"Write on, my man.": BLUR STUDIO

I used to work here. Its a fantastic place, right on Abbot Kinney and Venice Boulevard. It's like a small family place where you can expect hugs and hilarity. At 2pm there's an hour break so everybody can play a studio wide game of Quake. you get to shoot the people you work with and blow them up with lasers and cannons. it's pointless not to play because the yelling is so loud you won't be able to concentrate anyways, plus you won't be able to have a beer and taunt the people you blasted afterwards.

Tim Miller, the owner is a funny and nice guy despite a very tough looking shaved head appearance. he also sets a high standard for the artists while sticking to his guns about how the client's product turns out. Blur shirts are usually black with "Fuck" somewhere on it. like FUCK YEAH, FUCK EVERYONE, FUCK THAT, FUCK YOU, you get the idea.

Lunch breaks out back on the picnic tables were ALWAYS hilarious. the conversation would flail wildly all over the place, from the mildly vulgar to the extremely offensive in an instant. since everybody liked each other and there was a real sense of team, the tone could get risky without ruffling feathers. except there was this one time, when 2 Mormon animators had flown in from Utah to interview. they sat with us at lunch, in their full on Mormon suits with the white collar shirts and ties (something no self respecting animator would ever wear to an interview). well, the conversation went into the lovely world of fetish-porn and "fisting", we were all laughing wildly, but i could see these two guys were completely terrified. like we had just shown them a back door into hell and they were invited...needless to say, they disappeared after that lunch never to be seen again in the West Coast.

this is what it looks like :)

and this is a HD interview with Tim and some of the dudes working on the Transformers Game Cinematic.

there was once a random email conversation between Tim and some guy who criticized one of Blur's MySimon commercials. Tim let him have it in typical Tim fashion. don't fuck with Blur :)

I'm sorry i couldn't find the whole convo, but here is the beginning and then the end:

Wrote Mr DiMauro: "Some feedback re: my simon character created by your studios. I find him annoying, obtrusive and the last person on earth I would invite to a party. I would hate my host forever if someone like that ever showed up at a party I was attending. What were you guys thinking?"

Six hours later he received a reply from Tim Miller, CEO of Blur. It was frank and to the point.

"Thanks for your email Frank, a few points I'd like to make:
1. Fuck You.
2. Don't you have anything better to do with your life instead of writing emails like this? Did you just get completely bored with masturbation?
3. He was designed by an ad agency- not us, which you would have guessed if you knew fuck-all about this business. Is that the clue phone ringing? I think it must be for you.....
4. We do appreciate your assessment of how annoying the My Simon character is, since it appears that you're an expert in that area.
5. I'll bet your dick is very small.

Tim Miller
Blur

Over the next 24-hours the two men exchanged increasingly abusive emails. It ended with Mr Miller who said: "This has been really fun Frank and I and myself and the animators have had a really good laugh so far but we've got some work to do, so I'm going to have to sign off now--for good. I suggest you send your next email to www.enlarge_my_penis_please.com."

So, as you can tell, he's a really smart and funny boss. Plus he's a real person, not some sniveling ass licker, like so many people who have made something out of themselves in the industry.

I found out about Blur when i went to LA for an animation convention called SIGGRAPH and i went to their party. it was RIDICULOUS. a whole mansion with go-go dancers and all the bells and whistles. their parties are always outer limits. part of the reason it rocks to work there. the other reason is the work itself. check out these nuggets of goodness.

Blur makes incredible shorts. here are some...
A Gentleman's Duel