Now My Turn.

I mayz be a pup. But I knows a blogger when I sees one. I don't sees one.
I like this picture. Two words: "Wrapped" and "Little Pinkie". That's MY chair. I chose it, sure as I choose the spot where I eliminates.

Now, sometimes my Humans leave. And dat is when the freegin party begins. There is stuff on the floor, big stuff, don't know why I didn't notice it before. Point is I do now. And nothing feels betta on my teeth than the stuff I ain't noticed before. I cut through it like butta. I eat it like butta. But I don't swallow it - I display it on the floor. And though the stuff is tiny, it cover a big space. By "big", I mean it gets a rise out of my Humans. And that what the display be all about.

My humans tried somethin new on me. They make me pee in a box. Now, I no smart, but I knows a dumb idea when I sees it. And I saw it. It was that pee box. So I say to myself, "Iz - how long before they know I won't pee in the box.?" Three days. This dumb on my part, cause I held it so long I was feelin puny. But when I throwed up, that was the end of the box. Then it not seem so dumb. It seem smart. End of box.

I am king. I rule here. Move to da next blog, human.

I'm posting a Good One

Now this is me getting serious. There is so much in my skillset that I want to be better, but this represents a "satisfying session of conception". There's a lot of investigation that went into caricaturing the body and face (this image was prepared specifically to show the progression; it's not this way in my sketchbook). There's nothing in it from my iconic cartoon memory. Very satisfying. Now, some of my Animation Mentor buds want to start posting sketches, so I think I'll post this one even though it's older. Then I'm really going to pour in the investment and start some daily drawing that matters. Click on the image to see it at 100%.

I'm Posting A Bad One.

I'm posting this drawing because it was virtually a waste of time. Of course, I learned a lesson from it, but it's bad for so many reasons. One, It's a little face based on all my iconic cartoon library images - stuff I don't think about. I also didn't try to make it dimensional at all. Next time, I'll post some stuff I'm REALLY trying to get right. Sorry to waste your time. Don't even read this freakin' thing. Skip it.

First Semester Finshed

at Animation mentor. My progress reel is here:


The largest hurdles I have to climb are technological. It's one thing to know how to sculpt a good key pose, it's quite another to have it connect properly to the others! There's many a young whippersnapper in these classes, plus a lot of film experience. Just some crazy-mad Maya folk. I love meeting the people and seeing great work and working my brain analyzing it all, but bottom line is, I want to be better. Let's see if I've any gusto left in my worn-out soul to do it.

I Rule. But confused about things.

I am Cute. There no splanation fo it. Just am. And I get things wi my Cute. But there are many thing I don't get. It a puzzal to me. Me can't spell good or talk good, but I give happenings to describe:

When I eliminates, there be a perfect place it should go. I know that perfect place. When I finds it. It takes a time, but I will finds it. My Human doesn't think so, but that not make it NOT SO! Yet, My Human gets impatient when I search for my perfect place for eliminates. I sacrifice greatly for my chosey spot. I holds, holds, holds, quiver, and holds - Then I goes. But olly when it ih perfect.
I thoughts my Human impatient, but now there snow on de ground, and I takes MUCH longer to find my perfect place, and he tuggin and grumpin and complainin. But me standards non-nee-gosh-able. And so it go. I still find time to eats my eliminates, but olly indoors.

When I pee, no perfect place there. Just go! There be a compromise here. I hope he see dat.

My tooths hurt. But when I sinks dem into things - anythings - they feels good. Like a body rub. I likes doin it. My Human give me things, things be "Okay for Tooth-Sinkin", and I sometimes comply. And sometimes I don't. A lot. A LOT of times I sometimes don't. I find things, things ready and 'vailable. The edge of de carpet. The corner wood on de wall (mash!). Flesh. That's my fave. It mash real good and easy to get cause they alway tryin-da pets me! He dangle that fleshy flesh flesh a nail's length from my tooths without my neck out, then I sticks my neck out. And I sinks my tooths. My tooths stop hurtin fo 1 second, then he scream like little mouse. My pup mates bit back, but my Human does not. Good deal.

Just got my jewels removed. Look at me! Why not make more oh me? But dey's gone. Foh-eva. My Human tell me he LOVES me. So what gives? He got lots ah friends - but none of they's jewels come off. They there, cause I stick my nose there - they there. Does he LOVE, or does he LIE? I think de answer be written in the plastic cone round my neck that makes me hear bettah.

