hydrocephalicbunny

Victor Romao

2012-01-17T00:38:00.001-05:00

With an old car battery, tattered wires, lubricated jelly and smelling salts, this lusus naturae is woken by the distilled vitriolic work of Victor Romao!! Testosterone fuelled anthropomorphic gangs wait at the towns edge, at the four corners or in the back bush to bludgeon, maul and drag you into Victor's world. Like the detailed styling of Julie Morstad, Victor's beautifully rendered prints almost hides and belies the ritualistic rural barbarism and captures the sublime violent allegories that underpin all of his works. Having grown up in a small town and just having lived in one this past summer, I recognize full well the themes of fear, xenophobia, violence and knowing one's place as it coldcocks me and knocks me down to the beer stained floor. I awake in an abandoned shack with misshapen balaclavas, bits of rope and plaid-shirted clansmen indoctrinating me in their 'Southwestern Gothic' ways. The fine detailed work will pull you in like a slick tourism brochure but look closer under the surface and see the true 'Mayberry' after the "We're Open" signs are turned off! Victor's body(bag) of work, Southernwestern Gothic, can be seen @ Artcite until Febuary 18th. Don't miss it!! Best of all, he is Windsor's very own! So support Local or we'll leave you in Detroit to really see the horror!

DRUX FLUX

2009-03-02T23:03:00.001-05:00

Even though, Theodor is a multi-disciplined animator that has used various techniques in his creative process, I wonder if working on a film about Arthur Lipsett influenced him on this film?

Anifest hraje KJFG No.5

2009-03-02T22:39:00.002-05:00

Those Hungarians...heh heh!

Matthew Walker

2008-09-14T11:09:00.005-04:00

(click on image to see film)

It was a rainy kinda day yesterday and the 'blahs' were visiting well after morning tea, so, I rang Matthew Walker and just like that they were gone.
I've written about Matthew before as he is part of the World of Arthur Cox studio. His other films 'Astronauts' (BAA winner) and 'John and Karen' have been standouts for me as well and his latest one 'Operator', which won the 2007 Depict! award. Operator was completed by Matt as an animator in residence at the University of Wales Newport. Scott MacDonald who was a bg animator for the short reports it was animated in Flash with the backgrounds done in Maya and PS.

What I like best about Matt's films is that they are centred around basic human conditions. The mundane slice of life activities (albeit everyone seems to be eating or having tea!) set against the out of ordinary events is brilliant. They are simple, funny and universal to what makes everyone tick. So watch, enjoy, drink tea, eat bickies, and chuckle the blahs away!!

Revolver - Jonas Odell

2008-09-13T10:46:00.003-04:00

the OIAF is coming around once again!

Flattened fish, beating hearts, spinning churches, jonas odell, hour glasses, retrospective and much much more. It won't be like the First Time but it all comes around to the same spot with Family and Friends!

If you are still confused, watch above and pull the trigger. It's all there in glorious black and white:)

Blu - Muto

2008-06-22T12:30:00.007-04:00

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

I know this is old news, but, I thought it would be a good crack in the wall to lead me back to my br o ke n animated thoughts.

I don't know what to say about Blu's work but I'll try this...his work is a surreal prestidigitation of megalithic graffiti art that monstrously crawls and morphs over the urban landscape. The forms eat up and spit out the usual 'tagged' street vocabulary as his own visual style transforms the concrete horror vacui into a frame by frame take over of both space and time. Like a precise marauding horde of locust, Blu's images spread over and interact with the specific site or environment, as the seemingly psyche-driven marks shrink and grow to get around every corner. The end result is where one can follow the traces of the artist's anarchistic romp around the city block to wind up at the final stilled image that is uniquely his own. Blu is painting over the walls that separate contemporary street art and Art and taking animation to a whole new scale, both physically and culturally!!

In other words, I really dig it!

Here is his site yet again! BLU

Florence Miailhe

2008-02-01T11:00:00.001-05:00

I have been putting off writing about Florence Miailhe for awhile now and what do you know, AniPages beats me to it with a great article about her!! So, I will just direct you to that and the two films that you can view of hers online: Les Oiseaux Blancs, Les Oiseaux Noirs (below) and Conte de Quartier (via Arte TV). Nothing more to say 'cept that I look forward to seeing more of her work and to break out the paint and sand!!

Kat Fight

2008-01-30T09:33:00.000-05:00

You know the saying: if it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all! Well, needless to say, as I am licking my wounds, you can chase yer tail to Caspar Konefal's Katfight!! I saw this last year at the Ottawa Animation Festival and thought it was a nice change up to the 'Sheridan style' of animation. This may be because Sheridan changed to a degree program a couple of years ago and have been in the painful process of chasing the string back to stability. It looks like they are going in the right direction when you look at Caspar's or Trevor Jimenez's work. Katfight is a send up of Eastern European animation as filtered through Western eyes: heavy on style with no political or social commentary. Just pure absurd FUN is what it is about!

Peter and the Wolf

2008-01-23T12:24:00.000-05:00

Don't worry, I wasn't just 'crying wolf' when I said that I was back posting again, I just went away for a week. So, here is the delectable morsel that was waiting for me when I popped my giant head back out of the bunny hole, Suzie Templeton's Peter and the Wolf!! It was just announced that it has been nominated for an Academy Award and it can now be watched for your consideration.

Panique Au Village

2008-01-16T00:05:00.001-05:00

I don't know how I stumbled across this crazy Belgian stop-motion series, Panique Au Village, but I am so glad that I did!! It just makes you want to get all the toys out of the closet and off the shelves and start animating. I am just going to let the show speak for itself on this one. I will only say that it is from Vincent Patar & Stephane Aubier and that they are turning it into a feature film. Check out the production blog here. It will be interesting to see how they will pull it off with the quirky limited style for over an hour. Other than that, grab your bow and six-shooters for this show down with hilarity. Don't worry, you don't have to comprend ahnudder langwadge to get it!!

Sunday Inspiration: Julie Morstad

2008-01-14T04:38:00.000-05:00

A book which I picked up last year was Julie Morstad's Milk Teeth (published through Drawn and Quarterly's Petits Livres series). Since I have recently been afflicted with cross-hatch-itis, Julie's book feeds my ink-meth addiction. It also exposes my own milk teeth, as compared to her well-cut fangs; the latter bear a world of child-like imaginings and innocence lost. I am pretty sure the Petits Livres series is in the business of showing sampled works of artists, but it would be nice to see Julie do some sequential work. Don't get me wrong: each work is like an inked tapestry, filled with impending tales of fantastical (mis)adventures, but having Julie's own words affixed to them (or even just the wordless story) would bring to life the hypnotic surreal places that she creates. However, this is just minor floating-heads-under-the-bridge and wishful thinking on my part: I guess what I am saying is, I want more. I'm a junkie, and I will take a collected book of her beautiful illustrations any day. Speaking of fixations, I will leave you with my other addiction, Neko Case and her video Maybe Sparrow with Julie's art/animation.

Ericailcane

2008-01-10T23:24:00.000-05:00

Well, talk about the dark pit of our psyche: Ericailcane certainly sews the knitted folds of my gray matter into a black-pearl-stitched cranial cozy. It is covered in a menagerie made in formaldehyde, and dyed in the deepest recesses of the mind. The cross-stitched dark fairy tales, cross-hatched out of the imaginings of this Italian artist, took me in right from the opening page. Engravings, drawings and installations display an unnatural animal kingdom as collected in Victorian museum collections. Interestingly enough, Ericailcane has worked with many artists, including street artist Blu (see earlier post). He will have a show this year in Chicago @ the Italian Cultural Institute. So, while you wrap yourself in the cold, fleshy blanket, with a strong cuppa tea, and wait impatiently for this, you can watch his stop-motion videos. Il Galione is below and there is more on his site. No moral ending to this post.
(thanks to Katrzyna!:)

Juan Pablo Etcheverry

2008-01-08T08:28:00.001-05:00

A good follow up to the last post is this beautiful stop-motion animation, Minotauromaquia (2004), by Juan Pablo Etcheverry. The film explores the creative demons/inspiration of the one-and-only Pablo Picasso! Using the fitting metaphor of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth, Juan starts with young Picasso as he paints Les Demoiselles D'avignon, and then quickly delves into the crevices of the artist's psyche. An old Picasso resides in the bullring/maze of the Minotaur, trying to find his way out after stealing the creativity from the Man-beast. All the motifs from Picasso's creations appear out of the shadows of the twisting corridors, prompting him this way and that, but it's not that simple as the blood-thirsty, anthropomorphic image of the psyche's dark side hunts him down. From concept to final frame, Juan himself has conquered the Minotaur with this impressive short film, and seeing Picasso's paintings realized in 3D left me wanting more. After watching Simon Schama's Power of Art, Juan literally shows what Simon says of Picasso: "...Picasso connects with our worst nightmares. He's saying, “Here's where the world's horror comes from; the dark pit of our psyche." This is a nice homage to the artist's creativity, and his vision which would shape the art of the Modern era. That is the Power of Animation.
(thanks to Ticklebooth and Milk and Cookie's for this one!)

Michael Dudok de Wit

2008-01-06T07:23:00.000-05:00

Sunday inspiration posts was something that I used to do and it was initially inspired by a Masterclass by Michael Dudok de Wit. In his presentation, Michael talked about Creativity and how everyone of us suffers from it's mercurial rise and fall. This is a good reminder to all, especially, as students crush back into the enclosed environment of higher education and the pressures that come about. So, without sounding too mercurial myself, I thought as I am waiting for the slow thaw to come about that you could warm yourself by the glowing embers of Michael's films. Father and Daughter (shown above), The Aroma of Tea, The Monk and the Fish and Tom Sweep will definitely give rise to inspiration and get the Muses dancing a wicked beat. Watching these films over again, not only are they visually stunning, but it is nice to see how much the rhythm and timing of the music are attached to the action and how it becomes the principal motivator in his latest film,the Aroma of Tea(2006). So, enjoy these films!! I lost all my bookmarks over the holidays and I am in the process of (re)collecting all my favorite things. If you want to share what gets you fired up, please do!!

Jillian Tamaki

2008-01-05T00:02:00.000-05:00

Instead of trying to put together a 'Top 10' list for 2007 comics (which would take me forever to do), I'm just going to put them out there as I go through the stack....

Jillian Tamaki's, Gilded Lilies, is definitely one of those books that I love more and more upon each visit. Beautiful colour sense and stylization that was a big inspiration for me and still is as I find her work as my desktop background more times than not. I'm not saying this just cuz she's Canadian too, eh! Check out her on-line sketchblog and I wish I could be taking her class @ Parson's!!!

