Wha?
I had no plan for this URL when I bought it. When I first checked around 1999, another tech savvy Mike had snagged ".com" and ".net." I checked back occasionally, but nothing ever showed up. Apparently, "net pioneer Mike" got so preoccupied cataloging bottle caps, or whatever he was going to put up on the domain, he let it lapse in 2003. I, "carpetbagger Mike," nabbed it.

I took a six-hour Flash animation course at a shabby multi-media school in Studio City, and retained little, except the knowledge that anything imported into Flash displays as a loop. With that speck of knowledge, I started doing odd little flash loops for my own amusement, and eventually put them together into the Mike-O-Tron, and then I added an Online Resume, as a practical afterthought.

Loopy Loops
I became fascinated with simulating continuous action through looping, so I went to the video store hunting for footage of racecars, galloping horses, speed boats, and tunnels to plunder for loops. I shot footage of me in front of a green screen running, spinning and hopping around like an elf, and that 20 minute hopping session has supplied the footage for all the loops since.You may recognize background footage from 70's movies or British TV, and I also trolled various objects from Google Images. I call these loops Flash animations because it sounds cool, but I did most of the work in Final Cut Pro and the loops are between three and 30 layers deep. I still know barely anything about Flash, except how to import and do buttons.

I put this site together with the generous help and special education of Andrea Levin of North Hollywood CA, and Trip Ross of Portland OR.

My name is Mike Upchurch and I'm honored to be the web master for MikeUpchurch.net. Feel free to contact me at the mail box on the main page.

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