was heading off to the beach for the afternoon, so I decided to go to that instead and carry on with the graphics later!

We set off to Formby in a few cars, and it was all fine until we actually got near our destination – it appeared that everyone else in the North West were heading there as well! Rather than spending the whole afternoon waiting to get into the car park, we eventually managed to park up on a housing estate and then took a short walk back towards the beach.

We eventually found a bit of the beach that wasn’t full of people, and also didn’t have bits of brick sticking out of the sand – not ideal for playing sports! I didn’t bother with the game of American Football, since I have no idea at all how the game works!!

But later on, we played beach volleyball with a proper net that Dan had just bought from Decathlon (he was taking it seriously!) I was pretty crap at it, but it was good fun!

There are some photos from the afternoon here. All in all, it was a good Bank Holiday Monday, even if I had to be in work for part of it!

I’m pretty excited because I’ve bought a pair of tickets for U2′s 360° Tour in Sheffield this August. They went on sale at 9am yesterday morning, and I’d bought them by 9:01am! I’ve always wanted to seen them live – I was disappointed that I didn’t see them play in Manchester a few years ago – so thought I’d try and buy tickets to see them this time round, then find someone else to take the other ticket!

Phil’s buying the other ticket off me (hopefully he’ll be up for trying to get as close to the stage as we can!) so it should be a great day… and Elbow are supporting which is cool because I really like them as well!

And then in September, I’m going to see Coldplay at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground with James and Helen, which should be amazing as well, though I’m not that fussed by Jay-Z playing beforehand. I’ve still got an extra ticket for that one I need to sell before the gig!

Other news… work’s busy at the moment – which is good considering we’re supposed to be in a recession! We’ve got quite a few projects on the go, and in a few weeks we’re delivering graphics for a show on G.O.L.D. which will be on this summer I think (I’ll post more about it when it’s been scheduled!)

I started this blog on the 18th March 2002 – 7 years ago today!!

My posting frequency isn’t really as good as I’d like it to be, and maybe I don’t often go as in-depth as I’ve always wanted to, but I’m pleased I’ve kept it going this long, and that I’ve not gone back and deleted or changed any past blog entries (apart from the occasional spelling correction!) even though sometimes things change so much that it makes old posts seem rather stupid!

It’s been a weekend of parties – but there was quite a difference between the two!

Last week was Brandon and Chloe’s first birthday – I can’t believe they’re a year old already! It’s gone so fast, but then at the same time it’s like you can’t remember what it was like before them! I went down to Tamworth on Friday to see them (their actual birthday was the Thursday), and then on the Saturday afternoon, it was time for their party!

It was a new type of party for me really – when the main guests are all under 2 years old! The twins looked really cute – Brandon had a Superman costume, and Chloe had a pink ballet tutu!

They’ve really got their own personalities now, and it’s amazing seeing them growing up. I reckon they’ll be walking soon – they keep trying to stand up, and move around using furniture as support!

All the kids seemed to have fun, and there weren’t too many tears, although at that age, you can’t really explain to them about sharing toys and stuff! There are photos of the fun here.

Anyway, after their party, I drove down to Bristol for another one! Ali and Julie were having a joint late birthday party – but this one had a theme… 80s cheese!

I really struggled to come up with a costume for it. The night before I still didn’t have anything, but a trip to Asda found a rock star wig and inflatable guitar!

So on the Saturday I bought the most horrific t-shirt (a nice skull, sword and snake design!) and a head-band, and created my 80s rocker look! It turned out alright, but I think it’s a lot easier for girls to put costumes together for something like that!

Anyway, nearly everyone made a pretty good effort, and it was a real reminder of how bad the fashion was in the 80s! Ali and Julie back-combed their hair which was an interesting look, and there were some great wigs making an appearance!

Then yesterday afternoon, I went into the centre of Bristol to get lunch with Ali, then we took a ferry down the river back to her house which was really cool! You don’t get anything like that in Manchester! Check out the pics of the party and our afternoon in Bristol here.

Well just got back from my first proper break in 5 years! A few of us spent New Year in a cottage on Anglesey – I went over there on the 27th and got back yesterday lunchtime.

It was great weather all week – pretty cold, but dry and mostly sunny, and our cottage couldn’t have been any closer to the sea! You just had to walk out of the garden gate, and within a few metres you were on the beach! I took my bike with me (which to my shame I haven’t ridden since I went out on it 2 years ago with Jamie!) and got on it twice, which is a good start for me(!) although where we were was very hilly, so probably not ideal for someone who hasn’t ridden for so long!

Altogether across the week there we 9 of us – me, Ajay, Rob, Clare, Tabitha, Steve, Leah, Dave and Danny, although me and Ajay were the only ones who stayed the whole week – the majority left on Thursday lunchtime.