Julia Pott

2008-01-02T01:34:00.001-05:00

I have a crush on Julia Pott and her short film, My First Crush! I know everyone must have seen this by now but I just wanted to scrawl my opinion on the bathroom wall about it. It's like finding one of your high-school note books with the pages filled with graffiti. Love notes and doodles of classmates underline and rule the place of awkward feelings and new found expression from that age. My First Crush perfectly captures the memory of first love in a deceptively simple style that is all Julia's own, quirky and poignant! Her animation lends well to the stories with creative transition shots and composition as the animal characters re-enact the interviewed tales of infatuation. The film would fit nicely in front of Jonas Odell's film, Never Like the First Time! and Matthew Walker's film, John and Karen, in an animation program!! This is a good short to watch to kick off this New Year as it made me weak in the knees and has me writing in the margins again. Be sure to check out her blog too!!

Happy New Year...I think!

2008-01-02T00:51:00.001-05:00

Well, last year was full of upheaval for me in this here bunny hole. I am still trying to pull this proverbial rabbit outta the hat and find a place in this here Trickfilm of an industry. But, I will say that I am going to make the resolution to write more and stop inhaling from the exhaust pipe to keep this place a hoppin' for a little while longer! Anyhow, Happy New Year and sharpen up the knives to dissect the delectable morsels of visual specimens that lie just underneath the soft fleshy surface.

Naoyuki Tsuji DVD

2007-10-13T02:23:00.000-04:00

Here is a nice after-image to the last post, Naoyuki Tsuji!! It is very hard to find information on the independent animation scene from Japan so I was very surprised to find this DVD collection of Tsuji's work!!! This is from Facets Multi-media, which is a non-profit distribution house out of Chicago that focuses on art house, foreign and hard-to-find cinema. Here is a small clip of Tsuji's film Trilogy about Clouds. Naoyuki works on a single sheet of paper with charcoal in hand as he works in an almost stream-of-conscious process. He lets the images emerge and transform out of the ghosted thoughts of childhood and memory in an almost delicate meditation of subject and medium. Erasing, blurring and drawing on top of as the last image becomes the new memory of the memory. Animation is very much like how the brain and memory function but it is interesting to add on the creative process of re-enacting that in a contemplative and intuitive way of working.

Naoyuki Tsuji has become synonymous with independent animation as the discussions about the art form are now starting to take hold. He gave a talk at the MOMA earlier this year and was apart of a brilliant exhibit this year at Parasol Gallery in London called Momentary Momentum. From the likes of William Kentridge, Kara Walker, Michael Dudok de Wit, Paul Bush and David Shrigley this exhibit establishes the role of animation in Contemporary art and the impacts on both (I noticed you can buy the catalog and dvd of this in N.A. from the New Museum). Here is a review and an excerpt of Tsuji's new film Children of the Shadows from the Dazed Digital site! Also, Naoyuki will be in a group show at the Dorsky Gallery in Long Island from November 18th to the end of January. Finally, there will be a program of Tsuji's films at this year's Aurora festival (November 7-10th). You can now view the full schedule and programs for this coming-soon festival! That should get you caught up on everything that is Naoyuki Tsuji...enjoy!

Don't be BLU!!

2007-10-12T04:09:00.001-04:00

Here is a fantastic animation that picked me up out of my doldrums! I don't know much about the Italian artist named BLU but here is his website. All I can tell you is that this film was done for the Fantoche animation festival that was just held last month in Switzerland. It reminds me very much of Naoyuki Tsuji's work in both look (as in seeing the ghosting of the previous images) and surreal subject matter but on a huge scale.

I need my bedroom painted...I wonder if he does house calls?!!

Sleeping Betty

2007-10-11T04:00:00.000-04:00

I know, I know...what the! But, here I am finally awoken from my 'Sleeping Betty' sort of slumber. Alas, no Prince Charming came to my rescue but at least it was a horse's swift kick that has jolted this bunny back up and staring with a stiff upper lip at Claude Cloutier's new short film. Sleeping Betty (Isabelle au bois dormant) not only took the Best Canadian film category at this year's Ottawa International Animation Festival but it also took the Public Award! In fact, after the showing of the film they introduce the film maker and I think Claude was caught like a moose in the headlights of the audiences thunderous applause.

Here is the synopsis of the film:
In a sumptuous palace in the basement of a house in a Montreal working-class neighbourhood, Princess Betty sleeps in a narcoleptic stupor. The king is at her bedside. He appeals to Uncle Henri VIII, Aunt Victoria, an emotional alien, a cool witch and, why not, a handsome prince! This worthy Prince Charles lookalike has to leave his royal suburb, confront a Canadian dragon and brave a surreal set of road rules in order to save the princess. But will Betty be wakened with just a kiss? (watch teaser)

Sleeping Betty is an anachronistic romp and rout through a richly illustrated style that could have easily come out of the pages of Punch magazine or the satirical caricature papers of the late 19th century. Mix that with Avery-style slap stick gags and let steep with the absurd predicaments that enfold in order to wake the too much Nyquil hibernation that Betty is in. Stir in a couple of lumps of Canadiana and now you've got the perfect brew to serve up in that cracked Queen Victoria patterned china cup. I would say though, that it is the ginger-snappy timing that carries this wordless film and will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat. In the end it will make you want to plant your own sloppy kiss on Betty in order to end the tea party insanity!!

Bonus: watch Claude's film Overdose here!

Ottawa International Animation Festival

2007-09-25T18:26:00.001-04:00

I just returned from the Ottawa International Animation Festival. I mean...really...I just got home. So this is a quick post to tell you who won. The big winners include Persepolis (Feature film), Franz Kafka's A Country Doctor by Koji Yamamura (Grand Prize for Best Independent Short), Golden Age by Aaron Augenblick (Best Television Animation) and Madame Tutli-Putli by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski (Best Narrative Short under 35 min.)!!! I will fill ya in on the rest after I get one myself!

Simply Helen Hill

2007-08-11T07:15:00.000-04:00

Riding the pink bike of Helen Hill made me blue and smiling tears. In a happy coincidence, I witnessed the beautiful contradictions that make up the spokes and sprockets of the life and films of Helen Hill. At the Pacific Cinematheque last week I had the pleasure of sitting in on what would be an intimate and inspirational evening. I almost didn't go that night because there will be a retrospective of Helen's work in September at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. But luckily, I did because what I didn't know was Helen's husband Paul Gailiunas and her son Francis now live in Vancouver and not only were they there but Helen's family was there too. All of a sudden, the small theatre shrank and the flat white screen became the background where the silhouette of Helen was captured and we were moved by stories and song. The audience became a privileged few who got to listen in on and peer through the mouseholes of their tribute to her. Paul sang songs with Helen's playful words attached, children were restless and potbellied pigs squealed as their act of remembrance captured unto itself the essence of Helen's films: spirited, cheerful and personal.

The lights went down and the flicker of memory hit the screen joyously hard.

From Vessel (1992) to Bohemian Town (2004), each film was not only a recipe for DIY film making but a genuine reflection of life and the love of it. Unfortunately, I never met Helen nor had I seen any of her films before but I felt like I knew her after seeing them. Maybe it is because the 16 mm film makes it read like an animated home movie. It is as though we are secretly getting to read her diary frame by frame. Also, there is this experimental process of discovery where the film technique itself adds an innocent quality to the stories. Her films are spills of colour, a childhood filled with scratched-in discoveries, mischievously caught under a sun filled day. Simply they are Helen the film-maker, wife, mother, sister and daughter.
(Aside) my favorite memory from that night is when the silent film Your New Pig is Down the Road was playing and you could hear Helen's family whispering up front as her nephew repeatedly said 'Daisy' aloud. It was a very moving 'soundtrack'.
Needless to say that night was beautifully sad and inspiring. Paul summed it up when he sang her words '...you ought to know what it is to wait'! As it is the simple quiet times of life that are the best and with patience the joys will come.

Prince Achmed in Detroit

2007-06-07T15:22:00.000-04:00

Animation news on a local note...Lotte Reiniger's silhouette gets cast onto the big screen this weekend (June9-10) as the Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) overshadows the Detroit Film Theater. Oh and did I say that it is a newly restored 35mm offering up to the sun gods with live organ accompaniment! Check out the rest of the summer series and I will see ya there!

Japanese Classic Cartoon(1933)

2007-05-28T18:18:00.001-04:00

Here is a nice piece of inspiration to kick this week off. I am no expert at Japanese animation but I liked the Fleischer likeness of this cartoon. I also really like the inventiveness of the scenes ala Felix the Cat kind of stuff. I don't have any info about the film as I just happened upon it on Youtube. But, here is a 4 set dvd collection of old classic Japanese cartoons put out by Digital Meme to fill this largely missed historical void! Oh and I would like to highlight Anipages for the source I use to fill in this gelatinous void of mine about the Japanese scene.

Sweet Salt

2007-05-23T17:37:00.000-04:00

While taking a break from devouring the newly served up morsel, the Animate! book: Rethinking Animation, I thought I would take some time to see what animators I could snack on-line on. So there, lo and behold, Dek from No Fat Clips! has Katerina Athanasopoulou stuck between his teeth and I thought I would pick at the Sweet Salt taste of it. I mentioned this film awhile back when talking about Suzie Templeton, who was the set designer on this film. Now you can see this short film in it's entirety in various concession stands on the net and better still nibble on a podcast interview with Katerina here. I will go more into the Animate! scheme later on but I just wanted to point out this short film. Katerina studied painting in Greece and that is very evident in the sensual mood and other-worldliness in each frame that is created by the effects here but unfortunately I think the story as a whole suffers from it's sumptuousness. The narrative isn't hard to follow it is the empathy of the characters that is too sweet rather that salty. The ending needs to be more apparently bitter rather than subtle to my taste. Nevertheless, Sweet Salt is still a beautiful digression and it's experimentation in it's effects and themes reminds me of Lorelei Pepi's short film Grace. Take knife in hand and go and gorge yourself on the layered fillings of these two films.

Russian animation part 2

2007-05-18T11:24:00.000-04:00

I don't know where I found this but here is a mined mountain mother load of contemporary animation from Mother Russia. Rambler Vision has many prrreh-shh-us nuggets to stare at that will undoubtedly be forged into rings of grandeur, most notably for me is Konstantin Bronzit's At the Ends of the Earth (shown above)!! Yesssss! Not much else to say but to go open your omnipresent blood shot eye and spend thousands of hours watching the glowing cube. In the end you will look like troglodytes mesmerized by strange shiny Cyrillic symbols and not wanting to share with the rest of those in the dark. Just remember it was miiine first!!

