I have however set up a new blog which is strictly about my flying and can be found here: www.yasserhamed.com

Woo! I finished up on Beowulf and I’ve just come back from a much needed 6 week vacation.
I spent 4 weeks back home in Oz, and then 2 weeks on a US road trip.

The US Road Trip started in Detroit and then headed east to Boston, then south to Washington. Armed with a Red Mustang Convertible…All together I drove through the following states:
Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York state, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Columbia, and Virginia.

The main cities visited were: Detroit, Cleveland, Niagra, Buffalo, Boston, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Washington DC.

Here are some photos…there will be more to come! Click any of the pictures to view the gallery.

Check out www.beowulfmove.com

Beowulf made it’s first appearance at Cine Expo this year in Amsterdam. It will make it’s second appearance at Comic-Con. After that, we should start seeing all sorts of goodies around promoting the movie. Today I saw teaser posters set up at the local theaters, so it shouldn’t be much longer now! I’m real excited about how this movie will turn out.

I’ve been working a lot of hours, but this should be coming to an end soon when I finally take a 6 week vacation starting Sept 1st before starting on my next project (which I will name soon).

Yes, I’m coming home to Australia for 4 weeks followed by a two week US road trip from LA to Boston!
I have the rough idea layed out but I’ll let you know soon what the official plan is soon!

Keep in touch!
-Yasser

The first movie I work on, not only makes a killing at the box office, it’s No.1 in the US for 4 weeks in a row, and now wins an Oscar!

This is a big achievement for Australian Film and Animal Logic, being the first animated feature to be produced in Australia.

Congratulations to George and all my old workmates at Animal Logic who worked hard on this movie to see it succeed!

PIXAR’s Cars was a tough one to beat, but we did it!!

Well, today is exactly 1 year from that day, and it’s amazing how much I’ve managed to cram into a single year!

I’m working extra hard at Sony now with the production hours starting to ramp up for Beowulf.

I did a lot of traveling around the US the past year and visited some amazing and beautiful places like the Angeles National Forest, Palm & Desert Springs, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Yosemite, San Diego, New York, Joshua Tree, Chicago, St.Louis, Columbia MO, and most recently Mammoth Mountain. I also got to go back home to Australia for 2 weeks to visit family and friends, and even got the chance to attend the NYE gala at the Opera House.

What was really great about last year was getting to see my first screen credit scroll at the end of “Happy Feet”, which also was no.1 in the box office for weeks. It was also nice to do some flying from Santa Monica airport, over Malibu, and the west coast beaches. I also learned snow boarding for the first time.
So it looks like that I’ll still be hanging around Tinseltown for a while, and there is still a lot to see, so I’m sure I’ll still be posting regularly.

Lets hope this year will be as good as the last!

We went up to Mammoth Mountain by bus, about 6 hours drive north of LA in the Sierras.

We got a sweet condo overlooking the mountain and the ski resort which also included an outdoor hot tub.

It hasn’t been snowing at Mammoth for a while so the snow was running a bit low, but nevertheless more than enough to satisfy a beginner.

On Saturday, I went over to the resort to buy a beginner’s package which included board and boot rental, lift tickets, and a snow boarding lesson.

After the three hour lesson, I felt like a pro, and was already taking the lift and conquering the basic slopes. I fell on my butt a few times and was pretty sore by the end of the day. I loved it though, I was having the time of my life.

The next day, I planned to take a gondola lift to the top of the mountain to take some pictures, but when I woke up and open the windows, I was ecstatic to see that it was actually snowing outside! I was so happy as I hadn’t seen snow fall in years.

It must have been snowing for a while too! This is the before and after shot from the window of the condo:

I took some shots of snow on the trees and icicles. Click on any of the pictures to view the gallery.

Before we had to pack up and head to the bus, me and Keith decided to go nuts and jump in the outdoor hot tub for a while. It was still snowing

I had 2 weeks off but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to get around to most of my friends. So for those that I missed, I’m sorry, and there is always next time!

I spent most of the time in my home town (if there is such a thing in my case) of Newcastle.

It’s funny how much can change in a year. You meet up with friends who have gained weight, lost weight, had kids, got married, etc. etc. I think a lot of people were surprised that I hadn’t changed much at all. You would think 1 year in crazy LA would surely change a person right?

Yasser will always be Yasser. I’m as constant as the Number 1.

I have been to the Sydney New Years eve fireworks show quite a few times now but I had always wondered what it would be like to actually attend the NYE Gala Concert inside the Opera House. I never went cause the ticket prices were always so hefty, but this year I decided to fork out the extra buck and go!

They held 2 orchestra sets in the Opera House with a break in-between for the 9pm fireworks, and finishing just before the midnight show.
With such a VIP view of the fireworks and without a gazillion people pushing you out of the way, it was worth every penny.

Click the images below to view the gallery:

I arrived back in LA yesterday morning, and I hope the new year will also bring along some more adventures here in the USA.

Happy New Year everyone.