HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!

HAPPY FOURTH EVERYONE!

I say this even to those on the liberal left who don't celebrate the fourth of July, because well they don't believe in it. Happy fourth anyways! I hope you can find your way to the country that DOES share your beliefs and values. Say....Yemen for example!

May God bless and continue to bless this most wonderful of countries.

countsy, robo (edit#3)

countsy. How old are you. Seriously. I mean your lil post directed at me("lame lame lame") read like what a pouty 6 year old would say. Incoherent and very embarrassing.

"""Again, trying to use my own previous insults on me. """

Which insults? What ones are you talking about. I mean you say I'm copying you and then turn around and say;

""" I'll give you credit for this handel. My idea of pulling your crap off your own page came from you. ""

And I HOPE that I didn't give you the idea that I minded that you are screen capping me. I don't mind it at all. Feel free, princess. The more the better.
And just for the record, robo DID need some help. I remember waiting for one of you dilweeds to point out the obvious to him. No one did. Either because to do so, would violate the "PET GENTLY PLEASE" policy that you all have, or you guys didn't catch the all to common mistake. (not saying much for your group in either case if you ask me).
Now whether he appreciates it or not is another thing. But I bet he'll remember that when he comes to another action scene.

As per the comments section that countsy keeps harping on. Let me again recap my thinking.
Way back when I was starting this bloggy, I said that I would have a comments section up at some point. The more I thought about it, the more I thought of how much TIME I spent arguing with everyone on these blogs. And I mean everyone on countsys story blog and robos angry squirrel blog. That to open a comments section would mean that the little time I have for posts would be taken up in the comments section--arguing with countless people. In short, I would not have ANY time to post.
Now lil miss countsy and apparently robo have for whatever reason chalked this up to some notion that I don't want to argue or I'm afraid of debate. This of course is kind of silly since I have several posts arguing back and fourth with them. (and really kinda creaming them).
I basically thought that THIS blog would serve as both blog AND comments section, where I would answer them (while quoting their very words), and they could answer me on their respective blogs. Should they feel so inclined.
Its turned out pretty much how I thought it would.
And who knows, I may yet open the comments section, for now why change whats obviously working. (THIS POST will be what I will direct anyone to if they whine about the comments section again. That way I dont have to keep writing the reason over and over again.)

Please countsy, get someone to proof your posts. Just to make sure that they are...well...worth reading. Being incoherent is not a good thing.
Oh and before I forget, I didn't check the kieth link. I figured If I just read your insipid posts, Its only a touch brighter than kieth's thoughts, so I pretty much get the jist of yours and kieths...intellect. (so-called).

countsy,robo (edit#2)

Well robo keeps yakkin at me, so lets not be rude-lets answer the sister shall we?

robo says:::

""Oh! Handel!!! Wow!! Fast answer!""

thank you, I'm very quick.

"""Way to backpedal, pal. If you say you weren't disparaging Peet's drawing ability, then fine. However, if you go back and read your Peet post, if you are really honest with yourself, then you'll see how I drew that conclusion."""

I'm not backpedalin' robo. Why would I need to backpedal? To keep from hurting someones feelings? Comon. I know what I said. I DID go back and re-read my peet posts. I read my posts SINCE them. I said "peet was a great story man" "the greatest story man that ever lived", "a great artist". Where...WHERE did I say that he was not good at drawing? WHERE did I disparage his work? Point it out to me.
My comments had to do with WHO he was comparing his ability to, belittling others draughtsmanship. I said that if you compare a drawing of his to just a toss off drawing from any animator, that its on par. But if you compare a dumbo to a dumbo..its not as good.

Here is the reason why a plain drawing put side by side any animators drawing, it might be on par..the reason its a 'great drawing' is: that there are many factors that make a 'great drawing'. And while something might lack in draughtsmanship, it makes up for in clarity and appeal (amongst other dynamics like attitude and emotion.)
COMON man, is that so hard for you to follow. Do we really have to go back to school for this??
Please DO point out where I've said that I have a low opinion of Peets drawing ability- or for that matter story artists drawing ability. What have I said that ISN'T TRUE.

Searching for responses took no time at all, really. I did it while eating lunch and making phonecalls. No one is talking about you or your article.

Uh oh! Robo's making phone calls! Let me see if I have this correct. An industry goof-is making phone calls to....OTHER industry goofs to see if they have read a blog post about an industry goof. He comes to the conclusion that in his mass network of people that he knows (which apparently both consists of 80 % of the world population who apparently work in the animation industry) has never heard of the posts I made regarding Bill Peet. So obviously...no one is reading it?
Folks, If you read back to some of my earlier posts, You will see where I stated that the industry has gotten very incestuous. Very 'clicky'. And all you have to do is read 'robo's lil bit there to see what I mean. The world as he sees it consists of the people he knows in studio and in the industry. To people like robo and countsy...It truly is a small world after all.
silly.

"""robo says::
""" Me Self centered? Arrogant? Doof? """

You see? NOW your listening! Gold star for you!

robo says:::
""" On a side note it's hilarious that you think that YOU are the reason that Will Finn started moderating his comments.
Your comment on his blog was obnoxious and stupid, it didn't bother him that much. Naw, it was a different jackass that got Will's goat.
And he's never seen your blog either.
Otherwise, he would have written me a quick e-mail asking why you wrote that ridiculous post about him."""

Robo, sweatypie ( and yes..I meant to spell it that way). I don't think that it was ME that was the reason that Will started to moderate his comments. I DO think that by him listing me, tells me that he was playing it cautious. I don't blame him.
Further, I simply said that I was sure that someone told him about me. Some one did. YOU. You did in the comment almost DIRECTLY after mine, warning him "don't pay any attention to.."""
Or don't you remember that? Its probably still there. Go and looky at it if you need some memories jolted.
As for my comments being 'obnoxious and stupid'. Nonsense. They were spot on. If you would like to argue the point. I'm game if you are, but you've lost before you've even begun. Trust me.
And I don't care if it it 'bothered him'. Its not my intent to 'bother him'.
And I don't care that "hes never seen my blog either".
My blog isn't meant for industry goons. That's your bag.
Mine is what it is.
By the way, What is the "ridiculous thing that I said about him"? I don't think that I said anything about HIM. Robo....are you making things up again? Now you know how that frustrates me, so.
The thing that's worse than a lite fibber is a full on liar.

robo says::
""" I gotta tell ya, that one even had ME scratching my head.
I thought "Geez, I know Handel is an ass, but why would he take a crack at someone who has never said an unkind word to are about him AT ALL?"""

Well, are you sure your scratching isn't due to something else? Perhaps some head and shoulders might do you well. I think Andreas told me that if you find small Australian Pygmies to pee on your head, that THAT might do the trick. But I think Andreas motives were suspect. (AHEM).
Robo...I think your a lil crazy. I think your a lil pathological in fact. PLEASE tell me what I said to Will that made you red in your lil ole cheeks? Tell me. Please...I'm askin nice and all.
I mean JEEEZE!
'Project much'?