Throughout our time on Anglesey, as well as exploring the area around our cottage, I got to visit quite a few places really – South Stack lighthouse (where the group photo to the right was taken), Holyhead, Red Wharf Bay, the Breakwater Country Park, and Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch!

We managed to get out and about most days, and in the evenings either played games like Pictionary and Taboo, watched DVDs (when I decided that ‘Juno’ is an amazing film… conversely, ‘Family Business’ is one of the worst I’ve seen!) or played on Rob’s Wii! I’ve never had a go on one before, and it’s really addictive. It’s really intuitive to use, and I probably spent far too long playing Mario Kart and Wii Bowling, but at least I wasn’t as bad as Rob, who was playing ‘Wii Sea Bass Fishing’ complete with a special fishing rod controller… when the real sea was about 10 metres away!!

New Year’s Eve was a Taboo and Jenga-fest, which got pretty intense at times, and I managed to knock the tower down a couple of times, but when it happened there was genuinely no other brick to move! We were hardcore Jenga players! When it came to seeing in the New Year, all the others went down to the beach, but I decided to see it in on my own – not really a big fan of it all to be honest, so ended up going on Facebook instead on my mobile phone… sad I know!

All in all, I wouldn’t mind doing it again next year. It was a really nice break from work (which certainly was needed!), and it was a good crowd, although when you go away with people you know from work, it can be hard to turn off from those kind of conversations! I think we got a pretty good balance though, and it was nice to do something different. Not sure I want to go back to work tomorrow!

I’ve got 4 photo albums of the holiday here, here, here and here!

A belated Merry Christmas to everyone!

I’ve been down in Tamworth since Christmas Eve, and it was my first Christmas back down there for quite a few years – certainly since I’ve been living in my current house anyway.

Part of my reason for going down this year was that it was Brandon and Chloe’s first one, so wanted to be there for that really. My sister was doing lunch at hers, and there were quite a few of us there for it… me, mum, Vikky, Damien, the twins, Damien’s mum and dad, and Damien’s brother, Gavin. Also, Steve and Julie popped in before dinner, so it was quite a full house!

I was quite surprised that the twins also had Christmas dinner with us – they were eating pretty much the same as us, and it didn’t seem that mashed up really! They like to be able to grab food and put it in their mouths themselves, so the more food they can hold the better!

It was actually quite weird being around people – I’ve really got used to being on my own on Christmas Day, and doing what I want to do, when I want to do it! So I didn’t get my usual lie-in, and didn’t really get to watch the TV I wanted to see either!! Thank goodness for Sky+! I’ve got so many shows I’ve recorded over the last 3 days that I need to try and find the time to watch!

Anyway, back to Christmas Day at my sister’s…

Brandon and Chloe had a great day – even though they were both a bit snotty. And they got so many presents from everyone, it was ridiculous! My sister said she’d have to put some of their new toys away, and swap them all round every month! It must have been quite bewildering for them, because they got so much attention, and then were going from one new toy to another!

One of their cool presents was a talking Elmo toy – and it was amazing! The movement on it is so realistic, and if he falls over, he even asks you to pick him up again!

Both the twins were transfixed by him – especially since he was sitting at the same level as them – although Chloe eventually decided she wanted a hug from her dad rather than a robotic toy!

It’s amazing seeing the kind of toys you can get for kids nowadays – when I was that age, there was nothing like that at all! It was just teddy bears and Fisher Price telephones!

They also got a ball pool which was great fun! We put them in there and buried them under the balls. I don’t think Brandon quite knew what to do at first – he just lay there as they piled up on him! And Chloe spent a lot of time trying to eat them!

There are photos from the day here.

While I was down in Tamworth, I also dug out some old VHS tapes of stuff I filmed years ago and copied them to DVD. Some of my stuff was so bad!! But it’s fun to look back at it now though, especially some of the videos I made with Tom whist I was at school. It also made me realise how bad quality VHS is – especially when I was editing it back then, because the picture got much worse on every pass, whereas nowadays you can copy stuff or edit footage without any quality degradation at all.

I also copied some old home video stuff from when we hired a camcorder back in the early 90s. It’s really strange looking back at video footage of yourself from so long ago! And also of all my grandparents, as well as my dad. It’s one thing looking at old photos, but watching footage puts a whole different perspective on it all.

Anyway, that’s Christmas over… I’m back in Manchester now, but this afternoon I’m off to Anglesey for the next week to see in the New Year in a cottage next to the sea, so hopefully that should be fun!

It’s been a strange few weeks.

A few posts ago I mentioned about my nan being ill. Well unfortunately she died a few weeks ago on the 1st November, and we had the funeral just a couple of weeks ago. It was weird thing – obviously it was all really sad, but with it being a Catholic funeral, there was a service for the family on the Sunday night when the coffin was brought into the church, then the actual funeral ceremony the next morning. It’s also quite strange, because I’d never realised that Catholics believe that the soul of the person is still in the coffin whilst it’s in the church, and they ask the saints and Mary to protect it overnight, and then in the second service the priest kind of commits the soul to heaven. All a bit odd!