Animatsiya - Russian animation

2007-05-16T09:58:00.000-04:00

Well there is a new blog on the block, Animatsiya, and it is pointing it's telescope up into the night sky to bring news and reviews from the animated stars of Ursa Major! Niffiwan's (0r ESN) website is devoted to exposing, highlighting and translating Russian animation. He has just recently finished translating, The Cat Who Walked by Herself (shown above)! It is an obscure film that dates from 1988 and is based on a Rudyard Kipling short story. Here is the Wikipedia synopsis of it. This is great stuff! Not only is it laid out like a Russian feast for our viewing pleasure here but it is a film that is little known even to the Russian populace. So please take the time and watch this unknown feature length film clocking in at 1 hour 9 minutes. It uses various animation techniques and has a cool 'soundtrack'! Also, check out the rest of his blog and leave lots of comments of encouragement. Thanks for exposing this film for us. I will certainly raise a glass of vodka to that...URA!

CLYDE HENRY

2007-05-04T10:43:00.000-04:00

Well, the Clyde Henry train has finally pulled into the station and arrived with a suitcase filled with menace and particularities! Madame Tutli Putli, I have been awaiting your visual haunting for what seems an eternity now. Not that anyone is reading this blog anymore but the impending clickety clack of this film is enough to break my stopped motion and begin to turn the hamster wheel again!! Here is the synopsis of the film:

Madame Tutli-Putli boards the night train, weighed down with all her earthly possessions and the ghosts of her past.

She travels alone, facing both the kindness and menace of strangers. As day descends into dark, she finds herself caught up in a desperate metaphysical adventure. Adrift between real and imagined worlds, Madame Tutli-Putli confronts her demons and is drawn into an undertow of mystery and suspense.

The Clyde Henry's are the team of Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski. You wouldn't know it to see it but this is their first professional film. The trailer alone reveals beautiful animation, the sets meticulous and the music will no doubt be epic ( as it was composed by David Bryant, who was one of the founding members of Godspeed You Black Emperor). This film has been an epic in itself as it has taken at least 5 years to make. To see it you can go to Annecy this year or just go and collect the snippets of isolated mementos and details at the Official NFB site and watch the trailer and the interviews. But I am sure this film will be making it's way through a festival town near you!

Also, there is actual news on the Clyde Henry site about their future projects which include 'The Seige of Quebec' with Momentum Theatre for a t.v. mini-series. And, they are working with Bruce MacDonald's production company to adapt Chester Brown's, Ed the Happy Clown, to film.
Great STUFF!! So go my lemmings and wait for the Northern train to take you over the surreal cliff and into the desolate landmindscape of Madame Tutli Putli.

UPDATE: Cartoonbrew post
Drawn! post
and better still: Jason Walker's site (who worked on Madame Tutli-Putli)

Ann Arbor Film Festival

2007-03-27T00:03:00.000-04:00

First, I want to congratulate Guilherme Marcondes for winning the best animated film at this year's Ann Arbor Film Festival!! There was some stiff competition as this year's AAFF had a nice slate of animated films in this 45th anniversary of the festival. Here are some of the films I noted: Don Hertzfeldt's Everything will be OK (which won best narrative award), Osbert Parker's Film Noir, Kathy Rose's Life in the Web, Naoyuki Tsuji's Children of the Shadows, Takashi Ishida's Ema/Emaki 2 and a celebratory retrospective of the films of Helen Hill. I think you will be seeing alot more of Helen Hill on the festival circuit this year!! Now that I have let this tyger out of the post bag, hopefully my entrails of thought will continue to stain the page. Fire up the electrodes!!!

Squidinklings

2007-03-11T10:54:00.000-04:00

Hello there kitties! I know that I haven't been posting much here in the last while but I have been posting my most terrible doodles at Squidinklings!! Don't despair though, there are lots of tasty scoops of goodness to fill those eye cones with here (like Squidulin's above!). Yeah, this is another communal drawing therapy group to help motivate us and others to draw for the fun of it. If you wanna join please feel free to scribble me an email or just leave a comment (please, it's for 'their' egos:) In the meantime, I am gathering back up steam or flatulence to climb up and poke my big melon outta the hole to report on all the edible independent g.m.o. (generally misrepresented organizations) carrots that I have been nibbling on lately.

Torill Kove

2007-02-26T09:08:00.000-05:00

Torill who? You might be asking. Well, Torill Kove, this year's Academy Award winner for Best Animated Short film, that's who!!! Her film the Danish Poet took top honour this year beating out the household names of Disney and Blue Sky. So, it was nice to see the underdog take it for all the little independent guys who did not make it onto the final nomination ballot. Congratulation to Torill and her team!!! Here is the official film site! Also, be sure to check the interview.

Spared Change and Ryan Larkin R.I.P.

2007-02-17T15:51:00.000-05:00

The fine art of wallowing is the walk that I have been trying to perfect for the last little while. Frantically but methodically I pace back and forth trying to remember all the steps that make up this Danse Macabre. It is like chasing an anamorphic shadow that can only be caught in the spinning reflection of my former self. Fractured soundloops of memory work up to a fever pitch as the skeletons emerge out of the shadow box. Looming over me, the parallax makes them gigantic and skewed and I move further away from myself. I try and look back but I can only squint at the bottom line of hindsight. Lost in this closed circuit, I finally find some solace in the passing light of Ryan Larkin. Here, let me stumble back to a beginning...
I first read about Ryan Larkin in an article that Chris Robinson wrote for AWN back in 2000. I was immediately taken in. A gifted animator fallen from grace at the hands of a 'rock n' roll' lifestyle. Cool! I thought that Walt being strung out on meglomaniacy was the only secret tabloid of the industry. So, it was here that 'the Pimp' got me hooked on Ryan and the animation world. I wanted to find out more about Ryan. I even toyed with the idea of making a documentary about him (believe it or not). Anyway, a couple of year's past and I heard a rumour that Ryan was going to be working on his first film in decades with the help of the Quickdraw Animation Society and the Ottawa Film Co-op. But, when I asked Chris about it, he said that the deal had fallen through because it would have hurt his welfare cheque and that was all he had left (see Chris's article for the details). It was like Ryan exuded a stench of pathos but did not want anyone to help clean him up. Like some medieval Flaggellant, he masticated himself with the drink and the harshness of life's blows. This was penance of beer, piss and brine that preserved an image of self no matter how grotesque. But then, Chris Landreth came along and held up a mirror. Landreth not only did "a" documentary, he tapped into the power of animated documentaries (i.e. Sproxton and Lord, Park and Fierlinger to name a few) and he brought a credibility to the plastic eye candy of CG. The finished product, Ryan, was a two-headed silver coin in Ryan's cup that exposed the face of failure, bitterness and all, on the one side. But more importantly, re-illuminated the films of Ryan on the otherside and the uncalculable face value that he has contributed to the animation world. Landreth, as everyone in the world should know, went on to win an Academy award but more significantly Ryan Larkin was given the Norman McLaren Heritage award (or was at least nominated) to much dismay of some people in the Animation community. My point is that the light source was turned up a notch for Ryan and the genuine outpouring of respect from everyone might of just spared some change in him. This was then magnified with the help and support of friend Laurie Gordon and his shadow shortened even more. Then lo and behold Ryan started working on a film called Spare Change. He also recently completed idents for Mtv!! I definately do not want to make this into some Disney film ending! I am just saying that even though he clung onto loss for decades, it makes me happy to see that he was starting to get that something back of his former self even if it was just more money for drink. But I do think it goes deeper than that though. Maybe it is the hope of seeing someone coming back from the shadows that I cling to? Whatever it is, my hat is tipped, as well as my perspective, to the life and work of Ryan Larkin. He has shown me that there are different kinds of walks and maybe I can find my own way back onto the path I started 7 years ago.
Cheers to Ryan for he was a gentle soul and an inspiration.

Buh-Nnee!

2007-01-24T21:59:00.000-05:00

I know my friend, John Keane, will kill me for posting this doodle of his. But, since his website is being revamped I needed something to fill the hydrocephalic void! It also gives me a chance to plug his latest project, Blood Nation. John did the art work for this on issues #3 & 4! Check out more blood stained goodness here and here! Woohoo! Maybe I can convince him to start posting some of his daily doodles on my new blog, Squidinklings!! Wha' da ya say dere ya know, son?! Buh-Nneeeee!!

I want to be in Calgary so I can go to this

2007-01-20T15:22:00.000-05:00

INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ANIMATED OBJECTS!!

Guy Delisle

2007-01-19T16:01:00.000-05:00

Alllright-ee then, let's keep this blog rolling! Let's hear your best singing voice raise in unison for a quebecois rendition of "Bonne Fete" pour Guy Delisle, as it is his birthday today. I realize that I have been neglecting the comics and art quotion so I will try and make up for it in the coming weeks. So, you might of heard of Guy Delisle's books, Pyonyang or his recent Shenzhen, both of which have topped multiple 'best of' lists over the last couple of years. Here is a nice interview from NPR with Guy speaking about his work and HERE is a recent article from the Ottawa Citizen shedding some light about his thoughts on the changing industry of graphic novels and publishing. More importantly, Fous D'Anim posted about an exhibition of his in France that one can see all the great pics from on the Lili & Beko site!! Huge Zoetropes and pictures from his experiences in China and North Korea. Check out the fun that we are missing over here on this side and hope a gallery or festival in Quebec will get this exhibition over here! Don't laugh, it could happen...as Amid Amidi at the Brew points out, Montreal is getting THIS!!! If you haven't read any of Guy's stuff, I encourage you to pick up a copy. Walk backwards to your nearest book store or your local library as it is probably there by now. Hopefully, the mainstreaming of comix is a good thing and not it's great undoing.

Tara Bryan

2007-01-19T13:58:00.000-05:00

I am having trouble writing & drawing these days so I thought I would try and let the inspirational squid out of the jar or in this case the Jack! out of the bookbox?! If you squeeze hard enough the ink will ooze out like a concertina and you'll be absorbed by the master bookcraftery of Tara Bryan. I have always had a soft squishy spot for Artist's books, ever since I visited the Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts gallery. It made a lasting impression and doing an artist book myself is a constant on that 'to do' list before the ink runs out. That's why I have to wake up and take notes from Tara's bag of visual tricks. Tara's art books are stunning and creative in design. Sculptural, tactile and architectonic, the books take on a physical presence in one hand and a very functional play on the words in the other. In this case, 'Jack!' takes the form of a jack-in-the-box or 'Down the Rabbit Hole' expands or descends into the literary manifestation thereof. And it is this bunny that happily jumps in big head first into the paper walled world that she has built! Let the squid out tentacles and all.

AniBOOM!!