"robo says::
""" In all seriousness though, I'm not the one who is constantly rememnding everyone how clever and smart I am.
I'm fairly aware of my place in the grand scheme of things. It's pretty small. But that's okay. Life is good."""

Well in all seriousness, robo..I myself am not all that smart or clever. Apparently just smarter and more clever than your average story artist. (sorry countsy-that means you to.)
I'm glad that you realize your place in the grand scheme of things. it IS small. But your world is small. The 'clik' is small. The network is small. It makes you a little on the 'elitist side'.
But it doesn't matter that your world is small, as long as you continue to believe that it should always revolve around you.
And yes...Life is good. Because as long as you continue to believe that, nothing else matters, does it?

robo says::

""" But you love me, don't you.
You can't stop thinking about me.
You lie awake dreaming of ways to get my attention.
You're so cute.""

Uhhh..yeah, sure. Whatever gets you through the lonely times, sugah.

robo says::

"""Oh, and try googling my real name next time and not "robo", silly. Or google "Chippy and Loopus." You'll get a few hits. Not many, but a few.
Congratulations on getting a Cintiq, Handel!!
You can use it to....um...What is it you do again?"""

Oh, I googled your real name, along with 'robo', and even a few that I just made up that seemed to fit the bill. Nothin'. So again...I think your fibbing. (tsk tsk).

As to what I do? well, I'm very blessed in that I have more than one skill. In which art industry are you asking about?
You see, I find that the more you know and the more you do..obviously the more rounded a person is. The better a person is. The more he can bring to the table.
Unfortunately there are many that are happy to be industry drones. Happy with just slagging along. Doing the same type of film over and over and over and over and over and over again. It doesn't matter to them really, so why change. That would mean changing it up abit and THAT would take work. Some just aren't comfy with that. I think that's rather sad.
Don't you agree?
If so...what is it that YOU do? How many industries have you done work in? Styles? Genres?
Medium?
You get back to me on that.

NEXT?!

Hiya countsy and robo!(EDIT)

Well, as I'm trying to figure out my next post, I see that robo has posted a response to MY response. Rather than wait for someone to read my post to countsy and help him with the big words, I thought I would do a post for my lil pony, 'robo'.

Robo says:::

""He disagrees with my assessment of Bill Peet's drawing ability.
Hand seems to have a rather low opinion of the drawing ability of story artists in general and Mr. Peet's in particular. Nothing I can do to change that, I'm afraid, as this is a ridiculously wrong-headied opinion colored by personal bias."""

Now robo, I'm not sure of which of the two of you have the more challenging disability. 'Countsy' cant figure out how to communicate clearly, and YOU don't seem to listen too well.
I DON'T disagree with you on Peets drawing ability. He drew wonderfully, and beautifully. I never said that he didn't. In fact, IF you look at my post, I said that if you took his drawing of anything, and put it alongside any animators typical drawing or sketch, I would put it in its own way- on par with any of them. BUT if the intent is to draw DUMBO or any other character, and place it alongside an animators drawing of DUMBO, again with the INTENT being to draw
.........D U M B O.
yeah...Its not as good. Its not MEANT to be. In fairness, typical story guys aren't supposed to draw anything WELL, there supposed to draw it CLEAR. And fast. And if its well drawn, well that's a bonus too.
I have ALWAYS said that.
I also think that's something that creates a bit of a crutch for story people as well. Animators fall victim to other things. I'll talk about that at a later point.
I hope I've stated it for you in a way you'll understand. Let me know. If its still not clear, I'll double space it next time.
And for the record, I have no personal bias. I just speak'a da trufe! I certainly do not have a low opinion of Mr Peet's work. He was an originator, not a copier. I respect that about him.

As for you 'googling' responses to my bill peet posts. And checking around and asking people.....wow. (lil on the sad side).
But just for giggles, I wanted to see what did turn up. So I googled it myself and threw your name and countsy's name in there...I didn't even get YOU GUYS, much less anyone else.
But no doubt you did a much better check than I did. I mean you asked people! And in 'robo's world, the entire world revolves AROUND robo, and consists of only the people that robo knows or hangs out with. (READ: self centered arrogant doof?)
BUT you didn't find anything regarding my posts,,neither did I --even with your name typed in there for good measure. Perhaps you did a better search than I did. No doubt you did. I mean, after all....you DO have a wacom/cintique.
(oh wait...so do I...)

And if you like to believe that no one is reading, that's your choice robo. But people are interested for whatever reason some of my takes on the industry. That's not bragging, I don't know why. I can only guess that they find it interesting because they don't hear the type of things that I express on any given subject. Its usually, "look at my drawing co-worker, tell me I'm neat", type of stuff.

Who knows why people find it mildly interesting. They find all sorts of silly things interesting. Whether it be industry junk, to doilies, to silly cursing squirrels.
I'ZZZ ALLLL GOOOOOD!

And I'm in all sorts of forums, Robo. All sorts of them. You've even seen me in a few of those others. So yeah....I've had many a good chat about them. Don't believe me? Well, what can I say other than......'so?'

I'm glad I'm your favorite wackpacker (what ever that is).
Now go help countsy with the big words and have him help you understand them.

HIYA COUNTSY AND ROBO!

Well, it seems as though I've kicked over a stone and a couple of 'story guys' crawled out.
Let me take a moment to answer ole countsy-poo's post.
When I read through it, it read kinda like the hysterical raves of a ditched girlfriend.
All the way through where he complains again, for what seems to be the hundreth time about me not having a comments section (as if we havent gone through that over and over again).
Which kind of sounds like that old jilted girlfriend who leaves countless messages on your machine saying things like: "Why dont you call me!, why dont you return my CALLLLLS!I WANT TO TALK TO YOU!!" And starts crying and screaming on the phone.
((creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepyyyy!!))

HAHA! seriously, if you look at his entry, he EVEN has a bit of my post on my bloggy screen capped on his blog, some of my post circled in white and some circled in RED! With words written maniacally.
Have you ever seen a movie where the guy returns home, and looks at the mirror and there's a crazy message written in lipstick?
Yup. I half way expect to have my dog turn up in a boiling pot.
Its not surprising tho, you see 'countsy' is a leftist liberal...and liberals are an emotional mess.
What I found the most entertaining was his last sentence in the actual post:

countsy says:::
"""p.s. sorry about the sloppy handwriting on the pics. Hard to write with the old 1st gen. Wacom tablet I have at home. Man I need a Cintiq at home..."""

Isn't that precious? I've heard other story guys make remarks about wacoms and cintiq's. As if they have learned to fly the space shuttle because they are now doing more of their scribbling on high tech pads. Gimme a break......

NOW! The comments in countsies comments section. It was nice to see that countsy let the leash go long so that robo could come out to make a nice little bark and poopy on the floor.

"robo says:::
"""Sometimes, he has something interesting, like the Bill Peet interview, which I liked. Believe it or not, I agreed with Handel when he said he thought it was sad that Peet was making all sorts of outrageous claims about his accomplishments, although I disagree with some of the particulars (I've seen Peet's Dumbo drawings first hand. He drew as well as ANY animator, but I still don't believe he had to re-draw Tytla's scene.)"""