I tell you mo. Latuh.

Busy Bakson. Busy. Bak son.

My animation mentor education is so much fun, and you get crazy views like this:



I created this keyframe animation, all on hold-frames, and now that's the only way it looks right. Many AMer's are quite web-savvy, which I am not, and they know how put images like this in their messages to one another. I'm slowly figuring it out.

We also have a new member of the family: Izzy.



Between him, my job, my job, and my education, life is getting pretty interesting. Like a Michael Moore documentary.

The Really Not-So-Awesome List

In the tradition of Jennifer Stewart's "Not Awesome" Lists comes tonight's Really Not Awesome List:

- Virginia Buckley

- Allergist

- The Dream House

- paying to see the Dream House

- Mary Kay

- Crappy Faux Finishing

- Freakin' Bitches

- Jerks

- Yellow

- Eye Dilation

- Your Mom knowing People

- Zelda's Quirks

- Dominos falling

- Marilyn

- Camera Phone

- IRS

- Aids (in Africa)

- Keeping up a Blog

My Pattern.

Wake up. Hit 'Snooze'. Repeat 8 times.
Breakfast. Devotional. Shower. Work. Spaz.
Work. Save. Render. Save. Work. Work. Work. Render.
Xbox. Forget something. Get a phone call: forgot something.
Calm pissed-off friend. Take the blame. Friendship goes on.
Work. Sleep 3 hours. Repeat.

I'm WAY over-committed! A storyboard project for a 3-minute pilot, the standard class stuff, a conference paper (YAAAWWWWNNNN), a 4-minute animatic, preparation for school, and of course, living. My deadlines all seem to coalesce on September 18th at which time I will stand back and re-assess my tendency to say "yes".
As meager recreation, I just finished a classic book, "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding. First of all, if you said to yourself, "HE hasn't read...?" you need to shut that flapper and get over it. The quarter system completely spoiled me. If you don't remember this book, re-read it. The last third I read in a single sitting; a real nail-biter.
I'm a bit ill right now. No, not physically, but mentally. I just finished 3 hours worth of grading - that already pisses me off, cause grading only extends my ability to analyze - then I look at "The Blackwing Diaries" Sketchbook and HOLY TOLEDO I feel like a complete loser. Bad Zealot! (bangs head on desk).

The Not-Awesome List for July 22nd, 2007

These things are, very simply put, NOT awesome:

• My Neck

• My dried-up contacts

• child molesters

• the unibomber

• Disappointing Character 1

• Hot fries Diarrea

• Let-down of a Personality 2

• Global Warming

• Made-up crap.

• receiving RedBlocks.

• paying for Harry Potter thrice, not seeing once, but seeing a woman throw up.

• bitches

• AIDs in Haiti

• Informatics

• Web work

• being at work at 8:30

BTW

Check out this ironic online advertisement posted with "Fight Club". (If you've seen the movie "Fight Club", and you know it's themes inside and out, you'll understand)


What kind of closet defines me as a person?

Just Saw Transformers

Yes, I gave in. And let me tell you this movie is absolutely BRILLIANT. From a marketing, product placement, and flexible budget standpoint. Plot: This giant Rubrik's Cube can change ANY electronic device (read: product placement)into a living, mechanical organism. The decepticons are after the cube to...take over the universe...and the Autobots must stop them. The autobots can change into any vehicle they scan (read: automotive product placement) and try to fight the other bots out of view of humans (read: cheap shooting locations until the end, when you can bring them in public for an all-out fight). They also learn English by browsing the World Wide Web!!!!! (read: any website product placement) Brilliant!
From a storytelling standpoint, Michael Bay's brillance at storytelling isn't so shiny - He doesn't know the meaning of "restraint"; in other words, when to TAKE SOMETHING OUT so it's more powerful. The music blares the entire movie, only stopping to take in redundant, action-describing dialogue or obnoxious sound effects and explosions. For example, the ice is breaking underneath the explorers' feet, they yell, "THE ICE IS BREAKING". When they pick up the escaping soldiers, the voice-over says, "Get'em home" when a single cut back home could say that better. I mean, the actors WON'T SHUT UP! If you don't believe me, watch it again for clarity. They won't shut up!
Bay has a lot of style backed by no sense of timing. The whole movie rolls by at a breakneck pace to cover all the material specifically designed to cover the widest possible audience. For example: Captain Lennox of the escaping force talks to his wife and kid, saying he's coming home soon. 30 seconds. We see a reaction shot of the wifey at home. 5 seconds. They reunite at home. 10 seconds. Just because Commander Cody, or Lennox, or whatever-his-name-is can kick some robot ass, that doesn't mean I'm going to care about him. And people won't STOP TALKING! And what's with those football villians imported from the 80s?
But with all the money made on this bitch from advertising, Bay can now independently finance his dream film. And that's how this merry-go-round works. Can you blame him? I would've done it! Bay: will you give me a job?