2007-01-17T00:33:00.000-05:00

Well here is a post that I should of done on Monday (well actually last year but curmudgeoness takes alot of work). So with that said, get yer arses over to AniBOOM!! A veritable one stop animation spree that will light a match under yer aforementioned area and make ya wanna do your own. But since their animation competition is now over, you can help decide who gets a piece of the $50,000 dollaro prize. That's right! A hand clenched, wee beady eyes, toothy grin kinda of prize. I am partial to Bendito Machine, Mr. Fortune and my favorite HUMANS!! Not that I am trying to influence anyone. Go vote. And light a match!!

50 Greatest Cartoons time capsule...

2007-01-14T23:33:00.000-05:00

I have been caught in the winter blahs of a mid-life crisis and I shouldn't be quite there yet. So, it was with a big bell over my head that I walked into this swinging list of the 50 Greatest Cartoons from 1994 (via Cityrag and Ticklebooth). The reverberations took me in a time capsule flashback with a big 'BONG' (although back then I was still sheltered and naive) and woke me back up to what is good in my life...animation and cheese.
You should dig a little hole, plant yourself down and bask in the warmth of your monitor where you can watch almost all of these classic cartoons. For example, numero 44 on the list is Frederic Back's, 'The Man Who Planted Trees' (shown above). It put a little smile on my face so I guess that makes me a 'Person of the Year'. Mmmm...spreadable.

The Animation Show Round Trois!

2007-01-09T22:23:00.000-05:00

As Game Over signals the death of my Dreams and Desire in this City Paradise, 9 Rabbits whilst in a fatal Collision with a Guide Dog gurgle in unison that Everything Will Be Okay and that in Overtime I will forge through the Strong Waters but tragicallly in the end there will be No Room for Gerold. What is this peyote inspired rambling you say? ...well it is the third round bout of the ANIMATION SHOW! Giant mouseketeer sea creatures take on the entire 'Flying Zambini' bros. air squad in this match to the death. Here is the schedule to go see this Amazing touring ocean battle semi-near you or not even close at all!! For those interested locally, it is playing in Royal Oak from Feb. 13th-21st @ the Main Arts Theatre.
Mike Judge and Don Hertzfeldt have put together another visual clambake that yields many pearls. Like the 'current hot potatoe' of the animation scene, Max Hattler, to last year's idolater, Run Wrake! The other films are festival faves and award winners, check out the full list here. The one that caught mes yeux was Eaux Forte (shown above) by Remi Chaye. Yeah Remi!! I had the pleasure of meeting Remi this summer as he is working on Cartoon Saloon's highly anticipated feature film, Brendan and the Secret of Kells. Here is to good coffee, a broken piano and broken noses!
Go see and enjoy the "spectacle" (I wonder if the french have a word for that).

Happy New Yearski!!!

2007-01-01T23:38:00.000-05:00

N.F.B. Animation Hothouse 4- - Call for Submission(s)

2006-12-30T15:56:00.000-05:00

Instead of picking away at the carcass of leftovers as your chins multiply into a gelatinous totem for small tribes to worship at, you should sweat some of that 'holiday cheer' off over at the Hothouse. The National Film Board's Hothouse that is and once again they are calling for visual artists and filmmakers of all kinds who have an interest in animation to submit a portfolio by January 15th! The Hothouse scheme is now in it's fourth incarnation and it's theme this year is: A Chance Encounter. Which is what most Korean animators hope for with Maral Mohammadian (sorry Maral, couldn't help it) who has just joined the Hothouse team from her smashup work with the Ottawa International Animation Festival. Here is the official blurb that she sent me:

NFB Animation Hothouse Call for Submissions: Deadline January 15, 2007

The National Film Board of Canada seeks submissions from emerging filmmakers (young and old), and artists intrigued by animation art, for the fourth edition of the Animation Hothouse. This year’s Hothouse runs from March 5 to May 25, 2007, at the Animation Studio in Montreal .

Six selected participants will direct a 30 second film, from creative inception all the way through final sound mix and video release in twelve intense weeks.

Submissions may come from across Canada and an artist’s fee will be paid.

The theme for this Hothouse is: A Chance Encounter

Please see full program and submission details here:

www.nfb.ca/hothouse2007

The Hothouse scheme is all we have here in Canada and even though I would like to see more time in both production and film length, it all hinges on the quality of talent that applies to it. I was going to rant here but instead I urge you to get the word out to all those artistic friends of yours to apply. There isn't that much time but at least try to get the old Caesar's thumbs up and out of the gluteus maximus and out into the gladitorial animation arena that is a Hothouse.

Ryan Larkin

2006-12-25T20:22:00.000-05:00

Well if this isn't a perfect story for the holidays, I don't know what is! When I was in Montreal, I read this story on the front page of the newspaper. Congrats to Ryan Larkin! I hope this helps him finish his own project, Spare Change! Who would of figured Mtv (where you can watch the idents) to drop some coinage into the Larkin cup to give him the needed help that he so desparately didn't want or didn't seem to want. So with the exposure and success of Chris Landreth's film about him and his friendship with Laurie Gordon, this flamboyant street tatterdemalion of St. Laurent could be the come back story of the year in animation. Now if ya don't know about Ryan go and watch this and then go and get this!

DVD Hardercore Part 2

2006-12-12T13:14:00.000-05:00

This is the short (court metrage) buffet table of other DVD's I would like to mention for those who are interested. I know I am missing a lot of cool DVD's that have come out this year so please don't hesitate to send a little memo, via an orifice, to my lovely gerbil associate who is on a prolonged lunch break from the wheel. So grab your plate and head on up to the all-you-can-consume-before-your-top-button-explodes-to-kill-the-person-in-front-of-you smorgasborg.

•Igor Kovalyov-Milch (shown above)
•Gilles Cuvelier-Chahut
•Franck Dion-The Phantom Inspector
•Paul Fierlinger-Drawn from Memory
•Rosto-Mind the Gap Trilogy
•Virgil Widrich-4 Films of
•George Schwizgebel-The Painted Pictures of
•Signe Baumane-Ten Films Animated by
•David Shrigley and Chris Shepherd-Who I am and What I Want
•Run Wrake-Rabbit

Compilation DVD's
•British Animation Awards Vol.1-6 + Best of's
•Avoid Eye Contact Vol. 1 + 2
•Anxious Animation
•Experiment(s)
•OneDotZero
•Ars Electronica 2006
All of these DVD's can be found on the ChaletFilms.com website (except for the RunWrake which can be found on his website.) Or buy them direct from their site where possible. I know this is the YouTube era of watching every known animated film out there but it is nice to have the actual film in your collection and to give back to the artist. Although, I don't know how much gets back to the artist??

DVD Hardcore

2006-12-11T13:42:00.000-05:00

Well, instead of preaching from the pulped refinery of bittered holidays, I give you my list of dvd's to get for those hardcore animation fans. Don't be afraid to order these on-line instead of going to Walmart to buy them the Hollywood release. *Disclaimer: Just watch what Region these DVD's play on as some of them are PAL format and vice versa for those adventurous Europeans that frequent the big headed bunny hole.

11. Joanna Priestley--Fighting Gravity & Relative Orbits
I tried keeping all my picks to 2006 releases but I have been Jonesin' for Joanna lately and I have to give props to the ladies. You can order it right from her site. Region 2.

10.Phil Mulloy--Mondo Mulloy & Intolerance Trilogy
Who wouldn't want the Intolerance Trilogy burning a hole in their stocking?! There isn't anyone more apt to put the X in Xmas than Phil!! Heathen, you will convert to the passion of Phil after watching the Trinity of Intolerance!!

9.Frederic Back--The Man Who Planted Trees (4 DVD Box Set)
This is a nice tribute to this legendary Canadian animator! Give this one to the kids and show them the artistic beauty of animation. They'll also learn something too!

8.Paul Driessen--The Animated World of Paul Driessen in 20 films (Box Set)
Another fantastic collection being distributed by Chalet Films! This is a must have of the juggernaut of Dutch/Canadian animator Paul Driessen. Don't be a big blue meanie, get this for someone you love.

7.Yuri Norstein--Yuri Norstein and the Tale of Tales (supplementary to Claire Kitson's book)
See my post below about this iconic Russian master!

6.Oskar Fischinger--Oskar Fischinger 10 Films (CVM)
This one is brought to you from the good people at the Center for Visual Music! I was very excited about this one as I have been wanting to see the wax experiment (stratacut) technique.

5.Jiri Barta--Labyrinth of Darkness (Kino)
Kino on Video has done it again with this long awaited collection of Jiri Barta. I was very surprised and happy when I found this last month. Before this dvd, one could only get snippets of his stuff by buying compilation dvd's. Now he is all ours!

4.Suzie Templeton--Peter and the Wolf (Breakthru Films)
Well you have heard me rant and rave about this so many times now...what are you waiting for go and buy the thing! Unfortunately, it has only been released in Europe right now and I can only find to order it through Amazon.co.uk. But who cares if it arrives after the holidays...it'll be that much of a bigger surprise.

3.Jan Svankmajer--The Ossuary and Other Tales (Kino)
Another dvd on the Czech master of animated meat! Only this time it features some his lesser known short films. Come on...it's Svankmajer!!! Even Grandma will love it.

2.Norman McLaren--The Master's edition (NFB)
Well, if you already have the 4 disc box set of McLaren's work, give it to someone else. This is the quintessential 7 disc collection of his entire work! Nuff' said.

1.Brothers Quay--Collection from 1979-2003 (bfi)
Here is the motherload for me this year! Even though this is a European release, I pity those without a All Region player. You'll have to wait until April of next year. I will just say this about the collection...behind the scenes interviews!

Balint Zsako

2006-12-04T17:18:00.000-05:00

It is nearing that wonderful holiday season, so it is time for me to strap on that metal mask of sunshine and flowers to help me get through thebrok enexchang e of shitmas. I admit that my crustiness alone flakes off to feed all the dead birds of xmas past. But fortunately, unlike Scrooge, who promotes conspicuous consumption in the end, I take solice in the Bahumbuggery of it all. Speaking of which, Balint Zsako, proverbially puts the 'dick' into Dickens for me and sheds some humanity onto this high-definition-gogogadget-plastic-plasma
thinly-venered smoke screen of ours. His work has itself darkened and matured in the fermented grounds over the last couple of years. I was able to see Balint's latest exhibition at S.P.I.N. gallery a couple of weeks ago and was hit in the gut at the refined rawness of his developing style. Sexuality, machines, ugliness and beauty all become the mythological world that has become Balint's own. The beautiful liquiforms of colour suspend and immerse symbols that recall the Myths of Creation that are then intermixed with the mechanisms of Man to be delicately affixed to the blank whiteness of the page. I don't know if the art speaks to my inner Magyar but Zsako's work is the ghost of past, present and future for me as I take in the 'miser'y of this Corporate holiday season. So, instead of getting crushed in the horde to get your 'surrogate parent' Boxx, do a 180 and take in some ART and culture (music, dance, visual or written). And please try to support the 'little' guys (preferably NOT the ones with money trees coming out of their arse). Local and/or Independent is the way to go.

