San Francisco: Mel's Drive Inn

Today's shooting went well, despite some wrestling with the software I think it went OK. I was pretty exhausted afterwards; it's a lot of hard work teaching to a camera! So tonight I figured I would treat myself to my major destination for this trip...


The inside walls of the diner were covered with American Grafitti stills and George Lucas production photos...



...and classic ads & memorabilia.



Of course I had to stick with the classic 1950s All-American Mel-Burger, fries and a REAL Cherry Coke! Holy crap it was DAMN good...and I enjoyed it sitting right next to one of the little jukebox machines, continually popping in quarters for Sixteen Candles, Little Darlin, Green Onions and all my other favorite songs. I enjoyed myself thoroughly...this was the Shangri-La of all 50s diners!

Thanks George! My Cherry Coke and I salute you!

San Francisco: Puppets!

Today was my first long day of shooting, focusing on making puppets. I'm not really sure what the legal issues are surrounding posting pictures of the school studio, so I'll keep it mostly a mystery and just show some of the puppets I built on camera and some pictures around town.


Left is the prototype I built today, which magically turned into the one on the right which was already ready before I came.

Happy replacement heads!

Some familiar faces guarding the toy shop window.

A cool looking building...

...and Indiana Jones waiting for the bus.

San Francisco Day 1: Lori's Diner

Greetings from San Francisco! I just flew in today and will be shooting videos for my online stop-motion animation course all this week. The past few days have been a whirlwind of building puppets and getting ready; thank God my lovely wife helped me pack or I never would have made it. Ariel was very sad to see me go...it broke my heart. She's become rather attached to my Kermit puppet, and unfortunately I ended packing it (in case I have time for an additional live-puppetry lecture), so we had to find the baby Kermit to tide her over.


So far I've only been here long enough to grab dinner. I'm staying in the same hotel from a couple months ago, but for some reason I didn't know this place was right around the corner: Lori's Diner. (I had been to a different Lori's on my last visit, which was much smaller.)

I have a small obsession with 50's diners, and this one at Powell Street is totally swell...









"Bub, don't you know about..."


I'm not sure how 80s arcade games (is there any other kind?) fit in to the whole 50s theme, but I was quite amazed to see this Popeye game I haven't seen in ages.





But this was the real shocker...


Gotta love America...

My favorite people

"There's no vocabulary for love within a family, love that's lived in but not looked at, love within the light of which all else is seen, the love within which all other love finds speech. This love is silent."
~T S Eliot








Photos by Frozen Reflections, April 11, 2008

Peanut Vendor on DVD!

I'm very excited...yesterday I recorded an audio commentary for "The Peanut Vendor" which will be on the next upcoming Thunderbean Animation release of Cultoons Vol 3! The evil monkey is being unleashed on an unsuspecting public to steal your children!

Special thanks to Gerard for helping me with the recording.

Pre-order on Amazon now!

Puppets: A Tribute

I've been thinking about puppets a lot these days. This is nothing new, of course, but I think it's even more so through building my course, contemplating the connections between different art forms of animation and discovering rare Muppet gems online. Today between projects on a lazy afternoon to myself I uploaded some things...

This is a puppet show I did at VanArts with my colleague Stephen Pearce, as an interlude to my annual Halloween Cartoon Show for the animation students. The sheep, who sings the Rock-afire Explosion version of Sixteen Tons, was built by Janet and performed by myself. The goblin is also me, a puppet I built many years ago. The weasel puppet playing violin was built by Meeka Stuart and performed by Stephen, to the song Ghost of Stephen Foster by the Squirrel Nut Zippers.



Here is something I posted for stop-motion history fans looking for rare stuff. It's the "Shoemaker & the Elves" Puppetoon sequence from The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962) produced by George Pal and animated by his son David, with puppets sculpted by Wah Chang. I like cute, weird stuff like this when it can be found.



And finally, this is not something I posted but something I've been waiting for among the clips that keep being added to Jim Henson's memorial: the eulogy by none other than the great Frank Oz. I took a short break the other night to listen to this long-anticipated speech, and it hit me very hard emotionally, particularly the very end. It really struck me as one of the most incredible examples of true love and friendship I have ever heard in my life. Watch this clip only if you are prepared to sit in silence for a few minutes afterward, like I had to.