Peet was a damn good story artist, but he did not draw anything as good as an animator. I've seen those Dumbo boards, and if they weren't supposed to be DUMBO I would take them as just great drawings and place them on a par with ANY animators sketch or toss off drawing. But if its DUMBO then I compare it to the animators DUMBO drawings.
They're not as good. Your seeing things through a story guys eyes. Compare apples to apples, not apples to road kill.

Robo says:
"""However, I don't think these claims are any sadder than any of the crazy claims made by Chuck Jones, Bob Kane, or Frank and Ollie in regards to their accomplishments.""

True.But the difference is that I've read very few people go out so publicly and be as insulting to people as Peet has. Perhaps I'm wrong. If you have any articles or interviews that you can point me to, I'd appreciate it--I love that stuff. Art Babbit probably has said a few nuggets of fun, I'm sure that Kahl has said many fun things as well. Again, perhaps I'm wrong.
I'd be pretty stunned to see if Jones has said anything to the level of what Peet has said.
I also don't think Ollie and Frank have, They're just to classy a pair to have done it publicly.
Look, Bill Peet is who he is! And I love him for it. Anyway...

Robo says::
""Somehow Handel thinks he's raised a storm of controversy with his Peet posts. He hasn't. I think he got that idea from something I said about him over at Will Finn's blog about him "hating story artists""".

Robo, stop being so friggin self centered. Its not all about you and YOUR comments. Do you think your the only one reading this junk? MMMMNNNOOOOOOOO?
You did say that I hate story artists. Yes you did. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have a grand respect for the story man. (Except the ones who 'slept' there way to get there-uncool.) There are some great great people out there. And I tip my toupee' to them.
What I am speaking of, is a very large group of people, some story artists, some animators, artists that cover the spectrum of the animation industry. I just haven't gotten around to the others yet. But I will. Trust me, I will.
People are interested, and I will let them know from a very honest viewpoint...the good, the bad, and the countsy, I mean ugly.

I'm glad that you find me a guilty lil pleasure. I guess I'm like candy. Sweet and delicious. I'm here to spread my sugary goodness to all the fat people in the world. Eat up, hun.

Now, we come to the other cheek of the proverbial ass. Countsy.

countsy says

""I know what you mean, John. I mostly do the same thing, ignore him. And I totally know what you mean about him being a guilty pleasure. I guess this is really my issue. But like I said, I think I've come to think of Handjob as representing a number of people, and a certain mindset. So it's not really as much about handjob himself, but what he stands for, which I'm gonna address soon...""


Dude, do you think before you start writing? Are you a foreign student? I mean you don't even make sense sometimes. CLARITY, boy--C L A R I T Y!
This is "really your issue"? What is your issue? You say you ignore me mostly and then whine and stomp your rhinestone slippers because there's no comments page so you can....what?...ignore me?
I don't get you, man-cub. I think...I think you secretly find me attractive, and you want to whisper ugly countsy nothings (which I'm sure sounds like crusty burps smelling of old bacon and tofu), into my ear.
Dude...let me say this in the most delicate way. I don't go that way. I don't love you...I think your hideous. You remind me of smelly feet with a mouth full of yellow jagged teeth.
I DO give you permission to pine for me, though. All lowly scum must have something to live for. Like clam chowder and beef jerky.
And as for what I stand for? What would THAT BE? Ah yes...

TRUTH, JUSTICE AND THE AMERICAN WAY!!


All of which, being a leftist liberal, YOU wouldn't understand. Don't strain yourself, poindexter.


And lastly, 'ass in training': lil 'jack'.
Well lil 'jack-ass in training'...I'm unfamiliar with you lil feller, so I'm going to let you off with a warning. In short...
Your out of your league.
(Just ask countsy and robo what that feels like).
Watch a lil bit. See how countsy and robo and scrbbls take a blow to the cranium. How they pick themselves up, out of there own poo, to say: THANK YOU SIR, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER!" Only to be slapped down again.
After you observe that a few times...then and ONLY then, will I give you the pleasure of having the verbal and intellectual crap kicked out of your ears.

COMING UP NEXT: My VACATION! WHOOPEE!

I'M BACK!

HELLOOOOO EVERYONE! And welcome back, me! I have just returned from my vacation and it was a hoot! Tiring as all get out but a hoot all the same! I'll have pics and a review at a later date.
I came back to find an old nemisis of mine having a hissy fit over my pelosi entry.
There really isnt too much to say about it so I wont waste alot of space on it. But countsy, let me just say,,,,It was obviously meant as a jab at YOUR entry. Comon now. You cant be that stupid to think it was meant as anything BUT a slap at you.
Anyone could see that. I simply found it funny that you raised all this bluster about ratings and impeachment for them (Bush and Cheney), but neglected to say that the dem congress was 12 points BELOW Bush. The reason for your leaving it out? Because its truth and dems are allergic to truth. I guess you could even call it....and 'inconvenient truth'. (But a REAL one).
And then you would have to answer the question "should congress be impeached for low poll ratings? I mean at least Bushes ratings are for the war (without demorats help of course), congress ratings are for what? Doing nothing?

sigh...So I am NOT ripping you off, lil miss. I'm mocking you. Jeeze! Even 'robo' coulda looked at that and said "yeah man...He's making fun of you."

(((so much to teach...so much. And yet -I am but one man..sigh))))

Anywhoo! More fun coming up folks. Vacation stuff, mockery, industry stuff, mockery,Art junk, Its going to be a lollypulloooooooooooooza! And your palie Handel is the capn driving the SUV.

See ya on tuesday nite.


EDIT: HAHA!! I just looked at the comments on countsy's lil hissy fit post..Someone says to him.."You're tone is a little vague here. What is it you're trying to say?"

And countsy says, and I QUOTE: "I know, I know. I have problem with clarity."

You are a story guy 'countsy', Dont you think that having a problem with clarity is a little spooky? Well...I've said it once, I'll say it again....state of the industry.

Maybe put in on some lil panels and tack it to a wall----go over it a few times while pointing at it with a long stick, BEFORE typing it on your bloggy. mmmkay?

14%!!!!!

""Americans' Confidence in Congress at All-Time Low""

by Frank Newport

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

""PRINCETON,
NJ -- The percentage of Americans with a "great deal" or "quite a lot"
of confidence in Congress is at 14%, the lowest in Gallup's history of
this measure -- and the lowest of any of the 16 institutions tested in
this year's Confidence in Institutions survey. It is also one of the
lowest confidence ratings for any institution tested over the last
three decades.""

WOW!! Just had to place this pose in. While the Bush administration is at a low as well, he is STILL higher in ratings than the nancy pelosi congress! By about 12 points!
nancy and the dems...America do hate you. Do NOT like what you stand for, and think your doing a lousy job. Even more so than they dislike of the Bush administration, which has largely to do with the war in Iraq, which will prove to turn out OK.
Poor dems...if America didn't hate them so, the only emotion that they would have for them would be pity.

http://www.galluppoll.com/content/default.aspx?ci=27946

VACATION

Taking a little ole' VACATION,baby!
Thats right. Even us fantastic uber handsome devious geniuses have to take a lil 'R N R
now and then.
Next post will be next saturday (30th).
Or about then. So come on back then. Not before, unless you want to see that beaut of a pic of Will Finn that I have up. Isnt he a gangsta?
Yo.