Yuri Norstein

2006-11-28T12:29:00.000-05:00

My friends (yo, M&M und Katie) and I sat around on Friday evening watching some Russian animation on YouTube. There is some great stuff to see, As Far as the Eye Can See (Das Brick ruleski), on the web that is now available for your vodka libations. With that, I can't mention Russian animation without exposing and sharing the Mastery of Yuri Norstein. You can see one of his masterpieces on YouTube, Igel im Nebel (Hedgehog in the Fog, 1975) but it would be better as a Holiday present if you got the full DVD retrospective of his work along with Claire Kitson's excellent book on him (my pick #1). Yuri is definately in my pantheon of animation gods and I am sure you will be able to tell why after viewing this film. So, gather around with friends and shots of vodka with slabs of bread, cheese and eggs to share good food, good company and best of all great animation!! This one is for my friend Margaret as it is her birthday today, С днем рождения!!

BAM B.A.F. POW!!!

2006-11-22T11:40:00.000-05:00

Well, the proverbial dust has settled on the annual animation cage match that is the Bradford Animation Festival. And the winners are...staring straight into the camera is Beryl speaking for Joanna Quinn, "Hic!", she exclaimed, "Take that Eisenshhlein!". Joanna's Dreams and Desires-Family Ties, won the Grand Prix prize. The tag team dynamo of Shrigley and Shepherd also rained down their fists of furry surreal bits as Who I am and What I want won the 'Special' Jury prize and Run Wrake's Rabbit is still spitting out gold nuggets to take the Best Professional Film.
We have let these short films parade around this rabbit ring, so I want to spotlight the other winners seperately in the coming days. But, be sure to go to the festival website to check out the full list of winners. Congrats to all the animators that showed at this year's festival as there were so many great films to see and I am glad I wasn't the one to have had to pick the winners out of that crowd. Also, a big thumbs up to the festival programmers and organizers for putting on what reports to be a sold out gladitorial arena. I'll start saving my pennies now so I can afford to go to B.A.F. '07.

Igor Kovalyov

2006-11-21T13:12:00.000-05:00

It's an Igor Kovalyov kinda day and I am having a fit that Global Tantrum seems to be permanently down so I can't watch his stuff!! Oh well, we can still pull a Flying Nansen and do eye calisthenics at Igor's site. If that isn't enough, you can pull a groin muscle over the work of Dima Malanitchev, who is the art production director for Igor. Take a look at Dima's concept designs for a movie called Bridge to Terabithia (Warner Bros. 2007). Brilliant stuff.
I wish I would of seen Igor's original art work when it came to the OIAF. Like I said, it is a Kovalyov kinda of day, filled with regret and loss.

Wicked Pixels

2006-11-20T15:38:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to throw this Ident for Musica from Wicked Pixels studio (South Africa). One Bad Note (via YouTube) uses the music of Metallica, Enter the Sandman, and I thought it was a cool tie-in with Paul Barry's short film. Cheesy, yes, but I was trying to look up some stuff about Chuck Jones today and remembered his short called High Note. I would think that Craig Wessels (dir. of One Bad Note) has seen this cartoon and I thought how great that this idea could be updated into this day and age. But then, I thought how sad that in this day and age it is a commercial and every idea has to branded to a corporate logo. Too bad it wasn't a short film unto itself rather than just visual eye candy and humping F and G notes. Taken for what it is though, it rocks!

Paul Berry

2006-11-16T14:29:00.000-05:00

At the B.A.F.(see post below) this year they are paying tribute to Paul Berry. Paul Berry was an amazing stop-motion animator that passed away at the tender age of 40 in 2001. Although, even at that young age he still had been in the animation field for almost 20 years. Personally, I never knew that I was exposed to Paul's work at such an early age but it was he who brought Mr. Toad to life in The Wind in the Willows. Paul worked on several movies for Cosgrove and Hall, that I haven't seen, but it was in 1992 when he made THE SANDMAN (shown above) with MacKinnon and Batty! Now, he not only got my attention but the whole world's attention. Ironically, it was seeing the Sandman that cured my blindness and fed my interest in animation. He has probably fed thousands of other peoples dreams in the art of stop-motion,too! You can now watch The Sandman on YouTube. The thing that amazes me about this film, besides the fluid gestures, is the head of the Sandman is solid (not malleable clay) yet Paul achieves such different looks of expression with lighting or just the tilt of the head or the angle of the camera. Classic!!

Toon In!

2006-11-16T13:33:00.000-05:00

This is very cool! Tee Bosustow is producing a radio program, Toon In...to the Masters of Animation! The signal will be sent every Sunday at 7:30am (adjust timezone watches accordingly) starting November 26th. KCLA fm will be the mothership that will beam down that signal to brainwash us all into animation zombies!!! Although if you miss that ship then you can always drag, lurch and decay your undead self to the Toon In website to eat at the brain trough at your own leisure. The initial broadcast will feature the chattering teeth of Tim Roth with future probing guests being Mark Kausler, David Evans, Joe Siracusa, Barri Leiva and many more. Thanx to Maureen Furniss at the Animation Journal for passing this on!

Bradford Animation Festival '06

2006-11-15T15:27:00.000-05:00

The Bradford Animation Festival starts today! I am such an idiot for not scrimpin' together enough coins to go to this. It has a nice selection of films this year, some of which have been highlighted on the bigheaded screen, but, I should of gone just for the special guests alone! I mean kicking off today is Joanna Quinn in conversation with Barry Purves. It doesn't get any better than this...well maybe if you threw in some Jell-o...but other than that! To top that off you have Dave Burgess next to Andreas Hykade, Chris Shephard and Marc Craste!! Eeejit I tell ya!! If Suzie Templeton would of showed up, one would have died and gone to some animation Limbo party!! Please for the love of some giant headed bunny gods (there's gotta be more than one of them...they're rabbits), if you are in Europe, jump in yer wee cars and drive hither and yon to get to this festival...and ah(buy me a shirt)em.

If I were in Toronto I would go to this...

2006-11-15T14:45:00.000-05:00

Daniel Barrow will be performing his slide-show sideshow at the Toronto Animated Image Society tonight!! Daniel is a Winnipeg-based artist that uses an overhead projector to illuminate the not so transparent transparencies of his comic book format stories. His performance is in the same vein as Shary Boyle, who we exposed here. If you can't make it out for Daniel, there will be another masterclass and performance by Amy Lockhart this Monday, November 20th. Visit the TAIS website for all the info!!!

Also, I just want to mention that I noticed that one of my favorite NFB animators, Chris Hinton will be giving a masterclass at the Museum of Civilization on November 25th @ 10am. Check out the NFB news for the details. For a look at Chris's work, you can peer through the free hole in the fence to see Blackfly and Flux. Enjoy!

Fish Heads Fugue and Other Tales of Twilight

2006-11-14T00:12:00.000-05:00

The french might have the wine and cheese but gimme some beer and chowder to go with my Fishheads Fugue and Other Tales of Twilight. This short animation was cooked up by Lauren Indovina and Lindsay Mayer-Beug at the Rhode Island School of Design. It was a highlight for me at the OIAF two years ago. It was in Program 1 on opening night and I found it scrawled in my notes for me to go and find more about it. Well, here it is for all to see! It is a piece that is set into motion by old lady puppet on a stage winding up our puppet theater to then witness the inner musings of a smaller internal puppet play. The mixture of various techniques gives texture and a nice disjointed quality that shifts and creeks it's way around the subconscious set. A child's dream? or a dark Gilliam-esque dreamscape that has no place for innocence? Either one, it is an impressive student film that sets the stage for other schools to step up to. (Thanx, No Fat Clips!)

Supinfocom

2006-11-13T23:21:00.000-05:00

Everyone should know by now that I am an admirer of the student films that come out of the French school, Supinfocom! If I could go back to school to learn computer animation it would be here, mind you that they have an age restriction so I would have to turn back the clock and grow back some hair! Zut Alors!! Anyway, while I work on that time machine the good folks at Fous D'Anim (well I presume they are good lil' devils) have put the needle into the 2006 groove of this year's short films. We have already let you float in zee alphabet soupe of AH! Now, dry yourself off and danse, En Tus Brazos (shown above), your way through Valenciennnes all the way to Arles! Your feet will burn up the discotheque floor and take until Saturday night fever to watch and learn the award winning steps of this bump and grind school! In just a short period of time Supinfocom has x-y and zed it's way onto the international stage and competes with the best of them in creativity and film sensibility. While you are getting down with your CG "partner"--'freaks'-- be sure to thank the good lil' devils at Fous D'anim!!!

Tomek Baginski

2006-11-12T19:19:00.000-05:00

What the...?! I was completely minding my own business when this one from Platige Image came crashing down around my feet. Tomek Baginski's CG-defying world of Fallen Art is doing it's Asphalt Tango on YouTube!! And if that wasn't enough you can also lie flat on your back and dance under the vaulted ribs of his first film, The Cathedral. Tomek is currently working on a cinematic for "The Witcher" video game. I also found this short piece here, Undo. So put on your Sunday best and lie in a fetal position to watch these films.

The 'SmallGantic' world of Bent Image Labs

2006-11-10T23:43:00.000-05:00

A gigantic world opened up for me when I pulled back the tiny curtains of Bent Image Labs. Although FEED has beaten me to the autopsy there is still plenty of flesh for me to pick at. Starting with the morsel of a video, Harrowdown Hill, for Thom Yorke that uses 'SmallGantic' technology and shows off the pixelation wizardry of David Russo. You may have been fortunate enough to have seen David Russo's short film, Pan with Us, in last year's Animation Show. If not, check out this snippet of his first short, Populi (via AWN) for a glipse of his time-lapsed Midas touch (or maybe I should say Vulcan touch). If you are in the New York area, you have a chance to go see his latest film, I am Not Van Gogh @ the Black Maria Film Festival (MoMA), plus many other experimental investigations!! Keep your eye on the bird and guess which hand it is in.
Now that David has been sliced open and left exposed, let's turn our attention to the scalpels behind Bent Image Labs. First, let's show the medical wonders that have already made it onto the curiosity shelves of this bunny show: Pascal Campion and the Londons. The other lab mates include the moving image alchemy of Chel White, David Daniel, Kazuo Ohno, Paul Harrod, Jim Clark, Robin Willis and Lisa Yu. You can view a sample of each of their work under the 'Directors Specimen' or Option 2 on the Bent labs site. I especially liked Lisa Yu's "Vessel Wrestling" short film but check them all out. You can also see their latest commercial 'Lux' and one that I saw at this year's OIAF, Ashtraymouth.com! Also, see why they are regularly mentioned in respectable scientific journals here, here and especially here! So, shrink down for the cosmetic testing of Bent Image Labs. I'll even put the rocking chair by the fireplace for you. I can't go without mentioning our friend Toni Hafkenscheid too!