It was also the same weekend at Steven’s birthday, so it was a strange weekend really. Also odd to note that last year dad’s funeral was 2 days after my birthday – and then this year, nan’s was 2 days after Steven’s.

On to yesterday then, and I had the most rubbish day, and it turned out totally opposite to how I’d hoped it would. It was Jess Torry’s dedication service at Vinelife, with Helen then being baptised afterwards, followed by a gathering back at their house. I’d totally planned to be there for the whole thing, and am truly gutted that it just all went pear-shaped. I arrived for the service about 10 minutes before the start, and it was all going fine until unfortunately, just as it was starting, I bumped into someone who I really wanted to avoid, and then just had to get out of there. I really tried hard not to let it get to me and stay in my seat, but I just couldn’t do it, even though it was such an important day. I’m actually really angry with myself for not being able to deal with it, but also pretty annoyed that the situation arose in the first place. As it was, I listened to the dedication part of the service from outside, but then left which meant I missed the get-together in the afternoon as well. I guess I just feel rubbish ‘cos I really wanted to be there for the whole of their special day, but because of what ultimately is just stupid stuff, I wasn’t there for them.

…for someone to have maybe mentioned it to me before today, rather than me finding out by accident.

But nobody did.

36 years old – rubbish!

Yep, it’s my birthday, and it’s not something I really want to celebrate! There’s nothing great about getting older – you’re basically running out of time to accomplish the things you always hoped you’d do, and the likelihood of them happening just gets less and less.

Anyway, in true tradition I’m spending my birthday working late in the office… we’ve got a job that needs to be finished for the morning, so I’ve got to stay until it’s done, and might be a few more hours yet.

To be fair, as a kind of birthday treat to myself, I’m off to see Delirious play in Liverpool on Wednesday night – it’s their last UK tour, so I’m hoping it’s a really good gig. I first saw them live back in 1995, and have seen them many times since then, so will be weird knowing it’ll probably be the last time.

It’s a year today that my dad died, and if I’m totally honest, I still don’t think I’ve properly felt anything abut it. I commented after the funeral that I hadn’t really had much of a reaction to it all, and maybe it’d come further on, but it hasn’t really. Maybe that makes me heartless – I don’t know. But maybe now isn’t the right time, and it’s still something I’ll deal with in the future.

Also, nan’s been taken into hospital this weekend, and I’m not sure what’s going to happen with that. When I first found out on Thursday, it sounded like it was really bad and everyone was fearing the worst, although mum’s texted me today to say that she’s improved, and is now eating and drinking (she hadn’t eaten in a week before being taken in), but they don’t know whether she’ll be allowed home or not. I guess it’s just a case of waiting really.

Been a bit of a gap since my last post, so need to do a bit of a catch-up!

Firstly, tonight on G.O.L.D. (it used to be UKGold until this week!) there’s a documentary about one of the funniest shows ever – “Blackadder Exclusive: The Whole Rotten Saga”, and we did the graphics for it.

It’s on at 9pm (and I think is repeated throughout the week, as is the way with digital channels), although there’s another show next Thursday night at 9pm called “Blackadder’s Most Cunning Moments” where we provided a lot more graphics, as well as doing the background images for the interviews.

It’ll be quite strange seeing it, because we were working on it back in May and June, so seems like ages ago now! I won’t forget it though because it coincided with James’ paternity leave, and the week it had to be delivered I was juggling that along with the Drama Trails 3D stuff! Fun! The programme was originally going to be aired in the summer, but then it was decided that they’d save it for the channel relaunch which happened this week, hence the gap between working on it and it now being shown. I’ve watched some of it on DVD, and they’re actually really well put together shows, so hopefully the viewers will like them!

Other news… a couple of weeks ago I was down in Tamworth for Brandon and Chloe’s dedication service.

They looked cute – Brandon had a little suit with a waistcoat and cravat, and Chloe was wearing a dress with little flowers on it, and a sparkly headband!

They were really well-behaved and seemed to enjoy themselves, although Brandon does manage to be sick at pretty regular intervals!

Both are really happy babies – they seem to laugh all the time, and really know how to pose to the camera! I guess they’ve got pretty used to having people taking pictures of them all the time!

And it’s amazing to see how quickly they grow up… obviously I don’t get down there that regularly, so when I see them each time, I can see how much they’ve changed!

Anyway, it was a really nice day, and it was good catching up with my cousins again, and also getting to see Dave & Tanith’s baby Evie, who’s a similar age to the twins, but it was the first time I’d seen her for real, and not in a photo on Facebook!