See ya in a week or so.

HaNdEl

A NOTE TO WILL FINN

Dearest Willifred,

Hello! I limped onto your site once again and saw that you had a June 17th post ("A sore for site heads"-or sumpin like that).
You said that " Handel hasn't said anything that you couldn't handle". I was glad to hear you say that. Although I couldn't help but to think that perhaps you enabling your comment moderation option was because of me. Made me think that by now, some hiney sniffing, know nothing, industry panty waist gave you a little warning about me.
IF that is indeed the case, let me assure you that I have nothing but the
highest of respect for you. You have always seemed like an amiable
bloke with a youthful energy and a love for the artform that is both sweet and admirable.
Who knows, Maybe you and I could have had a beer in the past at the local pub and swapped bluth
stories from yesteryear. Maybe, maybe not. But in either case...I think
your keen. And even when the inevitable time comes when you say
something stupid, (as we are all prone to do-some more than others,
right, robo?)....I will probably still like the cut of your jib..

Welcome to the blog woild.

PS: I hope you dont mind, but I could'nt find a pic of you that I liked. So I opted for something that brings out your spirit. Something that says ESSENCE OF "FINN".
I think that I have succeeded. Don't you agree?


Will's bloggy:

http://willfinn.blogspot.com/

RESPONSE TO PEET POST'S

The responses to my posts on Bill Peet may have stirred up a little hissy
fit amongst some "story" people. Some going as far as saying that I
'HATE story people'. Believe me, NOTHING could be further from the
truth. I have nothing but the HIGHEST of respect for story people. GOOD
story people. Just as I have the highest of respect for GOOD animators.
But I have oodles and oodles to say about those jackasses in both
camps, that are just a waste of space. For that matter, I have lots to
say about the entire industry. And I'm going to tell it to you! The
truth about it.

Take my Peet posts. IF you are an industry goof.
Working in any creative aspect (producers need not apply), can you say
that what I have said in the 'Peet posts', is NOT true? If your honest, you'll say of course its true.
And
if you are NOT an animation industry 'person', but are hoping to be so
in the future; well...that might be what will keep bringing you back..
Because its true.
(Just to clarify, SOME of it will just be my 'opinion', but THAT'S true too.:)

So tune in laters, theres
going to be some really really interesting stuff coming down the pike.
But that will be within a few weeks as I will be going on a bit of a
vacation soon. Looking forward to it...not the 9 hour flight, but the
trip itself should rock.

outta here...

BILL PEET (Part Two-long post)

As I said before. Bill Peet is nothing short of the most amazing story guy to ever live.

The
interview that I found and have been going over some of the quotes, is
a fun read. As I said, it shows a guy that loved what he did, And didn't care what people thought about him. Which is refreshing as all git out. A very far cry from the 'clickiness' of today's
animation crowd. But what the interview also showed was the foundations
of what I call the 'animation civil war'. Its a resentment, sometimes
loud, sometimes quiet. But definitely present- between the story departments and the animation departments.
For those of you who aren't in the animation industry, the resentment felt is from 'story' people who don't
feel as if they get enough credit for the films. The feel as if the
glory goes primarily to the animators. And well...their right.
Much of the glory and credit DOES go to the animators. BUT...there is also a down side to this. If a film does absolutely awful,
the first thing to get the blame IS the fact that its...ANIMATED. Not
that its the same mediocre story done by the same mindless drones for
the past 15 years. So while they get little CREDIT, they also get very
little BLAME. Therefore very little consequence as well. Which is in
the end...just not good for thisart form called...Animation.

But Handel. All of this is exxxxxtreeeeeeemelly interesting and I'm utterly RIVETED, but what prey tell does this have to do with Billy (ponchito) Peet? Well drop your trousers, pull up your socks and read on lil punkins.

PEET WHEN ASKED ABOUT THE AMAZING ANIMATOR, BILL TYTLA

"People were always amazed at Bill Tytla,
that he could draw the giant devil for "Night On Bald Mountain," and
the giant in "Brave Little Tailor;" these ponderous, muscled
characters, and then do this little elephant. After he got his first
scene on Dumbo, he passed me in the hall and said, "Y'know, Bill, I can't draw these goddamned little elephants. If I send Nick [his assistant] up with the scene, would you see if you could work it out?
...
Nick brought up this stack of drawings, Bill's scene where the
elephants first appear was just a mess. So I went over every one of
them, probably a couple of hundred drawings, every damned frame in the
picture, and redrew the whole scene. They shot the pencil test and
showed it to Walt. He was ecstatic! Nick came up and told me, "Walt
loved that thing, and I want to shake your hand!" Well, Bill never
bothered to thank me, Walt either."

I entered the quote in its entirety, because I thought that it was important to do so, to get the full 'feel' of his mindset.

first of all, Let me see if I have this straight. Bill Tytla, one of the all time greatest animators COULDN'T draw an elephant. Yeah...I'm a'buying that. So Bill Peet, a really really great story guy went over the drawings. "redrew" the entire scene.
Let me tell ya, if a story guy (unless it was someone like Ed Gombert or Glen Keane that IS ALSO an animator) went over ANY scene that I did, I would have to put a blackwing
pencil right through his left temple. Its not just a matter of drawing
'A' DRAWING. First off, the drawings have to RELATE to one another. In
some scenes, the slightest little tweak can ruin an entire 'FEEL' of
the scene. PLUS the drawings have to also LOOK good. Now I know thatPeet is a wonderful artist. But the art and draughtsmanship for a good finished ANIMATED scene is much MUCH different for a finished board. So..I don't buy that Peet "REDREW" the entire scene. And the reason Tytla never thanked you Mr. Peet, was simply because....It never happened.

PEET ON FREDDIE MOORE:

INTERVIEWER: " Fred Moore is often
described as the boy genius of the studio."

PEET:
"There's nobody that good. He was a great Mickey Mouse artist. Freddy
just couldn't draw a mouse that didn't look like Mickey. It was so
ingrained in him after drawing just thousands of them. The nose was too
round, so I went over Freddy's things including the storyboards. Freddy
did a fine animation job on it, but I refined his drawings so they
looked like Timothy. That was the last thing he ever did and it turned
out to be one of his best jobs."


Again...sounds pretty silly. As if each drawing is supposed to stand on its own in animation. That's the way it is in illustration. That's the way it is with boards. That's NOT the way it is in A N I M A T I O N.
OOOOH if only Bill Tytla and Freddie Moore knew how to draw. If only...indeed.

INTERVIEWER: "What kind of relationship
did you have with the "Nine Old Men"?

PEET:"That name has always bugged me because it gives people the idea that
there were only nine animators and that they did everything. There sure
weren't nine oldstory men because it's the most precarious job in the
business. When I left the studio, I was the only one left from the
story department from Pinocchio.