Avian Flu spreading...

2006-11-06T17:25:00.000-05:00

Here is a cool video, The Owl, from Emmanuel Ho (who isn't Secretly Canadian) for the Austin band I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness (who are). The video is a taut eye strain that is stealthily brought upon us by intertwining the sound with the anxious image mixed into the veiled plot of the Owl. This is a well executed piece as tension and empathy is built up in such a short period of time with the soundscape. Be sure to check out Emmanuel's other visual experiments on his site.

Another bird themed piece is from PSYOP for an IDent for Mtv HD, Crow. I really like the vein-like explosions of the branches against the white background as it leads the viewer into the expansive pulse of the unveiled landscape. But the best segment is the swarming particle formations of the birds that flare and flit like locusts as it eats into the barren sky. I just thought the comparison of these two pieces were interesting in their emotional effectiveness, using Flash and 3d animation, respectively, in the heightened state of sound and image.

Friendly P.S.A.'s

2006-11-02T05:50:00.000-05:00

Free Range Graphics are the people that brought about the beginning of the Meatrix and the Meatrix II: the Revolting. Now comes their newest adventure, Sam Spud and the Case of PVC. I saw this posted today and thought it would make a nice segway into a couple of other P.S.A.'s that I have seen recently.
Do tell...

This one can be seen circulating around about global warming, The Trees Are Dying. Click3X and MTV are the tentacles w'rap'ped around this public service announcement that doubles as a video for Dr. Octogon! Nice to see some outreach to the young'ins, although the 3 minutes was too much for my attention span.

And the best for last, Humans! This is STASH's Global Student Awards animation winner by the other multi-appendaged studio of Three Legged Legs. This little ditty short sings a song against over-consumption. One of my favorites of the year. Now go and buy it!! Kidding.

Bookfest and Harvey Pekar

2006-11-02T04:14:00.000-05:00

Yes, that is right! Harvey Pekar and his wife Joyce Brabner are coming to our lil' Bookfest. They will be giving a talk at the A.G.W. on Saturday, November 4th, starting at 2pm! Be there or send yourself a Harv-e-card to explain why your sorry ass isn't there. I can't help but think that it is more than just chance afoot here: 1) Harvey resides in Cleveland--industrial city just like my own auto belching city, 2) Spent his life as menial filing clerk just like me on the factory line, 3) He is a curmudgeon just like moi (see post below). Maybe there is hope for me after all. Although I will have to befriend a sex-crazed artistic god like Robert Crumb to help bring into focus this craphole life of mine! I've gotta good start tho':) Just have to work on the voice. The talk will be in a small room so you will be able to feel his gravelly voice in your chest so come early as seats are limited.
Get your fill on all things happening in Windsor via the VOICE OF WINDSOR-SOR-OR-R!! That's as special as we get for special FX!

Windsor International Film Festival

2006-11-01T22:33:00.000-05:00

I know what you're thinking...W.I.F.F.!(certainly an unfortunate anacronym)...but it is all ours! It is appropriate for the smog capital of Canada. Certainly, something smells when a handful of films that are pillaged out of the Toronto Festival are brought in under the guise of an 'International Film Festival'. Most cities would call that a weekly event at their local cinemas. Instead, our fair city, while rolling out the red shag carpet for the local celebs to trip over, throws loads of money and publicity at this well-intentioned shindig. I don't mean to be so negative about it...I am glad that I get to see Michel Gondry's Science of Sleep...but I get frustrated at the lack of vision from our city counselors about 'culture' and the slack-jawed response you get from them. Although, I do realise that things have to start somewhere and I give credit to the W.I.F.F. organizers for putting together some additional screenings during the year and for bringing these films to this backwater-film-distribution- limbo town of mine. Hopefully, next year we will see a local element and/or the inclusion of other local organizations added into the festival program.

Rant: Even though the festival has alot of corporate sponsors this year, they got alot of money from the City last year. This money could of been better spent bolstering existing programs or other art institutions, i.e. MediaCity, or setting up a more permanent film centre. Why can't the city and the private sector invest into long-term solutions rather than ramble on about a 'CuItural Capital'? Put your money where your mouth is!! This isn't the 'Cannes' of Canada. Fix the foundation first. There is no panacea for the cultural barrenness (like the urban sprawl eating up the farmland) that has grown like a spiralling parking-lot tower of bureaucratic babel. It is time for our city counsellor's to wake up and start smelling the roses that are already here rather than gamble away the cultural integrity of our city that has spread from a city block to an arena-sized landfill. A good start would be to let the peers of this artistic community (not just on paper) guide the way to a revitalized 'urban village'. Reminder there is the municipal elections happening soon (Nov. 13th)! Cast your vote accordingly. Until then, "You have left the American Sector"!!

If only it were an Electronic 'time machine' Theatre...

2006-11-01T22:02:00.000-05:00

...then I would have gone to THIS in Montreal!! Click on the image to go to Emru and the lads @ FPSmagazine. They get all the fun!!!!

OpenEnded Group

2006-10-30T04:50:00.000-05:00

This is a New Media inspirational Monday piece. When I went up to Toronto last week I got to run around the big city maze while collecting morsels of data and brainfuzz. But, it wasn't until this weekend that I got to sit down and cut OpenEnded Group from the pages of the newest Print Magazine. In it, the embassador of animation, John Canemaker, exposes a new chapter in the evolution of the persistance of vision as the form becomes self-aware. The OpenEnded Group is a collaberative between artists Paul Kaiser, Shelley Eshkar and Marc Downie. Kaiser and Eshkar have been creating "hand-drawn" 3D spaces for installation projects for dance, theatre, screen and public spaces for the last decade. While Downie came into the fold in 2001 to add artificial intelligence and real-time interfacing to the groups creative arsenal of hi-tech tools. Their works of art bring animation not only into 3D but into the Fourth dimension of Time. Take for example their piece, Biped, it is a visual discourse between dancers and motion captured 3D images, beautifully rendered as gesture drawing come to life, that float and partake in the performance like an echo. In the similar life-giving vein, Ghostcatching (shown above), which removes the physicality of the dancers but captures their afterimage and now brings it fully into and onto the virtual stage.
Enlightenment ,though, not only marks the groups advancement into 'sentient' animation but it is the title of their commisioned piece for the Lincoln's Center, Mostly Mozart Festival. This public installation uses A.I. and real-time graphics to celebrate the genius of Mozart, specifically in his Jupiter coda. Basically, the program analyzes the musical score while trying to recontruct the composition using the rules of counterpoint. Starting off one note at a time the program compares and adds or subtracts notes as it attempts to piece the composition together. As it completes each theme of the composition a visual image is generated on-screen building in complexity with the music. Here is a nice artical and interview about the piece and for the nuts and bolts go here. This 'sentient' animation logically gives birth to a whole new way of interactivity to the image. In their latest work, Playground, virtual children interact according to the viewers actions. Not only can the 'thinking' image, as John Canemaker puts it, interact with the physical presence but with it's own surrounding environment: texture, light, patterns (both physical and abstract) and most importantly time! This sets into motion a new dynamic responsive world for you and I to observe, participate, react to and affect. What we are witnessing is the virtual "Lucy" in an Open-Ended progress of becoming an active viewer instead of a passive observer.

Hold onto yer seats kiddies because the Emperor is standing in front of a green screen and has no clothes. There is substance to this illusion.

Sonic Sunday: Creaking Tree String Quartet

2006-10-29T14:56:00.000-05:00

If the 'Creativity' Blues has ya stuck down in a county dirt road rut! Like moi (if ya can't tell from the repetitive writing)...then clear some headspace and down that shot glass for a hit of some spirited sounds from the Creaking Tree String Quartet. The Toronto foursome brought their bluegrass, jazz, folk, classical and roots fusion music to a very small crowd at MacKenzie Hall last night. The ever changing tempos and time signatures slowly and quickly changed the mood from a quiet soberness to knockdown inebriation. Their influences are a mixed concoction of sounds but the style and taste is distinct and all their own. They are not 'Down' with the Mountain but excavating it and giving us a new precipice to look off of. From the opening song of Spacehead to the closing number, these guys didn't let the small turn out (lack of promotion) spoil the pot. Instead, the sound fermented as we got punch-drunk on tunes from their soon to be released third album. This is live music at it's best for me. Too bad there weren't more people there to share the experience with. I know these guys will eventually be back, so be sure to be looking through the smog as this was one gasp of fresh air that left me reeling and an improvisational cure-all for my 'creativity' blues.

Electroshock therapy: Satrapi, WFAC and AH!

2006-10-27T05:49:00.000-04:00

Quick hits worth jolting up and saying "Ack, sputter and putang!",

Sneak peek of Marjane Satrapi's award-winning graphic novel, Persepolis, ala feature animation now. The film is to be released in N.A. in the Fall of 2007 and distributed by Sony Pictures Classics. There is a production blog by Satrapi here.
(thanx Cartoonbrew!)

The next jolt comes by way of this years Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema. Go and see the list of films offered up for your viewing comsumption. There is some great stuff this year as always. The full listings will be posted, as well as the time schedule (I presume) on Nov. 1! Mark it on your calendar and be sure to book a place to stay in advance (if you're planning to go) as I was unable to get a room close by last year at the spur of the moment.
Fimfárum 2--gotta go see it!
Michel Ocelot--modern master!

And lastly, a nice short film I saw on Motionographer last week but haven't had the time to post about it. So, here is AH!, another cool CG short from our virtual pals at Supinfocom. In this instance, nos amis sont Simon Moreau, Joris Bacquet and Bastien Dubois. Voir le film et bon appetite! Just don't choke on the letters as they come out.
Official website.

John Keane

2006-10-27T00:55:00.000-04:00

I can't go mentioning Pascal Campion without giving a loud furball choking soundout to my good mate John Keane who introduced me to his work. Now hailing out of Ottawa, John is working on his first professional comic gig, yeah! Though as I am writing this he may already have suffered a mass hemorrhaging from the mentalness of deadlines, booo! I am positive that you will eventually see John's name on the inside page of a Batman comic so it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to showcase him off before he becomes famous and I'll have to go to weird comic cons to see him. John puts the firecracker under me arse to start drawing so go and set fire to flame and uncork the bottle of Tittelly-poomp!