Also a big thanks to Jeffrey Overstreet and Mike Furches for plugging my "Dare You to Move" video on their blogs!

Dare You to Move

As this time of year draws near, lots of emotions float around and the feeling in the air causes me to reflect on glimmerings of various spiritual awakenings I've had. Some ripples in the family circus the past few days, making good progress on my course, dealing with the daily adventures, and overall looking forward to lots of exciting travels and visits this year.

But amidst all of this, as I said before, I was inspired by seeing various movie images in my head while getting lost in my iPod-world, and just had to take advantage of my little 'mini-break' over Easter Weekend to get this creative impulse out of my system. It's been awhile since I've made one of these, so it's long overdue.

I present to you a music video I edited over the weekend, inspired by lyrics which I realized reflect the experience of the Hero's Journey and the spiritual thread that runs through so many epic movies. Soak in how the stories weave with the words and your own journey, and if you're stuck in something or "refusing the call"...I dare you to move. ;)

A Flurry of Activity

So lots of stuff going on these daze...and yes I mis-spelled that word on purpose, because I've been in a bit of one due to the time change. It always screws up my eek-wilib-rium. My evenings as of late have been spent starting to finally write content for my online stop-motion course. I have the first module now pretty much complete and have started on the second one. It's been fun looking through my stop-motion film collection seeking out clips that help illustrate my points. Tonight I was selecting moments from Clash of the Titans (specifically Medusa and Calibos' tail movements) to illustrate the wave principle in action. Fun eh?

"Calm down, spaz! I'm going to the Clash of the Titans con, dressed up as Calibos, remember?"

Anyway, while waiting for the magic bus to take me home, I've also been inspired anew by one of my favorite songs coming on to my ipod. I've repeated it over and over again, getting lost in it, visualizing things and writing down notes for using it on a secret project which shall remain a secret for now, because it's too awesome to leak. And since Jay has shown me how to embed songs into my blog, you get to be graced with it in the meantime. This song feeds my soul...hope it does something for you.



This evening, Ariel got to chat with her Grammy in Michigan over the magic webcam through MSN. I've been wanting to get this set up for a long time, so I was really thrilled to finally get it working.



As Mom/Grammy observed, Ariel got quite engrossed in creating some abstract art at my animation table. Once she had a few pages on top of each other, I showed her how to flip the drawings and she caught on right away. I am so proud of my little animator!

I Heart YouTube

YouTube is like the best thing ever. I've been wanting to hear this song again for years...it's a favorite of mine & Jay's and we used to sing it all the time to her dog Lucas.



Also recently I've discovered somebody has been posting clips from Jim Henson's memorial service, which I have always wanted to see. There is footage with the Muppet performers singing Jim's favorite songs, and of Big Bird singing 'Bein Green' (Carroll Spinney fights hard to get the song out through his tears...he's so emotional he even gets some of the lyrics wrong.) Frank Oz is also visibly emotional...he keeps leaning his head back and smiling as if he is sucking in as many good memories of his best friend as he possibly can, just to keep from breaking down.

This one was just recently added much to my delight. It's one of my all-time favorite songs from the Muppet library (or favorite songs, period), 'When the River Meets the Sea' sung by the best singers to do it justice, Jerry Nelson and Louise Gold. (I want this song at my memorial too, as it means alot to me, and the lyrics are a beautiful reflection on the cycle & mystery of life and death).



To see the rest of the clips, check out this fellow's account here, and I challenge you not to shed a tear! I hope more material gets posted, as this is such a loving tribute during a time of sudden shock for the Henson family. I remember I was cleaning out my closet when my mom told me the news that Jim had died, and I think I just sat there for about an hour afterwards. I couldn't believe it. Jim Henson's work has always been such a huge part of my life, and he left us way too soon.

Across the Universe

Finally saw Across the Universe this weekend and really enjoyed it (especially the incredible music and visuals), and posted my deep thoughts surrounding its significance on Hollywood Jesus...