Yet the Nine Old Men were
there the entire time and they could do no wrong. They knew Walt wasn't
going to fire them because of some piece of animation that didn't work.
But astory man was only as good as his last story. Walt always figured he could get a story man
, but he respected the animators and didn't want to mess with them. He
figured they were the special talents. They had been there the longest,
but that didn't mean they were great. There were two or three that were
pretty mediocre, but they carried the load on the features. Thestory men
aren't given any credit or seen as being important in any of the Disney
books. They never gave me any credit for any of my work on The Jungle
Book."

Again, I thought that the entire paragraph should be quoted. Remember what I said at the beginning of this post. About the 'animation civil war'.
The
"story man was only as good as
his last story"? Well.....Duh! One has to go back and look
at the history of the Great Disney classics. Yes we love them and they
are truly incredible works. But if the audience for WHATEVER reason isn't embracing the story and ISN'T going to the shows...What else is the boss of a studio to think? I mean really! It isn't
the ANIMATION that is flawed. Ironically, its the animation that drew
the audiences into the theater.They (the audience)would cast aside anything and all
things NOT Disney in the 90's and early 2000's, KEEP going back to the
Disney feature only to leaveEXTREMELY disappointed . And return in
fewer and fewer numbers. Until Animation just about went under. We are
STILL at a low point because of that. But I do digress.
"They were there the longest and could do no wrong..."
This is another thing that underlines why I think that hes full of poo when he says that he 'redrew' Tytla's and Moores scenes. He has NO idea about what it is that these 'Nine Old Men' actually DID for animation the art form. The very "PRINCIPALS OF ANIMATION" that are always in the back of our minds.
Obviously they weren't
the ONLY animators. But, boy were they THE nine kings of animation. And
when we as animators of today, with all of our technology and all of
our youth and energy, can still not produce anything that even comes
close to a Kahl or Thomas or Johnston quality and STILL study those scenes...well.....thats saying something about those Nine Old Men.

""They had been there the longest, but
that didn't mean they were great. There were two or three that were
pretty mediocre,..""

Who? WHICH of the nine was
mediocre? MEDIOCRE? Wow....In what way? I assume that he's talking
about the animation because for any story guy to criticize draughtsmanship would be downright HILARIOUS. So which of the Nine old Men's animation was 'mediocre'.
I'll let you the audience ponder this question. And reel at both the absurdity AND the stupidity of it.
Forward....

INTERVIEWER:
"Marc Davis has personally
described you to me as the best story man in the business."

PEET:
"Well, that's OK, but I wish he would tell someone else. All the
publicity went to those people. The biggest problem for me was that I
was so creative, and other people would grab hold of my stuff. When
Illusion of Life came out, I called Ollie [Johnston] and gave him hell.
I told him it seems strange to me that he never mentioned that there's
astory man and a creative end to this thing.

The public
probably thinks the animators sits down and starts doing it from
scratch. I did storyboards, thousands of them, and character design; I
would direct the voice recordings.

Then guys like Marc Davis, Ken Anderson7 and Woolie Reitherman would take credit for my Cruella deVille
and all of the personalities. Those personalities were delineated in
drawings, and believe me - I can draw them as well or better than any
of them.

HILARIOUS!! 'Marc Davis says your the greatest story guy ever!' and Peet says "I draw better than him"??
Too funny. Sorry Mr Peet. I've seen your boards for Cruella. You draw great boards. But you do not draw better than Marc Davis. Not even close.
For Peet to get angry at Ollie Johnston
about the title "Illusion Of Life" is a bit on the petty side. Its a
book about ANIMATION. The animated character, and moving him to a point
where you believe its a real being. Written by TWO ANIMATORS!!! You
want a book about story guys? WRITE ONE.
Truly, I would love to see it. WRITE ONE.
Unfortunately Peet
passed away a few years back. And did NOT write a book about story and
story guys, apparently content to merely bitch about it instead.

There was more, but that's pretty much the gist of it. Look....again, I can understand that there are sooo many good people in animation, that don't get the acknowledgment that they deserve. Way more so in Peets day than now. But to let it drive you to the point of ego craziness is just sad. It is great though that he left to do children's
books. A place where he could be the Walt Disney of his own world. He
truly is one of the legends. And the animation world has greatly benefited for having him.
BILL PEET. Thanks for the story's.



The link to the interview:

http://cagle.msnbc.com/hogan/interviews/peet.asp

Bill Peet: Master storyman and teller of Tall Tales (part one)

Bill Peet for those of you out there that aren't familiar with any one
BEFORE Glen Keane, Is probably the best story man to ever, EVER LIVE.
He is. I recently found a fantastic interview with Peet circa 1988 I believe. In this interview Peet doesn't mintz words. He's direct, bold, in your face, and he's a cranky old coot. Its quite wonderful. He has lots of extremely
interesting insight about Disney the studio, Disney the man, the many
personalities that worked in the studio (famous and not so famous),and
the things that were going on at the time like the strike of the
forties.
He has some fabulous truth telling in here of which MUCH of it I'm right there with him!
But...he
also has some tall tales, of which are as laughable as anything he's
ever put on a story board. So much so that I was kinda embarrassed for him.
So lets go over some of both.

PEET ON DUMBO:

I was one of the "poor boys." They put all the rich boys, the top
animators making the big salaries, working on Bambi. They wanted to
make it a gem. Originally Dumbo was going to be only a half-hour, sort
of a special. When Walt saw what we were doing with it, he said it
might make a good feature. Well, Dumbo made money. In fact, it was the
only Disney film to make money until Cinderella.


This is one of the things that has
always bothered me about animated features. The thinking that the damn
thing has to cost 110 million to be good. A film, does not have to cost
that much. If you have a GOOD director that hasn't lost his mind or
bought into a studio mentality, and has a grasp of his own damn movie,
you can make it for much much less. You just strangle your story people
to get it right and forget all the crap that they've
'learned', nail your story on TIME, So that you don't
have high caliber animators sitting on their thumbs till the story
people can be re-taught that underwear gags are kinda played out.
That and pointless special effects...equals waste.
THAT'S why Disney's 'Tarzan' cost 130 million to make.
Now
contrast that to Brad Birds tight, streamlined and lean, "Iron Giant".
whose Budget was 50 million in comparison. Made in half the time, with
half the people of a Disneyflik.
Which is the better film? No doubt some will say Tarzan. The smart people will say 'Giant'.

PEET ON DISNEY PAYMENT ETHICS:

Peet:
"I felt Walt had been damned unfair regarding the fact that since it was
his studio, he only wanted to pay his favorites. Years later he told me
how he hated like hell to have to pay non-creative people. But that's
the nature of the business. Animation requires an array of manpower
with a minimum of talent... You can't just pay the talent at the top
and say to hell with all the others. No matter how third-rate, you need
them, too."

