Before

After

It’s been a strange mix of emotions for me the past few weeks.  I’ve really enjoyed having the Bandit, and the new video is looking AWESOME, but in the end it’s just a car.  WHAT?!?!  JUST A CAR?!?!  It’s the BANDIT!  It’s a $100,000.00 prize that I WON by making a little video!  That’s HUGE!  but, it is just a car.  I’ve always been a fan of muscle cars, but I don’t know them forward a backward.  I’ve always wanted to work on my own restoration project, but with my limited knowlege I would be working for the better part of a Decade to get it done.  Every time I drive the car I worry that something will happen to it.  What it comes down to is that I can’t afford to enjoy the car as much as I want to.

I drove it up to Scottsdale and took it to the Auction.  I drove fast, but I wasn’t in a hurry.  I enjoyed going from 80 mph to 100 mph in seconds and passing people with ease, but I wasn’t aggressive.  It was a calm drive.  I look forward to spending the next few days talking with people about the car and then seeing how what it sells for.  If you have a moment pass on the information to help get the word out about the car.  thanks.

SUNDAY the 18th Lot #836 at Aproximately 2:48PM.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Smokey and the Bandit, YearOne has teamed the star and the car together again with a modern performance makeover. The Burt Reynolds Edition Trans Am by YearOne injects supercar levels of power and grip into legendary style. The DIY Network’s Automotive show Celebrity Rides: Burt Builds a Bandit chronicled award-winning actor Burt Reynolds and the design team at YearOne Auto Restoration Company as they begin the exciting process of restoring a select fleet of limited edition Trans-Ams. DIY also created a contest for one lucky fan to have a chance to win one. Viewers were able to upload a video to explain to Burt Reynolds why they deserve to win the car. Videos were enthusiastically uploaded and viewed, surpassing a total of 55,000 in about eight weeks. In 2007, Spencer Brinkerhoff created a video Thanksgiving weekend that impressed Reynolds and won this car on offer.

Well it’s been a good run.  I’ve really enjoyed having the car.  So here’s a re-cap of the events.  Back in October of 2007 I saw the video below promoting a contest to win a Trans Am rebuilt as a modern Hot Rod by YearOne Automotive with the help of Burt Reynolds.

 I think that I was more interested in entering the contest because it was a video contest, and not because I really wanted to own the Bandit.  All I had to do was to make a video and tell Burt why I deserve it.  I’d been shooting wedding videos for a few years and thought it sounded like fun.  So I got to thinking about what to do, I drew up some storyboards and then went out on the morning of Thanksgiving and the day after to shoot some video.  I edited it all together and posted the video the following Monday.  It felt AWESOME to have an idea and then to follow it through.  As of this morning the video has had 13,372 views on the Heavy.com’s website.  I’ve decided to upload it to YouTube and embed it below.

This car is one of only TWO prototype level cars and the only car that was given away in a contest.  The plan was to make 50-100 of these Burt Reynolds Edition Bandit cars.  You can select and customize your options for the Ban II and the Ban III level cars, but the prototype level car is not part of the production line.  These cars can be purchased through the YearOne website and they start at $129,900.00.

The contest was part of a TV show on the DIY Network that chronicled the rebuilding of the Bandit.  It was announced on the show in December of 2007 that I had won the car.  It was delivered in January of 2008 along with a check for $20,000.00 to HELP pay the taxes on the car.  The car that I won is valued at $80,000.00 so the taxes are going to be quite staggering.  I figured that I had until 2009 to pay the taxes so I would enjoy the car for a year and take it to shows and have some fun.

On January 11th, 2008, one week after the car was delivered I was laid off.  A month later I found a temp job that lasted for almost 3 months.  I’ve been picking up short contract jobs here and there and have been making ends meet, and have had some wonderful opportunities but I’ve had to dip into that tax money.  I really have LOVED having the car, but I realize that I’m not in a place in my life where I can afford to have that car.  It stresses me out to worry that something will happen to it.  The car has it’s own garage and it’s behind the RV gate, but what if the kids get in there and draw smiley faces on the door with nails?   ARRRGGGG!!!!!

I’ve decided to put the car up for auction.  My first thought was to go with the Barrett Jackson Auction in Scottsdale because it’s such a big deal.  Then I realized why it’s a big deal, there’s no reserve price on the cars.  So if there was only one bidder on the car it could sell for $5,000.00 and that would be the end of it.  I don’t really feel like gambling the car away.  I have gone with Russo and Steele because I can put a reserve on the car.  I’m new to this whole car collecting industry and have heard good things about Russo and Steele.  I take the car into the show this Sunday January the 11th (strangely ironic that I would be taking the car into auction ONE YEAR to the DAY of when I was laid off).  I’ll know soon after what the program schedule will be and when the Bandit will go across the auction block.  The Auction is January 14th-18th 2009.  Please pass on the information to let everybody know.