It all starts with a simple...

What a beautiful Sunday! Perfect day for crunch time in a dark lab working on a piece of motion graphics!
The image above is a cel I saved. I was inking day after day, staying late, when all of a sudden animator Joe Peery was looking for someone to quickly animate Scooby-Doo. I stood up and said "I can do it!" This cel was the first one in the sequence, and when Joe saw it he said (paraphrased) "Gee, why don't we have you doing more animation?" It felt amazing to be validated by an animator of Joe's caliber.

Sometime when my fellow employees in the insane world of Academia are down, I draw a little picture to bring them back to happy land. So, I created these two overweight schemers who have nothing better to do than scheme, lie, and fabricate facts since they don't really have real jobs. You may not think this is funny, but I do.

It's been happening right under your nose

This picture has nothing to do with what I'm talking about. It's a freebie.

I hesitate to say this, but...I'm an Academic. Though there are things I like about it, I'd say I'm pretty unhappy. I don't know if all institutions of learning are like this one but I must say it is mired by unscrupulous characters.

Let's define "unscrupulous".

Years ago, I was working in the art department of a fast and busy T-shirt company. At the time, we owned a single art computer: A Macintosh IIsi. The Quadra, a significantly faster computer, had just come out and my boss wanted one. The IIsi was slow. Adjusting the art by one click of the cursor keys in Photoshop meant around 5 - 10 minutes of waiting. Pressure!!
I came into work to start on a tight deadline project (ALL of them were tight deadline projects!) to find an empty computer desk. Everything, including my personal disk, had been stolen. Outside, car tracks on the lawn indicated the point of exit. The Police were called and the place was dusted; it looked like we all worked in a mechanic's shop and left greasy fingerprints on everything.
My boss and I set out to make a record of the equipment for the insurance company. Like anybody would do, we "guesstimated" the cost of things rather than going through the long ordeal of research. (The internet wasn't a household name, yet).
The next day, one of our new employees, nicknamed "Dizzy B" showed up with artwork from his brand spankin' (or should I say 'breakin') new Mac IIsi. He was promptly fired as punishment with no report to the police. My boss, in turn, bought the new Mac Quadra. Good trade.

Okay, picture people with less scruples than these people. That describes 20% of the people in my Department. It's very complex, but the state of academia virtually encourages their lack of scruples.

Another Day in the Trenches

Hey. I'm just now settling down at home with the lovely wifey. I've just finished reading "Man's Search For Meaning" by Victor Frankl and it' s good stuff. I don't know if you've ever read it but it concerns the discovery/practice of the psychotherapeutic method of Logotherapy. It says a lot about the human condition through the author's personal experience in Nazi concentration camps. I could say a lot more, but for now I'll just say, there's some real Nazis in Hollywood.
Here's my favorite storyboard panel I draw'd this week:

I'm trying so hard

I'm just not great on this blogging thing. I've recently been working for a studio in town that I really like. Above is one of the storyboard panels (1 of 32) that I draw'ed. I've also been quite busy with a animated series submission. We'll see how that turns out! I've also been working on my website and thought I might include a screen shot of it.



As a matter of fact, I did include a screen shot of it. I've been working on it on and off the past hundred years plus a month. But I think I'm finally almost virtually certainly probably ready to let it go and post it. I think.

Peace, Love.