Man...the thing that bums me out is that you just KNOW that this is true. It always makes me wince abit
when I watch those old Disney movies. Those beautiful old classics,
that if you go by the credits, you would think that 30 people created
the entire thing!
I've often wondered who those other animators, story people, inbetweeners,
colorists etc WERE. They went to work that day, did their 16 hours, went home to
their families only to someday 60 years later say "yeah I worked on a
classic"....but never have any credit to it. yes 'CREDIT'. The one
thing that is MORE important than money. Credit. Without the 'credit',
you have nothing to help you get that NEXT gig. Nothing to point to in
the future to show that you worked on--something that you were proud to have
worked on.
And so many of those people. Forgotten. Never to be known. Almost as if they were ghosts.
In some ways they are the "unknown soldiers" of animation. Those old artist from Disney, Fleicher, MGM, etc.
Criminal.

BILL PEET ON THE STRIKE OF 41'


"When they found out there might be a strike, they called us into the
theater. Roy Disney addressed us and said that Walt Disney himself only
made $500 a week and that they tried to be fair with everybody. He said
if everyone would take a 10 percent pay cut, they could keep 400 people
and not have to fire them. Okay, we all cheered and took the cut, even
though I'd just gotten my raise.
...There was great applause. It
was settled. One week later they started taking the cut and fired the
400 people anyway. When I went out, some friends told me, "Bill, you're
making the mistake of your life. You're going to ruin your career, and
you're just starting to take off." I couldn't help it. I could not
honestly go back in there and ever feel right again."

Ouchy. Man, that stings. And you just know its true. It has that bite of truth to it.
And that kinda crap happens to this day. I cant remember if it was the Disney Florida
studio, I think it was, but I heard a story that the entire studio went
in to work thinking it was going to be like any other work day and they
were greeted with pink slips on their desks.
OHHHHHHHHH!
I find
any information on the animation strike of 1941 fascinating. I always
have. I WISH that someone would do a book on it. I'd love to hear some
REAL non whitewashed truth about it.
I don't know if we'll ever have
another one of those big time strikes. Not on that level. There is just
a wealth of other options that weren't
available at that time. Live action, children's books, video, games,
TV. Sadly, I think we're too self centered to give a crap now a days.
Lets face it. We'reabit
spoiled. Animation is and has been in the crapper for some time now.And
yet, people are blessed to have other options to go to. So when the
industry tanks or you just get sick of the same old movie over and over
and over again...You can move on, or in some cases, grow out of it.

BILL PEET ON THE SUCCESS OF HIS CHILDRENS BOOKS:

"There's life after Disney! I've gotten good reviews on my autobiography in all the big newspapers
I
just went to signings at nine bookstores but that's all, just to get it
off the ground. I have 34 storybooks published, many of them in foreign
languages."

I have nothing, NOTHING but the highest of respect for anyone who dares to do their
own thing. To go against the grain. Someone who, for whatever reason,
decides to just fly away from the 'pack' and do that something that is
just for the sheer love of it.
I'm not talking about a hobby while
you do your day or night job. Although doing that is also respectable
because its a love. But that's too damn safe. No kudo's for you there.
I'm talking about taking the pliers yourself and cutting that umbilical
chord and pursuing that passion. With every ounce of fat that you have
surrounding that bulbous, pulsating,gelatin, rhubarb you call a heart.
That takes guts. Real true guts. And Peety had em'. In spades.

In this interview, Peet is a crusty old coot who doesn't really give a poot
what others think of him. I love that. I admire that. Because of that,
You can really, REALLY tell when hes hitting you with a hammer of
truth. BUT, you can also tell when he's just overstepping into old man
zone and handing you a poo poo piglet, hoping that you think its a
chocolate bunny.
Next post, we'll yap about some of his silliness, and how 1)its in its own way, endearing.
2)How its sad to see a truly legendary man- feel for some reason, that he has to fib a little out of.......ego?

NO BIG SHOCK.

Well over the memorial day weekend, I did a post ABOUT Memorial Day, Thanking the troops and remembering those who have fallen. I also made a distinction between Conservatives who love and support both their country and the troops, and leftist democrats who loath both.
Well while I was posting that over the weekend, somewhere in Orcas Island Washington, there were filthy no nothing leftist degenerates, tromping through a cemetary, vandalizing veterans graves by burning the flags that decorated the graves for Memorial Day and then replaced them with hand drawn swasticas on paper.

Wonderful.

Looking back on my post from a day ago, it seems to underline what I was saying doesnt it?
Also, recently Republican candidate Mitt Romney said that he was going to donate (if elected) his presidential salary to charity. Now I know that those socialist out there will say " well he should, he's rich"!
But,,,Has john (300 dollar haircut) edwards said that he would donate HIS salary if elected? Or hilary (joke) clinton said that she would donate her salary if elected (shudder)?
Well the answer is of course ......no.
Another telling difference is that at an enthusiastic event, Romney was shouted at by someone saying that he would NOT vote for Romney because of his faith.
Romney said "Well, can I shake your hand anyway?"
The man said "NO!"
Questioned afterwards, the man said that he was not a 'right winger' but that he was a liberal who planned to vote for hillary if shes nominated.

There ARE differences folks. I have given you clear examples in this post and the last.
One side has class and loves thier Country, and love and support the troops.
The other side are democrats.


Note: Next post will have to do with some animation industry junk. It should be a hoot.

MEMORIAL DAY

To most on the left, this day is nothing more than 'Monday'. Or at the very most a day off from work. To those of us that both love our country and love our service people, this is

"Memorial Day"

A day we set aside to remember and pay our respects to those who have served and to those who have given the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty, for this country.
Now I wish that I could say that everyone in this country both love their country and love our troops, but when just days ago the democrats have to be virtually beaten up to finally and begrudgingly (at the 11th hour!!) release the funds to support our troops in the work that they are doing, and then complain about it, saying that they have not given up on the quest to surrender to the enemy....Obviously, there are those in this country who do NOT love their country OR the service people who defend it.
Thankfully, most in this country DO love their country and service people, and do know why this is the best country in the world.
And WILL celebrate a moment of silence or reflect on those who have fallen and who have served. who DO keep you in daily and nightly prayer.
and while those on the left who know nothing about this day or could give a damn about it, as is summed up by their House 'leader' who is on this very important day, is now in (where else?) Germany, for a lil talk about 'climate control'. Pretty telling isn't it? Their constituents which are the ones who riot in Seattle and burn cars and look like they haven't showered in months, are happily in the minority.
WE support you, and we love you and pray for you and your family. Because you ARE our family.
I respect you, I Honor you and for the fallen, I will remember you.

God bless you, and may God keep you.

"BY THE NUMBERS"

Well, for those of you that are unfamiliar with my views, I lean unabashedly to the right. When I first came into the bloggy mix, I had many an argument with a wussy man by the name of 'countfunkypants'. He was pretty much the epitome of the leftist nutbag. A whole lot of emotion with very little thought. Well now he has a 'by the numbers' chart on his blog. I'd like to address them.

He (like most leftists) are crying about the loss of troops. As if they really gave a damn about the troops. We all know that they don't. But lets take some of his numbers, shall we?
3,000 plus troops have lost their life in Iraq. Fighting and ultimately dying for the core beliefs that make this country the best country on this planet.
Each loss is tragic. But we have to look, well....at the numbers!