Pascal Campion

2006-10-26T01:02:00.000-04:00

I just got back from pulling all my hair out...er...well, if I had any! Man, the city that I live in SUCKS when it comes to supporting the Arts!! Anyway, I am tired of thinking and talking about it so lets look at something FUN! One slap happy site to bring out that inner Mutley laugh is Pascal Campion. Just the 'Boss Animations' alone unravels the twisted knot of municipal rhetoric that I had to endure at tonights meeting. So unhinge that funny bone and admire the prodigious talent of Campion's site and be sure to juggle your way over to his blog. Nice Flash animation and cartoony characters all wrapped up in a nice colour sense.
Fishbait Kate will eat this up hook, line and sinker when I mention the initial TMBG. Now, your reading this! I shall watch 'Dream on' a few more times as should all of you and then take that dream to the streets or the office!

Dupuy and Berberian in Toronto

2006-10-19T00:15:00.001-04:00

If I can get up to Toronto this weekend this is where I will be...International Festival of Authors! This year has the French duo of Dupuy and Berberian in attendance who will be interviewed by our national comix treasure, SETH! Monday marked my first week of real life as I am indefinately laid off from my factory job. So, it is very apropos that I am reading Dupuy and Berberian's graphic novel, Get a Life. This book is an excellent primer into the indelible world of Monsieur Jean and the slice of life rumination of his 'big picture'. Which could easily be anyone's 'big picture', if you happen to live in Paris, have a publisher and kids n' stuff. C'est la Vie. Anyway, here is a bio on both of them--Philip Dupuy and Charles Berberian. Also, a truncated interview from the Comics Journal, ici. And finally, hoozah for Drawn and Quarterly for publishing these collaberators of almost 20 years to only just now land on our backwater shores. Santé.

Suzie Templeton

2006-10-15T00:04:00.000-04:00

Finally, something to sink our teeth into!! And that is, Suzie Templeton's newest film, Peter and the Wolf! Also, my eyes got even bigger as to better see that the Polish studio Se-Ma-For was huffin' and puffin' with production on this project...(Remember Ichthys)!! Can you imagine seeing this film with a live full orchestra playing with the dense forest imagery of Prokofiev's story unfolding before your eyes!! Just from the trailer alone there is a sense of past, present and impending future that is imbued into the characters. What a great accomplishment by Breakthru films to fund this unique project and pull this out of the woods and onto the stage of the Royal Albert Hall. I don't know if this is the first for an animation to be commisioned for a musical venue as a stand alone entity and not part of a theatrical production?? But, it is a commercial hurdle I wish that could be jumped over more often.

Here is an nice article about this ambitious production with an interview with Suzie. The DVD is due out in November but you can see Suzie and the film at the Bradford Animation Festival (Nov.15-18th)!!

Once again, the mutated third eye of the British animation scene stares between the commercialism of the industry and focuses on the art of animation. I would eat my way through a crowd of children to see this one.

Fumbled abstract experiment

2006-10-10T22:07:00.000-04:00

When the words "experimental/abstract" are uttered at an animation festival most people would rather hear metal nails scar a chalkboard while receiving a glass shard enema. At this years Ottawa International Animation Festival it was no different, but, for me it is an annual blood-letting that I sadistically look forward to every year. I am like some sort of medieval monk going for his daily leeching to purge himself of his short attention span deficit. This year wasn't short of donations from the audience, however, for me it was sort of a let down. Pes's, Game Over, was in the category and don't get me wrong I really like his work but wasn't there something more than this. Another short film was Gints Apsits's Ministry Mesiah (shown above). Again, this is a cool cloned-Aphex Twin audio driven Inquisition of the Latvian kind but isn't it just a music video? I know that music videos are the 'new experiemental', and for the most part that is true, and they too need to be represented. Granted Gints's film is not a commercial video and I do like some of the collage effects, i.e. the transition to the side profile of the head and the head slicing apart. So what's my problem? Maybe it is because I have seen this before on the 47th floor. But, wasn't _grau by Robert Seidel, that I really enjoyed last year, be considered just a music video too? I guess what it comes down to this year is subjectively there wasn't much that expunged the inner demon that is collecting all my spelling mistakes to make the anti-bunny blog. The stains of last years festival are still bloody fresh in my mind. It seems that this years contenders are just the B-side picks from last year, except for the Lightning Doodle Project (Pikapika) and Jeu by Georges Schwizgiblets...sorry Thanksgiving flashback...Schwizgebel. Who knows? I just can't put my finger on why it felt so hollow this year.

A sure sign of the impending Apocalypse...

2006-10-07T11:44:00.000-04:00

Al Columbia actually has his website up and creeping. Now, no one has a reason to not get their arse in gear. Strap the feedbags onto the four horses and wake up the locust as the batsignal has been activated. Biological flakes for your Saturday morning.

Killoffer Burns

2006-10-07T11:05:00.000-04:00

This is reason #676 for me to move to Montreal!! Patrice Killoffer and Charles Burns are showing their delectable black stained artwork at Madame Edgar's from Oct. 5th-19th. Aller!
I will move to Montreal...dammit! Even if I have to clone myself to lead a life of debauchery and make nasty with mutant teenagers. Ahhh to dream!

Aurélie Blard-Quintard

2006-10-06T11:56:00.000-04:00

Now, something on a lighter note. Hopefully, you have noticed the plethora of new links to the side. I have started to add alot of links that I thought I lost but surprisingly found on an unmarked disk. There are still more to come but here is one that made my day yesterday...
Aurelie Blard-Quintard's Emily & le hamsterosaurus-Rex!! I have a soft spot (particularly on the top of my head that still bears the thumb print of the Maker, who obviously is a stop motion animator) for clay animation. This is Aurelie's end of year film at what looks like for the University for the West of England. I love this simple story that is brought to life by her great character designs and well executed animation. With a professional polish, this lil' film is a gem. Now go check out Aurelie's blog. Also, I found this short by perusing another gem of a site...The Blackwing Diaries. So, thanx to Jenny for letting this gerbil run frantically on this squeeky blog wheel. String these pearls together and I'll be the purdiest bunny in the room.

Mesa di Voce

2006-10-05T12:56:00.000-04:00

Well, now that I have hacked up both of my lungs, I can clear my throat and look at the hollow interior that is left. The cavern that remains isn't so much a hole but a gap that separates art and animation. It is a blackness that artificially breathes and bristles with electrodes and sensors that will it into existence. The clicks of switches and the coloured diodes echo and light up the space in between. It is a unique creation that is an interactive hybrid that gives life to performer and machine in an intertwined cacophony with real-time expression. Mesa di Voce is one such installation performance piece that fills the lungs and reaches up through the vocal chords to vibrate the sound and give it visual representation. It is a canvas that uses technology (motion sensors) to capture the vocal noises and positions of the singers who in turn control the image with his/her own voice. In essence the sound becomes the brush, albeit, a brush that has been artfully crafted by the coders. It is this symbiotic relationship between these two disciplines that a sight specific, impermanent, organic and mechanized form of expression is created. It is this dynamic, ever-changing entity that is called 'new media' that breathes excitement back into the my bones. I have talked occasionally about this subject...Gregory Barsamian, Knowbotic Research, Amit Pitaru and Visual Music. Now, I have updated my links on the side and added a 'new media' category. Please explore. I want to thank George Griffin, Rose Bond, Jeff Scher, Munro Ferguson and Lorelei Pepi for their inspiration panel discussion about this topic. Thanx to Lorelei in particular for exposing the fresh air of Jaap Blonk and Joan La Barbara. Now if only site specific work could be seen at the OIAF. There is the OAG and SAW gallery in the same bloody building. It's like screaming at a wall...er...never mind. Don't forget to view the video clips of this performance.

Und zee vinners arrrrgh....

2006-09-27T16:20:00.000-04:00

Well, I am sick sick sick so this is a quick post to direct you to the winners list of this year's Ottawa International Animation Festival!! Phil Mulloy took the Feature film category while Joanna Quinn took the grand prize for best independent short. Go to the OIAF website for the full list and stay tuned for my mucus filled thoughts on them. But, for now I have taken way to many cold pills and I am delusional with thougths of Hitler starring as the Designer Guys and what kind of film footage my mom would take on my wedding day...scary!

Robert Seidel

2006-09-18T21:40:00.000-04:00

Achtung! Almost one year ago to the day I wrote about Robert Seidel's _grau. His film went on to win the best experimental animation at last years Ottawa Animation festival. So, I am pleased to inform you of his latest music video he did for the U.K. band Zero 7 feat. Jose Gonzalez called 'Futures'. So, even though the entries for the experimental category of this year's OIAF doesn't grab my attention...although I could be proven wrong again...you can watch this organic morphing kaleidoscope of 'the Fall' of Eden and the decay of the Garden as it time-lapses in front of you. I am looking forward to seeing Robert's next project and it is good to see a band take on a more non-commercial project even though it is for a DVD extra. But, ya gotta start somewhere. (thanx, Motionographer)

Manu Larcenet

2006-09-15T16:42:00.000-04:00

Let's see what's on the nightstand table this week: Ordinary Victories by Manu Larcenet! I don't know what it is...too much cheese and wine but the comic and animation scene in France is turning my lemons into lemonade. Hi Kev. Anyway, Manu rubs noses with the hip bande dessinee crowd and is part of the epic of Donjon with Lewis Trondheim and Joann Sfar. This book hooked me in with the humour by the second page and kept me enthralled with the character til the end. I love his cartoony style set against the slice of life storyline of secret pasts, self-doubt, creative freedom and the capturing of everyday life under the light of art and progress. It is something that I find myself gripped with right now...except the secret past thing but anything could happen. Well, I am going to go off and play some video games and ...well you have to read the book for the next part:) Also, visit his blog!! Cool doodles and notes about the seedy underbelly of the french comic world. Filled with snails but in france that is considered yummy!