Hello, Big Nothing.
I'm getting a little tired of the "Tax Man".  I buy food, I get taxed.  I buy entertainment, I'm taxed.  I'm taxed for clothing.  I'm taxed for water, heat, electricity.  I'm taxed for my obligation to register my vehicle.  And then, at the beginning of the year, my income and everything I make is taxed - 40%, almost half.  They're screwing me when the money comes in, and they're taking it when the money goes out.  When I park too long at a meter, I'm charged 20 dollars.  Just take it out of my account which is fat and well-funded and freaking enforced by this fine government.  That's why I - hard-working and long-suffering - can't get ahead.  Because I give 40% of my hard-earned dollars just to keep my government in its trillion-dollar debt

Does anyone remember the comments of George Lucas (of 'Star Wars' fame) concerning the "new church"?  It's the movie theatre.
I believe his comment is accurate.  In another century, people went to their house of worship and attended as an escape, an answer to problems, a place to gather wisdom and apply it to their lives.  Now people harness the movie theatre for the same reason.  The 'movie theatre' is any place movies are viewed as a sacred space - your home, the theatre itself, online.  As long as it maintains your full attention; you're not cleaning house while watching, say, "American Beauty".  Brad Bird, in his post-Oscar interview for the press, called for a return to the "cathedral of the movie theatre".  In this comment, he excludes home theatre because he wants the movie experience to be within a community of people.  But I'm talking about movie-viewing not as a community experience but strictly as a worship experience.
In many ways, this new form of worship is a comfort.  'Good' Movies (There's a lot of subjectivity here, but suffice it to say that a 'good' movie garners positive meritocratic opinion by people concerned with story construction.  That is, people who look at the plausibility and impact of the story regardless of the content.) allow us to see and experience things despite our level of caution or recklessness.  They help us develop emotional intelligence; a way to see from other points-of-view and extrapolate feelings that aren't ours. But I think this only works when we have a foundational belief template in place.  When this template is absent I think the damage to a person is extensive in proportion to the amount of belief template absent.
In our melting pot and, thankfully, our semi-free govenmental endorsement on religion we have the ability to choose this belief template.  But powerful cultural forces - namely movies - write some of the rules for these choices as well.  Let's just say they curve the belief tendencies towards a certain pattern that I don't think is necessarily healthy.
I probably love raw storytelling as an art more than movies, but I love movies as they encompass the best storytelling culture currently has to offer.  But I think movies, in a word, have become too influential.

I don't know if you've noticed (you haven't, there's no comments, ever) but I'm more of a "blogger-of-convenience" than a blogger outright.

It seems I got into a fight with my boss today over what is rational and what isn't.  I hope this doesn't screw my chances for a raise.

I was thinking in this late hour.  Blogging is really a form of narcissism, yes?  I mean, why would I broadcast private thoughts if not to hope that the world notices them?  So, I HATE to get political, but something has been chiseling at my mind.  It's the political climate of our fair land.  I know you know what I'm talking about; the endless circle - left insults right, vice versa.  Republican prosecutes Democrat, vice versa.  Conservatives blame Liberals and vice versa.  But here's what bothers me and I beg of you to hear me out on this.  Who is most vocal in these arenas?  Often, I think you'll find a common denominator amongst these outspoken: they believe strongly in their side whatever that side happens to be.  I would not call them objective thinkers; I think there is a time that they consider their decision and choose, then years after they abandon this decisive capability in favor of political activism.
Here, I turn to the studies of the Gottman Institute.  After nearly 10 years of careful, concise study they've found that when an argument is taking place the blood pressure of all parties involved rises.  When this blood pressure rises above a certain point, the person is unable to think objectively - they will assert and re-assert their point repeatedly and without rationality and stop listening to the other party.  This is called "escalation".
The stronger a person feels about a particular thing, the quicker their blood pressure will climb and the quicker their reasoning capabilities disappear.  Outspoken people are passionate, and sometimes they simply can't be reasoned with.  We need these people, but entire systems of media and government can't be composed of these people.
So here I propose my first "Crazy Talk".  Why not create a party that intelligibly weighs policy, vote, and law not from traditional idealogy, but from wisdom itself?  A party that looks at issues very carefully in context to history and studies their results to see that their mechanisms behave as planned and that these plans insure longevity and sanity rather than the short-sighted victory of a side that is simply louder, more brash, and has more promotional money? These people would be zealots not of Liberalism, or Conservativism, or Democracy, or the Republic - but zealots of Rationalism.

I was just wondering: why have a blog?  Why post your thoughts?  
What if my thoughts were dumb? If I just kept them to myself, I would never know they were dumb - I'd be pretty happy with them, I guess. But now that I'm posting, I'm sure the multitudes will alert me, "Hey, man - your thoughts - I hate to tell you this - but they're dumb."
No post today.