heres one of the drawings i did for you a couple of months ago my large format printer software knowledge filled friend. quite a few adjectives there huh? if youre reading this in vegas, hopefully you guys arent in jail...yet. im really looking forward to the white stripes at madison square garden in july. jack and meg always put on a show that is just completely filled with energy and, to paraphrase any coach ive ever had--they leave it all out on the stage.
this is a graph of the recent coincidences that have happened to me. its still in progress and hopefully always will be. ill try not to write too much more about it, but strange things just keep connecting so ive had to keep track....OK, so i dont have a job....i did send out a whole bunch of applications just a few days ago so hopefully ill hear from someone in the next couple weeks.
on another note, nikki's most recent blog post inspired me to write very briefly about some cartoon related thoughts. good animation--great animation, rather, always possesses those intangible qualities that are so hard to come by. its not always about following all the rules (silhouettes, timing, pacing, arcs, squash and stretch, anticipation, etc.). although all these things contribute to great animation and graceful movement, it has to be about more than that. there has to be something else within that piece of animation acting that grabs the audience and makes them lose themselves in the scene. i think it will always be a struggle to find out what that thing is. im guessing it can, and has to be, different things at different times. and im certainly not saying i possess that knowledge. like nikki (who is way ahead of me in terms of animation) i realize i have a looong way to go before i get to that point and have the right to criticize any animation for not achieving that goal. it just seems that too few studios and moviemakers are striving for it right now. there certainly are those who are trying and succeeding, but they are outweighed too heavily at the moment by those who arent. i know i recently saw the third installment of a major movie involving a certain green ogre, and was completely floored by the lack of depth in storytelling and character. studios now milk all they can out of an idea, giving the audience no originality, and even less credit. this is a common cry about hollywood from critics lately (especially with the movies that are coming out this summer). it seems that not enough executives are hearing these critics (who, for once, may have a point) or those who want more from these hundred million dollar plus productions. until they do we will continue to be subjected to sequels, serials, remakes, and happy meal toys that do little to enrich the lives of the audience.
Heres my demo reel from school. So glad it's done. YouTube tends to make everything i post ten times darker than it actually is. Ah well, you can get an idea of it anyway. It looks a lot better on dvd!
here i am trying to figure out the ambient occlusion passes for the segments i'm putting in my demo reel. it actually looks just like me too-weird. BUT, i got it figured out and now my computer is chugging along, rendering out what will soon be my first demo reel, and i'm left with a few hours to do other things. hence the post. as soon as the reel is done ill put it up. in other news: a guy who was on my dart team when i used to play, a guy that i thought was pretty decent (other than having a bit of a drinking problem) was just convicted of 13 counts of arson. this makes him a serial arsonist, and a former member of the dart team. but you know what?, i still don't pass too much judgment. they were only dumpsters he was lighting up, and he wasn't really trying to hurt anyone, so he gets a second chance in my book. after he gets out of jail. and to those ladies out there wondering-you know who you are-yes, i do believe he's single.
i drew a hundred hands in the last few days, and i think i got three OK ones out of it. ill keep drawing and get the ratio up. we'll look at this post as 11 hands to mourn Nikki's cat Coco.
You ever notice the little coincidences that happen all the time? Maybe it's just me, but as soon as I find out about something new, when something crosses my path that interests me, or when I meet a new acquaintance, there it or they are, the next day or week, coming up in some other place in my life. A few recent examples that have hit me in waves have forced me to post on the subject. A few days ago, on this very blog, I posted a story about the Miracle of Fatima involving my friend and me. Then a few days later, Sue gives me a book called "Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates", a novel by Tom Robbins thats really interesting and that I can't seem to put down. So of course, starting on page 145, Robbins' main character Switters has to help his stepsister with a book report about that very story. Later on it serves as a very significant plot point and a coincidence to Switters in much the same vein as it proved a coincidence to me. I haven't heard mention or read anything of the Miracle of Fatima since that very strange occurrence in the summer of 2006 that I referred to in my post entitled "Miracle?". Yet, as soon as I decide to share it on this blog, there it is, showing itself to me a few days later in a novel (that i highly recommend). Theres got to be something here. I'm going to have to research this story further. More on that as it happens. Another coincidence, again involving the novel "Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates", happened to me just after that. A recurring theme throughout the book is "Finnegan's Wake", James Joyce's last novel. So as I was reading the Sunday Times Arts and Leisure section this weekend in Cape Cod, where Sue lives, the one who gave me the book "Fierce Invalids...", there was an article by Charles McGrath about Philip K. Dick. In the article, McGrath refers to "VALIS" as Dick's "Finnegan's Wake", "a book more fun to talk about than to read." The Times article also refers repeatedly to the film "Blade Runner", arguably the best adaptation of Dick's work (based on his story "Do Androids Dream"). "Blade Runner" also happens to be Bobby Case's favorite film. Bobby Case is a major character in "Fierce Invalids...". Sorry Sue - I stole the Arts and Leisure section so i wouldn't forget to post this. Yet another example of coincidence happened to me last week. On Wednesday, May 2nd, Andy and I went to play basketball at a local church in nearby Franklin Square. We were supposed to play in the gym downstairs, but the PTA had set up a fundraiser and so we couldn't actually play. There were only two other guys who showed up before we left, being that there was no reason to stick around. Andy and I had never met either one of them. But then, sure enough, two nights later, at the bar where Andy's bartending and I'm having a beer, in walks one of those very guys. Turns out he hadn't been to that particular bar in over five years, but he of course showed up two days after we first met him. I should also mention that this type of coincidence happens to Switters in the novel "Fierce Invalids...", only to a much more significant degree, but I'll let you read it and find out what I mean. Also-one last thing. You ever notice how a lot of times when you're watching TV and you say a word, the person on television who is talking says the same exact word, just after you do? Maybe I just watch too much TV, but I don't think so. It seems to happen more often than it should. These types of thing happen to me all the time. Does anyone else find that? For some reason, I feel like it must happen to a lot of people. I can think of many more examples of when it has happened to me, but I just wanted to relay the most recent to prove the point. Maybe it all comes from reading what interests you, and what interests you often has overlapping themes, maybe it comes from observing things too closely and making unnecessary and unrelated connections, or maybe it stems from the natural and sometimes inexplicable flow that life often seems to have. Who knows? All I know is that I believe it points to something else, that theres something larger than ourselves going on, and thats pretty sweet.
here's a second version of the 3rd Rock clip. ill have to do a few more passes then light it up and render it out for the demo reel, which ill post soon (probably in the next two weeks). let me know what you think and where it needs improvement. and a tip for all who happen to read this--dont daydream while looking out the window on the streetcar and miss your stop and show up laaaaate to potentially important animation presentations....i dont know WHO would do that...but JUST in case.
heres one of the drawings i did for you a couple of months ago my large format printer software knowledge filled friend. quite a few adjectives there huh? if youre reading this in vegas, hopefully you guys arent in jail...yet. im really looking forward to the white stripes at madison square garden in july. jack and meg always put on a show that is just completely filled with energy and, to paraphrase any coach ive ever had--they leave it all out on the stage.