Dear Post Cereal,

I would like to point out a gross misrepresentation on the packaging of your cereal Honey Bunches of Oats.  There is a large red banner across the top of the box with the claim that the cereal is “Family Size”.  I haven’t really seen any other markings on the box to define the size of a family but I have to tell you, it doesn’t work for my family.  You see, my wife and I have SIX children, but we are also helping out with my wife’s sisters.  One sister has moved in with us from Indiana with her SIX children and the other has come from Utah with ONE child.  This brings our grand total to SEVENTEEN people in our FAMILY.  Our newborn won’t be eating any solid foods for a while but as you can see in the photo below, we’ve got lots of mouths to feed.

Please keep us in mind as you prepare your products that are created and designated as “Family Size”.  If you would like to contact us to test out any of these “Family Size” products we would be more than happy to give you a full survey of consumption and general level of satisfaction.

Thank you,

Spencer L. Brinkerhoff III and the B-17s

I worked with Riester to create a mascot for the California Dept of Recycling.  Terralever did the programing to make an application for Facebook so that people can track their carbon footprint and learn more about recycling.  After doing the character design, I did the backgrounds, animaiton, and sound design for this short.  You can learn more on Facebook or on the Bottles & Cans website.  I don’t have any control over the playback of this cartoon because it’s linked from it’s source.  To see the cartoon jump to the next page. (Read more…)

I found this link on the World Superhero Registry’s website under the section for Tutorials.  I think that this animated gif is going to give me a headache.

Hero at Large is a 1980 comedy film starring John Ritter and Anne Archer.  Ritter plays the part of Steve Nichols a struggling actor.  He takes a job posing as comic-book hero Captain Avenger at comics stores and conventions.  On his way home from one of these appearances and finds his life unexpectedly complicated when he stops a robbery while wearing the costume of Captain Avenger.  He’s feeling pretty good about helping people and continue trying to be a superhero only to discover that the superhero life is more complex than he initially thought.

I’ve always thought that the idea behind this movie was pretty interesting.  Anybody can see the news and see the crime going on all around us.  It would appear that there are real life super-villains, so why not have some real life super heroes?  This leads me to the World Super Hero Registry.

I saw an article on Gizmodo about people dressing up to help out with patrolling and protecting their neighborhoods.  Both Rolling Stone and the Times Online have written about the US’s superhero phenomenon. Labeled by some as a post-9/11 response and apparently spurred by Obama’s call for “active citizenry,” everyday people are dressing up in spandex to patrol the streets in a manner reminiscent of The Watchmen.

We’ve made a successful trip out to see Despereaux.  I have not read the book so anything that I know about the movie I’ve learned from watching the trailer.  I met my sister at the theater with 5 of my kids who range from age 10 to 2 years old.  We sat down in the theater and my sister broke out the treats and the movie started.

Firstly, my kids sat through the whole movie.  At one point my 6 year old put her head under my arm to shield her eyes from an action sequence, but other than that everyone sat and watched.   As the movie started I found myself being a bit critical.  The colors on the screen were bright and the animation was smooth, but the sound was so low I could hear all of the munching in the theater.  I guess it could have just been my children that I was hearing, but that’s beside the point.  I wonder if “G” rated movies have a lower volume setting.

As we reached our first little action sequence where a rat is being chased by the guards I felt that the editing of the sequence was a bit slow.  I found myself mentally marking where I would have cut the scene to make it a bit more exciting.  I caught myself and again noted that this is a “G” rated movie and the slower pace and lack of choppy action sequencing my be on purpose.  At that point I decided that I was being too critical and I just needed to relax and watch the movie. 

So here’s what I learned.  A rat that seems to be the opposite of your stereotypical rat has an accident that causes great heartache to the King.  As a result of the King’s pain and heartbreak his kingdom is made to suffer.  Then we meet a mouse that is not your stereotypical mouse.  As a result of his oddity and lack of enough sense to scurry in the face of danger he is banished from his home.  The Mouseworld fears that he is a danger to their way of life.  Then we meet a peasant girl who wants to be a princess.  She has been bartered into service at the castle and is tricked by the rats to do their bidding.  These three outsiders come together and help to set right the wrongs caused by our inability to see the past someones oddities.  In the movie the princess reacts unfavorably to Despereaux the mouse and asks, “Are you a Rat?”  When he replied in the negative she further inquired, “Are you a Mouse?”  to which he replied, “I, am a gentleman”.  He was not defined by others perceptions of what he was nor was he defined the characteristics of his birth.  He chose to define himself by honor, truth, chivalry and above all he was a gentleman.

In the end, the story was paced so that the children could follow it and the final scenes captivated all of our attention.  We have been reading the book as a family and I will tell you later how the two compare.