Hi. I'm Chad. I'm originally from South Florida, originally Ft. Lauderdale and the Palm Beach (and yes, I've heard every last joke about my name since last November, just in case you were wondering). After 4 years banished to the netherzone called Tallahassee while attending film school, I packed up van and trailer and headed west, like the optimistic fool that I am, to the land of swimming pools and movie stars. (But, there were swimming pools and movie stars in Palm Beach, Chad.) (Shut up.)

That was the summer of '96. Yes, I drove through Death Valley in July. What's life without a little adventure. Shortly thereafter I got a job as a runner for the physical effects crew working on Dante's Peak (pyro guys are cool) and shortly thereafter that I got a job with the effects company who was doing the bulk of the visual effects for that. I work in the area that gets analog film to the digital world and from the digital world back to the analog wonder that is film. Most people on the visual effects side of the biz consider what I do black magic, and I'm perfectly happy to let them continue doing so. They keep paying me that way.

So, for most of the last 5 years I've been happily working away on varying degrees of neat movies, more or less having a good time and slowly learning to hate this town for the soul sucking pit of nothingness that it is. Errr, right.

Working this job often maintains that one keep hours with the lab so things can be sent in to be developed in an efficient manner, and the labs keep late hours, which means when a show is pushing to get finished, I keep late hours. It was during one of these many late nights, surfing around while minding the cameras that I stumbled onto Elf Sternberg's site. (Many many more of those here than I imagined...I don't feel quite so perverted anymore. Well, yeah, right. And in case anyone else cares, the Travellogue and Planetfall series, and I wish he'd finish the Ritacha War already.)

So, after spending a few weeks reading his stuff, I went through his links, and found the link to EPU. I had little to no exposure to anime at that point (read: I'd seen Akira once in high school and didn't really get it) but I had just finished learing basic UNIX for my job here, so that mixed with all the other sci-fi madness in UF made it a very enjoyable experience. And thus I began buying Dirty Pair tapes and reading all of the other stuff on this site for several months, and was hooked.

Anyway, that's who I am and how I got here. Yes, I'm a bit of a movie nut, though I have friends who are worse. I have interests in things sci-fi and history (depending on the topic). I was in the Civil Air Patrol and headed for the Air Force before I got involved with an actress in high school, which led to me becoming a tech rat and letting my hair grow out. I still maintain an interest in things that fly and go to the Edwards AFB open house when I can make it to see neat things fly around. And, hmmm, guess I've rambled a bit. Oh well, anything else you've probably already gathered from my posts by now. Anyway, great to be here, having a forum here kicks butt, and I'm happy to be a part of it.

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"You're a louse, Roger Smith."
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Chad Collier
Digital Bitch
J. Random VFX Company

And now, for no other readily apparent reason than to double the length of my post, a song:

Take your baby by the hand
And make her do a high hand stand
Take your baby by the heel
And do the next thing that you feel

We were so in phase
In our dance hall days
We were cool on craze
When I, you and everyone we knew
Could believe, do, and share in what was true
Oh, I said

Dance hall days love

Take you baby by the hair
And pull her close and there there there
Take your baby by the ears
And play upon her darkest fears

We were so in phase
In our dance hall days
We were cool on craze
When I, you and everyone we knew
Could believe, do, and share in what was true
Oh, I said

Dance hall days love

So take your baby by the wrist
And in her mouth an amethyst
And in her eyes two sapphires blue
And you need her and she needs you
And you need her and she needs you...

We were so in phase
In our dance hall days
We were cool on craze
When I, you and everyone we knew
Could believe, do, and share in what was true
Oh, I said

Dance hall days love...

Wang Chung, Dance Hall Days

Polychrome