War of 1812: 20,000 dead
Mexican-American war: 13,000 dead
Civil War: 62,000 (approx)
World War I: 116,000
World War II: 405,000
Korean: 34,000
Vietnam: 58,000

Iraq:3,000

Folks, While each loss is tragic, It is STAGGERING that our losses are that low after these three + years. Staggering. Especially when the task is enormous.
The fact of the matter is that leftists don't really care about the numbers. They don't really care about anything at all. They care about themselves. And that's pretty much it. They are Narcissists. The fact that there are people that raped children, that buried thousands of people in mass graves, that killed parents in front of the children. That tortured children and women in front of husbands. That killed entire families as punishment for a family member speaking his mind.
People that will send children with bombs strapped to themselves---to kill mourners at a funeral.
That BEHEAD grade schoolers outside of their school and toss the heads into the school, to 'send a message'.

This isn't important to a lefty. You will hear them say: "Not one more life for this worthless war!!"
In France circa 1939 this would have been translated to "Not worth a single life.....NOT FOR A JEW!"

It kinda makes you wonder what the limp wristed, noodlespined leftists would be squealing if they had been alive in 1944 after the pounding that we took after the landing on Omaha Beach. Where we suffered over 3,000, during the first few hours of the initial landing.
OR after the battle of Iwo Jima where we lost close to 7,000 troops, after the 36 day battle.
What would they be saying? "Its not worth it." "lets leave, Lets run away."
My goodness! I bet they would just be screaming and crying at the top of their squeaky little voices!!

But that was a different time. Surly there was no such thing as the narcissistic left back then.
Oh but there was, though. It was called....France. And what was France back in 1940?
Occupied. Surrendered to the Nazis.

At this point in time, We have our crazed left, all to eager to surrender to the modern Nazi. islamo-facists that have all the insanity, and all of the evil of the Nazi 67 years ago.....and MORE.
The left is as always, all to willing to cozy up to evil. They sure aren't willing to fight it. Not for the innocent of Iraq. And they still after all these years, still hate Jews. Which is why there is so much venom aimed at Israel.
Maybe the reason that they are all to willing to surrender (and the quicker the better) to evil, Is that they, the leftist, have SO much in common with them.
Hatred of Jews and Christians.
Narcissism and the love of self.
Ego and insecurity
and freakish elitism and group think.
and small penises. ( Well that's what I heard!)
LASTLY: Another set of numbers was that Bush's Job approval was 33%. That's pretty tough. But he's making the hard choices that one has to make. And sometimes you have to make those decisions because its THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
What 'countfunkypants' declines to tell you, is that the democrat congresses approval is at 29%!!!
LOWER than GWB's approval! Now why IS that? What's THEIR excuse?
HAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I don't know...I love that though. I'm not one to take polls seriously. They dont mean a thing to me. The 'right thing' is the 'right thing'. Whether or not its popular at the time. But I did find it VERY interesting how that was left out of his (countsy's) numbers.
LOWER than Bushes. That's a hoot. Poor stupid wide eyed nancy. Poor stupid 'countsy' (and his mindless tag-a-longs).
Poor stupid left.
To be fair though, strength, courage and the love of country has never been their strong points. so it only makes sense that they would fall back on what they know.
Surrender and the appeasement of evil.
What a proud legacy.

KILLER SCORPION!!

.....and not the kind with receding hairlines and killer riffs, but ready to rock me like a hurricane all the same.
Its pretty fascinating really. I'm still amazed that I didn't get stung. Especially since my foot was on him for at LEAST five seconds. My Dad seems to think the stank from my foot might have stunned it.
Whatever.
I'm glad that I'm here to share the lovely little critter story with you. Enjoy.

PS: I'll have another post for you on late Friday. Gots me sumpin to say. Little hint?

Time to slap your assy countsy. You kinda have it coming. Don't worry though, I wont be too rough on you.
Pansy.

Ummmmm...

SO! Last Monday, the 14th, I went to my studio to finish up on some work. Bowl of popcorn in one hand, huge cup of coffee in the the other. I set my corn down and pull out my chair--all set to get a head start on the next days work. Feeling good about where I'm at in the work, and riding a corn n' coffee high, I pull my chair out and prep myself to lower my well formed hiney on said chair. When I feel my foot....on something. I think nothing of it, thinking it may be a runaway corn kernel.
I look down as I pull my foot up off the foreign object, only to see that the corn kernel ended up ACTUALLY being....a friggin SCORPION.

Yes, a scorpion...about four + inches long.
I let out a loud (yet manly) scream. Which brought my wife down to see what the commotion was.
When I took my foot off of it, it turned quickly and scurried a little bit. It surprised me that
1) It wasn't squished. And was TOTALLY intact!
2) that he didn't run in panic as an ant or a roach would. He pretty much stayed in one spot.
TOUGH mutha which actually freaked me out some.
and 3) That the damn thing didn't STING me! I looked at my wife after I told her what it was, and asked her " now I would KNOW if this thing stung me, wouldn't I??" she said "Oh yeah!"
Since I wasn't foaming at the mouth or peeing on myself, I considered myself fortunate, And told myself twas now time to take care of the situation.
My wife offered me a shoe for my surgical strike and I braced myself for the assault.
Pondering a war cry I briefly considered "TAKE THAT LIBERAL SCUM!" But since this was indeed NOT a roach, I found it ill fit for the task. I opted for a quick and silent yet very deadly strike.
Now since I've never had to actually KILL a scorpion before, I thought I would just play it safe and smack it REALLY REALLY HARD!
I did a wind up, in order to open up said whoop ass on said scorpion, and raised my weapon of choice (said shoe).

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHWAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!

Whoop-ass commenced.

Twas the end of the scorpion, twas the end of the story........or so you would think.
I raised my scorpion stomper,only to find that the DAMN THING WAS STILL ALIVE!!
HE WAS.....STILL.....ALIVE.
Now I had a very pissed, and somewhat more mobile scorpion as he pivoted around as if to say
"what the hell? Is it raining in here?" He didn't even look fazed!
Puzzled, I stood back expecting him to leap at my face Ala the cute killer bunny from Monty pythons 'holy grail' and kill me dead.
Where were the guts??
Where was the bug blood? Where was the gruesome mess that I'm so accustomed to cleaning up after such a savage attack on other bugs?
It is at that precise moment that I came to the wise conclusion that "Dem scorpions is tuff, sum-bitches!"
So, I figured that I should have another go at him before he figures its time for a counter attack.
So I swung back even higher. If you've ever watched any sort of "pro" wrestling, then you might have the image of someone going to the 'top rope'. You wouldn't be far off the mark.
I 'TOP ROPED' it baby! I ' TOP ROPED' it goooooooooooooooooooooood.
KAAAAAAAAAAATHWAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I held the shoe down for several seconds. Teeth gritted, neck veins buldging. All very "Frazetta dramatic"!
I lifted the shoe....He was definitely feeling some of the effects from the whoop ass. But believe it or not...NO GUTS! A---freaky deaky--MAZING!
So I partook in a third dosage of whoop-ass'ing. JUST to be safe!
KAAAAAAAAAAAA--THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
We HAVE GUTS!! WE HAAAAAAAAAAAAAVE GUTS!!
Although just a little, but enough seepage to tell me that it was OK to pick up the sucker .
As I scooped him in a cup, his damn tail curled up. Scared the crap outta me. But it was dead.
Yes, it was dead.
All hail the scorpion killer! (thank you).
I walked around the house for awhile just looking at this thing. Totally flabbergasted at how tough these things are. I took some pictures of it, I'll post those when I get the chance. Maybe in a day or so. Keep yourself peeled for that.
I pondered a Viking Burial, but since I did not have any small boat to set flame to, I settled on tossing the carnage in the back yard and got myself back to work.
The only thing is, that I kept thinking that there are times when I'll just pull up a pillow and take a nap on the floor of my studio. After thinkin about that, I ended up giving myself the creeps all night.
If you've ever had 'pee shivers', it was very much like that! And that made getting ANY work done for the night- a very, VERY difficult task indeed.

