Happy Hallowe'en!

Boo! Are you scared yet? What? Hallowe'en over? No one cares? Tell that to the Simpsons and there Treehouse of Horror in November!

I like Hallowe'en a little more than is socially acceptable. I blame it on my family, we have a tradition of going a little bit overboard on holidays, any excuse for a party! But I digress, I'm here to show you the trappings of my nerd-tastic Hallowe'en!

Pumpkins!

Since I live in a smaller apartment than most i have had to cut back on the number of Jack-o-lanterns I carve, so It's important to choose well. My plan recently has been one old favorite, one slightly scary, and one show piece.

Old favorite:







































Ever since I saw this on "The Screen Savers" a million years ago, I have always carved a Tuxkin.

Slightly Scary:


































This Art Nouveau inspired owl is as swanky as it is spooky!

Showpiece:







































Okay, so it's not much unlit, but I love my House-o-Lantren! He reminds me that it's never Lupus.

Enough with the seasonal squash, it's time for costumes! This year I was your hero and mine, Spiderpig!
Sorry for the wrinkles, it comes from rock and rolling all night a partying everyday. This along with a pink foam nose and pig ears compleated the look. I know your all jelous of the Hamtaro bedspread, but you can't have it, sorry.

Any way, I'm all ready excited for next year! Happy Hallowe'en everyone!

Mel Blanc on Latenight circa 1981

Sweet Georgia Brown, this is awesome!

Who are these people?

I cruzed by my DeviantArt and my page views are at 2,999! Who are all these people?

The 28th Sept noon is the DEADLINE for all projects. The last day of class is the 21st.

Good news, everyone!

Dateline San Diego Comic-Con

Futurama is back, and now we know in what form. The show will return on November 27th as a full-length high-def film sold on DVD. It will be followed by three additional films, and each film will be divided into four episodes each to be aired on Comedy Central. So, that's 4 DVD movies or 16 new episodes depending on how you look at it.

The panel featured the shows creator Matt Groening and the vocal cast. In the most highly entertaining Comic-Con panel to date, the cast read aloud a promotional comic book created for the convention. The experience was on the meta- side. The cast read the comic, which was projected on the screen. The comic satirized the Fox network's decision to cancel Futurama and the ultimate triumph of the nerds in the room whose mighty power brought it back. In the comic, the characters all go to a massive Delivery Services-Con in Space Diego.

The remainder of the panel featured the voice cast being generally endearing. John DiMaggio, the voice of Bender, explained that his voice is a combination of Slim Pickins in Blazing Saddles, a drunk and a college creation of his called Charlie, the sausage king. Billy West, the voice of Fry and half a dozen other characters on the show, shared his love of Yiddish and vaudeville performers and his friendship with Phil Hartman -- all of which influence his characters' voices.

Welcome back, Futurama.

C'est Fantastique!

Sleek and stylish animation, endearing plot, beautiful settings and food so pretty it made me crave French food for a week! Defiantly one of the best animated movies of all time. The voices where spot on and the accent accurate enough to make you feel that you where on the continent, it was also a treat to see two Pixar employees in the final voice cast, with art department veteran Lou Romano as Linguini, and animator Peter Sohn giving life to the instantly lovable Emile. The musical score was spot on setting the mood, classic French styling with a jazz twist, and some of the best squeeze box playing I have heard in a while. As an added treat, the inclusion of a lovely song "Le Festin" by one of Frances preeminent female vocalist, Camille, just adds to the atmosphere. Rich Parisian french and clever lyrics equating love to a sumptuous feast makes for a perfect love theme for the two human characters, and also for Remy's love of the lifestyle he has found in Paris. While not the visual knock out that "Cars" was at first glance, "Ratatouille" shows considerable visual shops on multiple viewings; subsurface scattering made me want to reach out and stroke Remy's little velvet ears, and the work on the rats fur was beautiful, with each rat having groomed it differently helping to show and not tell character. This also marks the first time I have ever seen curly hair (Linguini) on a 3D character. Make certain to watch the credits to catch Pixar's slightly snarky mention of animation over reliance on mo-cap
"Our Quality Assurance Guarantee:
100% Genuine Animation!
No motion capture or any other
performance shortcuts were used in
the production of this film."

A Whole Pile of Comics

Today I was reading my comic books before I came to school; this in itself is not an odd thing, although that which transpired is rather odd behavior for me. I decided to count them. Every trade paperback in the collection that I have in Kelowna with me, not the collections or graphic novels, just the trades.

Allow us start, here is my comic box, let's take a look inside. Pleases ignore the junk in the background.

Hmmm this is not too terribly impressive, wonder what they look like out of the box. Again please ignore the empty blizzard cup and other miscellany.


Whoa! That’s a little more on the big side! Note the pop can for comparison. (Yup, I drink diet cola, wanna fight about it?) I wonder what they would look like all spread out?


Holy smokes! They reach across the living room of my apartment with need for a second row! Granted it's a small apartment but still... It's kind of awe inspiring in a sad nerdy pasty faced way.


As I re-filed them I decide to see just how many I had, it came to 118. Not terribly many but then again this is only the trade paper backs that I brought with me, it's about 30% of my total collection when you take all of my other junk into consideration. I must have about 25 pounds of Casper and Richie Rich digests, plus a pile of collections, graphic novels and other miscellany or unfiled trades. This made me realize two things; one that it's pretty pathetic that the only reason I tidied my apartment up today was to spread comics on the floor, and two I love comics, not just as something to look at behind Mylar, but as a form of entertainment.