And to carry on with the baby theme, we had a bit of a random day in the office last week… Helen turned up with Jess and James’ mum on Wednesday afternoon, so it was really nice to see them. I hadn’t seen Jess since July when she’d last come in, so she really had grown since the last time I’d seen her, and she’s really got her own personality now, and pretty cute smile!

Then, about an hour after they left, Brandon and Chloe turned up with Vikky and my mum! They’d been up in Manchester for a photoshoot for Littlewoods catalogue, and popped in afterwards before travelling home.

As you can see, we made sure we put Jess, Brandon to Chloe to work on some doodledoMOTION projects!

After six months of us moving into our office, we’ve finally (almost) finished sorting it! I say ‘almost’ because we’ve still got a few little jobs to sort with the edit suite like some internal skirting boards, and some shelves that need putting up, but now we’ve got some pictures up on the wall, it feels like a really nice place to work in.

Also, we’ve just launched the proper version of our website – www.doodledomotion.co.uk. There’d just been a single page there before now, but I think the new one looks great. Our biggest challenge with it is to make sure we find the time to update the blog, and keep our portfolio up-to-date! Also, due to some music and copyright restrictions, we can’t put examples of everything we do up there, but hopefully we’ll be able to get a good range of the kind of stuff we do.

Work’s been a little bit less hectic over the last few weeks, though there’s enough to keep us occupied. Drama Trails really took its toll – I ended up doing 63 days in a row which wasn’t ideal! Not had a chance yet to have a proper break, but it’s been nice to get my weekends back!

A couple of Sundays ago I went down to Reading to catch up with some old uni mates – Ali, George, Hazel, and Helen & her new blokey! It was really nice day (although the train journey down was a bit of a rubbish one – an hour late to start with, then decided to terminate at Birmingham rather than Reading!)

We went for a pub lunch, then for a nice walk alongside the canal, and it was a really sunny day which definitely helped! Then in the evening I went to Bristol to kip over at Ali’s house, then back up to Stockport on a very overcrowded train on the Monday. You can check out the photos from the day here.

Well my excuse for not having updated this blog since February is that I’ve just been too busy with work! And it’s pretty true to be honest! I’ve not had a day off for over six weeks now and I’m feeling pretty knackered! I’m currently in the middle of doing a load of 3D graphics for a series that starts on ITV3 this Wednesday night at 9pm called Drama Trails. I’m actually really pleased with how our stuff’s all looking in it, but it’s a 10 part series and I’ve still got 5 more episodes worth of graphics to do, so it’ll probably be a few more weeks until I get a day off!

The show’s being made by Tiger Aspect, and we’ve also just completed graphics for another of their programmes – a Blackadder special which is going out on UK Gold in September, so I’ll probably blog about that a bit closer to the transmission date!

I mentioned a while ago that we were going to be moving into an office – well that happened at the end of February, and it’s great have a proper space to work in. It’s not 100% finished yet… we’ve still got to put the finishing touches to the edit suite, but I think me and James have done a pretty good job with it!

The picture here shows mine and James’ desks, which is currently where we spend most of our time. To the right of the bookcase, we’ve got a little seating area, and to the left of the shot is an edit suite that we built ourselves using lots of wood and plasterboard! Check out my photos to see how we did it all!

In my last blog, I announced the birth of my little nephew and niece – Brandon and Chloe. Well they’ve certainly grown a bit since that week! This first picture of me holding both of them was taken as they were about to leave hospital, and they were just 4 days old. You can see how tiny they were by the fact I could hold both of them at once!

They’re now 19 weeks old, and I last saw them a couple of weeks ago when I made a fleeting visit to Tamworth for my mum’s birthday, and they’ve really grown into little people, and are definitely developing their own characters. I don’t know how my sis copes with looking after 2 babies, but she seems to be doing a pretty good job!

(Brandon & Chloe – top: 6 weeks old, bottom left: 11 weeks old, bottom right: 17 weeks old)

Staying on the whole baby thing, James is now a daddy!

Helen gave birth to Jessica Grace on the 4th June, nearly 2 weeks overdue, but if I’m really honest, I was so glad that the baby held on those 10 days, because work was crazy, and we’d have struggled to get it done otherwise!! (sorry Hel!!)

Anyway, James brought Jessica to the office for a visit when she was just a week old, and she’s so cute – though as is the norm with babies, she didn’t do much more than sleep and cry!

I haven’t discussed it with James yet, but as soon as she’s old enough – 18 months should be fine – we’ll be training her up on After Effects to take the workload off us a bit…

Late last night, Brandon David and Chloe Amy were born into the world!

My sis was 27 hours in labour, which sounds like a heck of a long time to me – I think it was a pretty rough one. Brandon was 5lbs 6oz and Chloe was 5lbs, so those are pretty decent weights for twins born a month early!

I’m going down on Saturday to see them – and hopefully they’ll all be out of hospital by then (not a big fan of hospitals myself!)