Moral of the story:

When life hands you scorpions, GO TO THE TOP ROPE, BABY!....Everytime.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

Some of the most powerful memories I have, have to do with my Mom. An incredible woman who taught me some of the most valuable lessons in life.
Lessons of love, happiness, sorrow, pain. The heartbreak of loss and the joy of triumph. How to face your fears and how to fight. Courage and Faith.

And how to laugh. ...Oh, that laugh.

Happy Mothers Day Mom. And thank you for inspiring me. For teaching me
how to live each day and to thank God for every one that I am blessed to live.

I love you and carry your laugh in my heart.

SPIDER-MAN 3

Now I wasn't going to write about the movie for this entry, But I thought since I have some thoughts on it, why not share a lil bit!
Last Friday, My studio took us on a noontime screening of "Spiderman 3". A very cool theatre that serves you up lunch or dinner right at your seat! I had a very good steak sammich, but skipped the alcohol..I did after all, have to get back to work for the rest of the day.

The movie: I liked it. Not sure if I loved it. I definitely have to see it again to make that determination. Although I did walk away a lil frustrated.
Not because its over two hours long, but because I just felt like so much valuable time was badly spent. For one thing there is just TOO many frigging villains in this. Raimi kept it in check for the first movie..just one villain. Did the same for the second movie...just one villain. Which makes me doubt that he's going to be doing another Spidey movie, because it almost feels like him saying, "well since this is my last...lets have FOUR VILLAINS!"
Yup..four villains. 1) Sandman 2) Venom 3) Harry aka goblin junior 4) Eddie Brock.
I'll get to Eddie and venom in a sec, first lets talk about 'Sandman'.

The sandman as played by Thomas Hayden Church, is just fantastic. I didn't think that they were going to be putting as much into that character as they did. But MAN! Was he awesome.
You really feel for him. You feel for his situation. You wish you could help him. I wish there was MORE of him.
Then there is Harry, who is still being freaky deaky with hatred for Spiderman/peter. BLAH BLAH BLAH.
But lets get to Venom. Venom was treated as a throw away character. Which is fine because Venom is and always HAS been a nothing character. I've never been all that crazy about him. The best thing about that character is the effect that he/it has on the people that it commits to.
You see the effect that he has on peter. And its played pretty well. UNTIL....and this is what really bothers me....Until its played for cheap laughs.
There is something that I always play in my head, no matter what I'm drawing,painting, etc..."remember what type of story your trying to tell."
Not too long ago, disney put out a film, called the 'hunchback of notre dame'. Now there are scenes in that movie that i remember saying "what the hell???"
The hunchback story first of all is a very dark story, So disney taking a stab at it immediately sends up warning flags. And sure enough....there's a song that the gargoyle comical sidekicks (ugh I cant believe i said 'comical gargoyle sidekicks') sing that is just soooo idiotic. It even has them all playing poker with 'quasi' wearing a visor!
WHAT TYPE OF MOVIE ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE?????
Well..that's what I was saying in my noggin at certain times in the Spiderman movie. One such moment is the jazz club dance between 'dark peter' and Gwen Stacy. Peter goes on this spider powered waltz in order to tweak Mary Jane.
Now don't get me wrong...it all looked damn cool, especially the chair stuff. But the focus should be on making you really feel how dark and nasty peter is turning. You should really feel it-the intention to HURT, really HURT someone he, peter, cared for.
Instead...its mainly played for laughs. Playing the piano like hes a jazz pro, waltzing as if ......I don't know. Silly.
For anyone that knows anything about movie history, it is what it is: An obvious tip of the hat to Jerry Lewis's "nutty professor". (geeky professor makes a serum, drinks serum-turns nasty and mean, but hip, dances around...etc).
I don't know..the whole sequence was pretty powerless to me. And it shouldn't have been.
Another thing that bothered me, was Eddie Brock....man! I loved the way Topher Grace was playing him! Lots of texture, lots of personality. While 'venom' the character is a throw away, Eddie Brock is NOT.
But they end up wizzing through some major important stuff like him being humiliated in front of the office staff. Which should have really been played up so that YOU felt it too...You should have felt the rough competition between him and peter. To lead into the harsh humiliation. Enough to JUSTIFY him wanting to "kill Peter Parker". And you don't. Not one bit. You kind of roll your eyes when he delivers the "kill peter parker" line.

Again....more time being fritted away.
Here's what I'd do:
movie is 2 hours 20 Min's.
1) Cut harry out all together. I don't want to see the goblin for awhile. Let us feel like a lot more time has gone by to justify Harry becoming a pro goblin glider and fighter. (sheesh).
2) Cut out silly scenes that shouldn't be silly- don't waste the time or momentum. There is ( I SWEAR!!) FIVE MINUTES of song and footage of 'dark peter' walking down the street to a song ( a cool song albeit) pointing at girls. Getting a suit, and doing a little jig. But I don't feel the threat of a darkening personality. I just see a geek who was a geek and well...still is a geek, who now for some reason can dance and play piano. (silly).
3) It shouldn't have been Harry coming to help Spiderman, It should have been Sandman. Therefore spending the time making 'venom' a more powerful threat. Rather than just a nothing.
4) Don't put Gwen Stacy in unless your going to have her be more than just a model.
jeesh....Gwen Stacy is as close to a 'canonized' character as your going to get. Give her something more than just a dance scene otherwise why have her in the movie at all?
(The actress DID look exactly like her tho--good choice).
5) Don't make 'dark Peter' look like 'lil nicky'. That kinda sucked. Again I didn't feel the threat of a changing personality as much as I saw a gay goth geek. Pretty much any fine art grad at cal-art.

Well...those are a few things that jump out at me. I have other things, but it would just be small nitpicky stuff. Not worth mentioning. Believe it or not, I did like it. I had fun and I'm just not going to hate anything that at least respects its source material, and takes it seriously.
And Raimi does do that. I just would have liked a little more coherent take on this story.
But it was fun.....and that steak sammich was da' bomb, baby!

although...now that I think of it....In hindsight, I should'a had that beer.
crap.

Go see it. Its doing bang up bidness and I'm glad. Cause its fun and its good for COMICS!