I also noticed that many of my comics are less than pristine. Even though I take care to read them carefully and keep them in Mylar, they still show sings of wear. I read my comics, unlike many collectors who seal them away for protection; I often take them out for a read. I believe that that is what there creators intended them for. They wanted there works to be read and enjoyed over and over again. So tonight I ask you my loving audience, all two of you, go and read a comic book! Unwrap it and read it, wear rubber gloves if you want, but please, enjoy comics the way that there creators intended them to be. Read loved and read again.

Doomed?

Am I or aren't I?

Squawk!!!

Shrieking horrors sporting razor sharp talons, and capable dropping out of the sky like a falcon to tear hapless adventurers to shreds, the comparison to certain ex-girlfriends seems, sadly, unavoidable. Perhaps a lack of communication, far too little of the precautionary medication, or even their sense of reality being more flexible than is healthy, has resulted in the Harpies' regrettable state of affairs. Pity them or not, they will still eat your momma.

Made this for a rotoscope of a 3D caracter I am working on. I love my fantasy!

The Graphic Truth Of My Life

Bitterness towards Family Guy

Time spent defending the continuous quality of the show

Likelihood of saying, "Come on guys, from The Simpsons?" after obscure quotes

Amount you appreciate Maggie

Average screen time given to your favorite character (known as the Cletus Conjecture)

Belief that learning the greater Simpsons vernacular is a cromulent activity that embiggens the mind

Amount that you "get" Comic Book Guy

Work Roster pt. 2

53 sec, keyed, timed, and captured, (no F-curves) for Friday.

New website!

Everyone should check out http://catoanimation.blogspot.com/ it's the schools cool new animation department blog thingy!

Work Roster

Goal for this week: 45 sec. of finished animation for next week.

The onus of creativity has lifted!

Francisco said that I could use the animation that I need to do for “Starlight, Too Bright” could be counted as my work for ANI300. This removes the need for me to write another story AND frees up more time to make the animation sparkle. This removes a great weight from my shoulders. Suddenly I am feeling really positive about this semester!

''Denny Crane, legal genius.''

Free Comic Book Day 2007

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!! FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!! FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!!


As the name implies, Free Comic Book Day is a single day when participating comic book shops across North America and around the world are giving away comic books absolutely free to anyone who comes into their stores.
Comic books are an original nerd art form, created in the early days of the twentieth century. They are fun to read, featuring a wide range of diverse storylines that capture the imagination of the readers, and have survived: the dominance of radio, the ubiquity of television, the spread of color and sound motion pictures, the rise of videogames, and the Internet. That's worth celebrating in my book.
This year I celebrated with Page After Page here in Kelowna, it was truly awesome. I picked up six free books, raging for the big boys at Marvel and DC to more Indy fare like a compilation from Slave Labor Graphics. I managed to talk Luke into getting a pile to; he said that when he is done reading then they can join the rest of my collection in Mylar bliss forever and ever.

''Denny Crane is not gonna be turned off like a hair dryer. Live by the gun, die by the gun.''

One step forward, two steps back!

Goofy rides again!

Animation fans and kids alike can tell you that some of the funnies stuff EVER to come out of Disney were the Goofy "How to" series narrated by John McLeish. I look forward to seeing this, and ferverantly hope that this marks a new lease of life on the forgotten genre of the comedic classically animated short.



read more | digg story

''I can act, you know. I won an Emmy.''

''Denny Crane. No comment. The blind shall lead. Only in America. Denny Crane.''

Quick little update, I think I'm ready to start using paint, not just moving stuff around.

''Pop goes the weasel. How are you? Denny Crane. Still cuckoo for Coco Puffs. Who's your daddy? Denny Crane. Pop goes the weasel.''

For our first assignment in Z-brush, Francisco asked us to turn the generic head into the head of a celebrity; I chose one of my favorite actors, William Shatner, star of anything he gets paid for. I'm about 4 hours in at this point and it has become painfully clear that I was not meant for modeling.

Time Up!!

Time is up! I did the best I could I suppose.
Next semester tweaks? Oh yhea.

Hmmmm

I might be able to salvage this after all.

6 Hrs. XSI 6

Uggg

Why do I even try. I so can't animate.

4 hours in.

Bus Ticket

Blocky is trying to catch the invisible bus, but loses his in visible ticket! What will happen next?

XSI 6.0 6 hours.

Animation Drill

Animation drill, get it?

Worst... lipsync... ever!

Comic book guy prevents a doomed marriage.
I heart dope sheets!

Lip sync in XSI 6
6 hrs.
Audio courtesy of "The Simpsons"

Pitch

Blocky tosses the old horse hide around. For some reason, after the skull trasplant, his head now spazzes.
Referancing Lauren Wells http://media.putfile.com/pitch2
I guess that eveyone is allowd a bad drill, here is mine, the old addage "nineth time the charm" obviously did not come true here. I knew that a life devoted to the avoidance of sports would catch up to me!

3hrs.
XSI 6.0

Box Jump

I'm at the two hour mark again, here is the result. Again using reference from the astounding Mario Pochat (http://www.mariopochat.com/blog/am2/) I animated a man with no arms, jumping on to a box. Then he jumps off again. I hope I didn't loose anyone with the complex plot, but I felt it was worth the risk.

Stump Me!

Here is my first assingment in my compositing class. The assingment was tocreate a introduction to a tv show using Adobe After Affects. It could be no longer than 30 sec. I created a Win Ben Stine's Money/Beat The Geeks style quiz show. Want tobe my first contestant?

edit/ Why won't the sound work? YouTube, thou hast forsaken me!