Making "Snot Living"

Here's a short video of some footage behind the scenes of "Snot Living" and some early animation tests. I shot this film over the summer and fall of 1997. All of the live-action shots and most of the animation was shot in the apartment I was living in through the summer. Other animation was shot later in my dorm room or at my parents' house. It's always neat to look back at this, particularly 10 years ago now...it was so much fun to make.



I've also added the actual film to YouTube in two parts (since it's over the 10 minute limit), here and here.

Beer Wars

I've had this particular video for several years...it's one of those circulated bootleg video parodies that was passed around among friends. I don't know the person who created this, but I got it from a high school friend who got it from someone else, who got it from...

Anyway, I'm surprised it has never shown up on YouTube by now, but now it has! Basically it's Star Wars edited with sound clips from Strange Brew and the Great White North album. A masterful mix of American and Canadian culture. Enjoy in two parts.

Animation Drawing Collection

For my birthday, Jay lovingly got some family contributions to get my Ken Harris drawing from 'Thief and the Cobbler' framed. It's drawing #366 from the "Polo Ponies" sequence where the Thief is running from the polo ball. Where I got it is a "military secret" (ha ha ha)...now we just need to find a wall for it.




Speaking of animation drawings, I don't have these ones framed, but figured I would scan and post them since I got 'em. They are from Ralph Bakshi's Mighty Mouse TV series from the late 80s which I fondly remember watching on Saturday mornings. These drawings might be by John K, but I'm not sure.

Splintered Drumsticks

I watched this Muppet Show episode (Harry Belafonte...the best one) with Ariel last night and it might have provided inspiration for some evening fun.

Animation Haiku

I was up until 1am last night (and Jay with me shading in drawings) meeting a deadline for my latest freelance animation project for Bigfott Studios. Bleary-eyed but satisfied after the long hours of work, I decided to write a haiku.


I sit in jammies,
Pondering how a stack of
Paper can have life.

In reality though, I think I was pondering more how I was going to get up for work a few hours later.

Snot Living (1998)

In honor of its 10-year anniversary, I'm pleased to announce the online debut of my student film from University of Michigan, Snot Living. This film was my final independent study project, which took about a year to complete. It was all shot on 16mm and premiered with live organ accompaniment by Newton Bates at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, on April 19, 1998. The music track was improvised to the film and recorded live in the theater itself.

The San Francisco Treat , Part 1

I just spent the last couple days (Sunday-Tuesday) in San Francisco for preliminary meetings with the Academy of Art University regarding my online stop-motion course. I hadn't been there since 1999 so it was fun to check it out again...quite a beautiful city, I really like it. The Academy staff is very nice and they have some great facilities there for animation. So it looks to be a good experience overall, once I really start crackin' with writing the course content. I'll be returning there in April for the official demonstration video shoots, so lots of preparations must soon be underway.

I don't have any pictures of my whirlwind trip to post, but I can borrow a few to reference the Cartoon Art Museum where I happened to stumble upon the Mary Blair exhibit.


I also got to see many surprising original pieces of animation art, including: original animation drawings, cels, and concept art from practically every classic Disney feature ever made and many others from Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros and elsewhere. Plus some original 1950s comic strips like an actual Pogo strip, Andy Capp, lots of stuff like that. They even had an original Gertie the Dinosaur drawing, which was outstanding to be in the presence of, even though it was much smaller than I thought it would be.


Hopefully next time I go I'll have a camera with me to make for a more interesting blog.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Jay made me a cake. And it was good. Yay for cake!

Books and another Movie Review

Currently I'm reading a fantastic book by VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer, about the rise and fall of his visionary company. Definitely an engaging, funny and amazing read and highly recommended for animators and business-folks alike.


Also today (while I'm home with a cold) my copy of Barry Purves' book arrived. I have a few comments printed in this book as one of many other stop-motion animators who contributed their thoughts on the bizarre art of pushing puppets around. I'm just starting to flip through it...Barry did a great job and I'm still kickin' myself for not being home when he phoned my house to thank me.


And last but not least, I've finally added another review for Hollywood Jesus, for the film Imagination. This is my first time I've actually interviewed filmmakers for the site, and it was really nice talking to some other kindred spirits who like puppets and weird images.

Clicky right here to read!