Kenneth Ambrose Priebe, on the other hand, was born with lots of hair in 1975 at a hospital named after a cottage, in a town named after someone called Grosse Pointe, in a giant mitten called Michigan. He's not from Detroit.
Ken grew up drawing pictures, writing books, and watching TV. Every Friday night he watched The Incredible Hulk and ripped off his shirt. Then he watched The Muppet Show and Dance Fever. Then he went to bed and had dreams about scary kids in aviator helmets and Sesame Street characters with no eyes, and he woke up screaming. He went to pre-school as Luke Skywalker and Minnie Mouse.
In first grade, Ken wrote a play called The Animal Fair, starring the Devil. He was featured in the newspaper dressed as a mouse, and he got to perform in front of his school wearing lipstick. He wrote several books, and spent his summers at a place called "Up North," where he discovered the joys of birdwatching. He watched lots of cartoons, especially on Saturday mornings with a bowl of Trix, back when they were light round corn puffs and not the fruit-shaped crap they turned into. Recess was when Ken would drag his friends into another world, full of laser beams, lava monsters and spaceships. His grandparents took him to Chuck E. Cheese, then years later, Major Magic's and Showbiz Pizza Place, on a regular basis. He was obsessed with the singing animals on the stage, and designed his own. He was a freak for 80s pop culture: Mtv, He-Man, ET, the Goonies, Ghostbusters, etc. Ken was very skinny and short, and people picked on him alot.
In fifth grade he wrote another play called Spooks on the Loose, starring the Three Stooges. He wrote some more books. He went to middle school and things started to change. He got picked on even more because he was a nerd. He almost drowned in the school's swimming pool. He drew cartoons for the school newspaper, and wrote a time-travel novel he never finished. He took up oil painting and set up his house for Halloween. In seventh grade he made fun of the vice-principal and his social studies teacher at the Talent Show, and topped it off with a Pee-Wee Herman impression and the vice-principal's giant underpants. A star was born, and so was a new social life.
His Stand By Me circle of friends watched endless Looney Tunes and horror movies, burping loudly. Ken was becoming a teenager. He listened to heavy metal music and thought he was cool. He went through high school as a freaky nerd, and his Halloweens became more elaborate, complete with an 8-foot guillotine that chopped kids' heads off. He went to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show once a month. He drew lots of pictures and wore a painted jean jacket. He played the trumpet in concert band, jazz band, pep band, and pit orchestra for school plays. His Senior year was awesome, and then he finished high school, or at least stopped taking classes there.
He went to the University of Michigan to study art. His first year was fun but frustrating, so he built a wooden chair shaped like a bat. He was in a rock band called Snapple, and they recorded 6 albums and played in front of 50 people. His grandfather died and he had a lousy summer job at a fruit market. He started taking film classes and loved them. He got fed up with fine art, so he put the art and film together and discovered animation. That started to make him feel better. He made films and did some clay animation, and made a clay animation film about a booger that comes to life. He was discovered by a local animator and got to work on animation for some CD-Rom games, which can now be found in toy stores and cereal boxes all over the world.
Ken decided he wanted to leave the mitten and go to Canada. So he drove across the country with his friend Brandon, stopping at lots of places with freaky animatronic creatures. He took animation classes at VanArts, and started working on another film. He met a girl, fell in love, became a Christian, and got married. He then sat at a computer and typed out his life story.
This life is still currently under construction. Please visit again soon!