Chris Shepherd and David Shrigley

2006-09-14T23:29:00.000-04:00

Well, here we are and it isn't a Sunday! The bunnyhole is back and open for business with lots of pleasure as the genetically modified golden carrot of factory life is quickly coming to end. Now, the scary ride of real life is clammering up that fateful hill as I look down on Who I am and What I Want! Which segway's nicely into the countdown to the OIAF 06...if you are not going then the hand of Chris Robinson will pluck yer head right off (see above). Well actually no...but his scientists are working on it. Be warned!! Not only am I just a wannabe pimp but Chris beats me to the proverbial punch of showing off the best shiners of independent animation...which leads us to Chris Shepherd and David Shrigley. Here is his left hook review here. The wonder twin power of this dynamic duo is activated by muttering slurs in a dark alley. My first exposure to Chris Shepherd's work was with his film, Dad's Dead. This live-action augmented world where animation heightens the emotional tension of angst and misguided youth was like that first drag of a cigarette in the back of the portables. Pass the dark meat, please. Mix this with the raw art of David Shrigley and you get a new orifice openning up and decapitated heads (no really, see above). You may know David's work from the video he did for Blur which was animated by Shynola. Even though some may NOT like his art because of its crudeness and 'my kid could do that' mentality it nevertheless touches on some raw nerve. In comics, it would be akin to Jeffrey Brown's work. Art isn't pur-dee all the time. It is ugly and crude and sometimes not even about the picture. I talked about it here. Anyway, Who I am and What I Want is a must see for me at the festival. So, put mortar and pestle together for this crudite of animation delights. Why does it always come back to sex and food? C'est la Vie!

Sonic Sunday: Bell X1

2006-09-04T20:21:00.000-04:00

I know it seems that this has become a sonic sunday kinda habit but my computer is down yet again and I only get a chance to access this digital soapbox every week. I promise the animation will go off like a furball violently dislodging from yer throat as soon as I get my computer up and running again. But for now, I offer up a cool graphics company called SSSR who has done a bang up job on a band I have been following ever since I saw them perform at Eamonn Doran's in Temple Bar way back in the day. The band then was Juniper but now with some shedding they are Bell X1 and I am happy to say that they sound cooler than ever! Damien who? It is great to see they are getting a hip animation house to create the visuals to their sound. SSSR nicely combines different visual styles and 'Rocky took a Lover' is a good example of this. It is a great look to a song that has been stuck in me head for the last couple of weeks now. I have had the pleasure of hanging out with David Geraghty from the band and it is good to see that he is still going at it.

Sonic Sunday: Teach Yourself Piano

2006-08-27T22:41:00.000-04:00

Well, last night we were treated to the all-you-can-eat music buffet of Teach Yourself Piano. Not only can you siddle on up to the heaping portions of sweet and sour songs on there freshly minted CD Sweet Waltz, Bitter Waltz but you can listen to bite sized samples on their tasty new website. The house was full but appetites were growling for the main event that was their CD release party. They did not fail to deliver. Sarah's vocals sound better and better every time I hear her and the kick off was spiced up so hot with musical guests that it added that extra tear to that slow pot now set on boil. And even though I have been on a steady diet of T.Y.P. they served up each song with newness and mixed in some surprises. Kevin's instrumental compositions showed off his seasoned musical chops and were one of the highlights of the night for me. But the best was when everyone got on stage and played 'Fabulous' and the hall shrank down to the Atkinson's living room for one of their infamous parties. There would be so much good food and people would just jam away as everyone added in their sound. I guess that is why I associated food with their music. Boil everything down and their music is my comfort food that are good friends and good times. I know I weigh in heavy on the bias scale but it works for Cheney and Haliburton. So sit back in that big Armchair and let that pant botton out as we sing karaoke after filling our faces at the International House of Atkinson.

David B.

2006-08-16T15:40:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post today as the nervous tick of "getthehelloutsidecuzitssonice" is biting me hairy arse. I thought I would start sharing some of the good books I am reading whilst hanging out on the patio and sipping my Mojito. David B. has been the recent cat in my head chasing that gerbil on the wheel. Babel is the spin-off series from his award winning book Epileptic (buy it now if ya don't have it). The story still revolves around his relationship with his brother and his ailment but now the story wheel squeaks to the rhythm of myth, history and dreams. The larger 'Ignatz' format combined with the dual black and red tone printing fits perfectly now into the series fold. David's storytelling along with his bold graphic style against the red backgrounds show his command of the sequential language as he stands atop this tower of Babel. Here is an excerpt interview with him from the recent Comics Journal and an article from the one and only Bart Beaty from the Comics Reporter. Also, don't forget to check out David's stuff in the MOME anthology!! Great stoof or I should say C'est Bon huh huh huh!!

Sonic Sunday on a Tuesday: Tom Waits

2006-08-15T11:41:00.000-04:00

Let it be known that this Mule variation is just me as an ignorant ass getting kicked in the throat by the one and only Tom Waits. I know, I know that everyone in the world is a fan of his and that my slow uptake is met with the same old whiskey drenched adjectives and gravel laden lyrics that meander deep into the backwoods. But, I just saw him in concert and I thought it would be interesting to see if there was any animation that captured his scarecrow-like gestures and that distinctive sabulous voice that rumbles and rasps through the cracks of that (wind)pipe. Unfortunately, there is hardly any. The only one that does the trick is this animation by John Lamb and Bruce Lyon in the late 1970's (shown above). "Tom Waits for No One" (via YouTube or download here) is a rotoscoped video that won an Academy award for scientific and technical achievement for Lamb and Lyon. HERE is an excellent write-up and interview with John Lamb about the video and the process. Other than that there is nothing that comes close to harnessing the dark energy of that vocal creation.
However, Tom has composed music for some animated feature films (which will remain ogreless) and a short film by Chris Wedge, Bunny. You can watch it here in it's entirety!! Also, he composed music for that disturbing film about everyone's favorite outside artist, Henry Darger: In the Realms of the Unreal.

Distinctive and untamed is the voice that remains to be Tom Waits but his lyrics and his music will inpire and drown the dreams many. Enjoy.

The Global Student Awards

2006-08-14T10:39:00.000-04:00

Here I am peeking from behind the operating room curtain watching all the people in the viewing gallery leave from this botched experiment. But, don't fret as I am still picking at the scab of art and animation and I am working on a new format for this soapbox of mine.
So, here is a few trix to keep you bunnies occupied until the smoke clears. Stash magazine sponsors the annual Global Student Animation awards (last years post). I am not sure if the voting is still on but go and watch the finalists work in the categories of animation, motion design and vfx. Lots of nice student work here to while away these hot summer days.

Pick up those scissors and run don't walk along this biased line of independent animation.

Ottawa International Animation Festival '06

2006-07-26T00:29:00.000-04:00

Well, all the souls have been weighed in and sorted! So, without much further ado, HERE are the sacrificial films showing at this years Ottawa International Animation Festival to help celebrate their infernal 30 years of sinful pleasures. Fire up the projector and get ready for the visual gluttony that has all the major players cooking. From the likes of George Griffin, Mati Kutt, Theodore Ushev, Priit Tender, Joanna Quinn, Andreas Hykade, Jonas Odell and Ulo Pikkov (and many more) will serve it up cold and raw. I can't wait to slide down in the hot seat of the blackened theater to be force fed these delectable morsels while demons play Oscar Peterson music tattooed on my arse. Fun for the entire family indeed!! Don't forget to download the podcasts now available.

Sonic Sunday: Brave New Waves and Mutek

2006-07-23T22:33:00.000-04:00

Let's drop the needle and give that brain a poke to feel the stimulating noise of some Brave New Waves. My summer vacation might have come to a dietary end but I have managed to stay up late and gorge on the aural treats from the fridge of CBC Radio 2. Patti Schmidt straps on the headnoise and takes us deep underground every week night to stress and gauge the level of our musical boundaries. Avant-garde to noise to electronica, BNW is the self proclaimed disclaimer of the disclaimed. So push that finger into the left frontal lobe (right above your eye) and get happy to some Brave New gammaWaves. Mix and stir that with some live shake and bake yer gelatinous North American ass in the sonic oven known as MUTEK. This international festival of music, sound and new technologies falls in Montreal every spring to rain on your mainstream parade. Even though it is over for this year, let the electrodes twitch that nerve of curiosity to prod at the artists that made up this years experimental audiovisual overload. You can listen to a podcast of it here from Radio 3 and read and watch about it on Vu d'ici. There you can see via YouTube a performance by a favorite of mine 1-speed bike. And since I am in Montreal, I couldn't go without mentioning La Société des arts technologiques [SAT]. They just had their FantASIA film festival and you can read a good review of it from those great purveyors of everything cool, FPSmagazine. Also, check on the SAT site for upcoming events that will make you salivate for no good reason. Note to self: move to Montreal!!

Neural

2006-07-15T14:20:00.000-04:00

This is a deviation from the norm here on this freakshow train but this is for my friend Kevin Atkinson who is getting married today. If ya didn't know, I have a secret fascination with New Media art and here is a great site to fire the electrodes to 010 with all things nanotechcool. Neural should be a site you visit on a regular basis to fill that empty cyborg gap. Weta you know it or not we will still think you are the shizzle of geekdom. cheers.

N.F.B. free for all

2006-07-13T18:18:00.000-04:00

Take off to the Great White North, ya hosers! The gloves are off in this N.F.B. viewing bench brawl of the most popular all-star players to help celebrate their 65th anniversary. So, put that red or blue Sweater on and break out the NFB animator trading cards to watch your favorite animation back in action. From the likes of Richard Condie to Cordell Barker and Christopher Hinton's Flux (shown above) to Caroline Leaf's The Street, they are all there for your viewing pleasure. And it's free!! Pick two and put them in a head to head shoot-out or hook up it up to that projector t.v. and have an animation party. Whatever you do, whether it is viewing these for the hundreth time or the first, remember that it is these animated shorts that have made the N.F.B. the Hanson brothers of the film production league. Although, you could argue that they have lost their powerhouse status as only a hand full of these films are from the last 16 years but this is a celebration of their history. Gone are the glory days of carte blanche creator driven films but instead the era of co-productions are the norm as the game is watered down. But hopefully, the N.F.B. will strive to be at the forefront of independent animation as it's history so poignantly points out. Animator trading cards what a good idea!!
(via CartoonBrew and Warren Leonhardt)

Joanna Quinn

2006-07-12T13:53:00.000-04:00

Everyone knows the work of Joanna Quinn. Whether it is a 'frisky' cat or the dancing Charmin Bears, everyone knows the commercial work of Joanna Quinn. But, like all good animators she quietly sits away in the corner drawing to her hearts content. I don't know if it because she doesn't have a strong internet presence or that everyone is still getting down with the shiny bling bling of 3D animation, but, Joanna's independent films are something to press your face against while taking in her body (of work) beautiful. Rowr. Her latest film, 'Dreams and Desires', won the Special Jury prize and Audience award at Annecy this year. Which is fitting as it is almost 20 years ago that her first film, Girls Night Out (1986), won at Annecy. In fact, Joanna has won almost every major animation award or has been nominated for it. Come in a little closer. At first glance Joanna's animation is beautiful. Caricatures befitting Daumier at times and the movement of form in a loose, free style. It is raw 2D animation...pencil on paper! As a complete package though her work packs the full wallop like the robust women that frequent her films. Laugh out loud, knee slapping hilarity ensues as the slice of life piece is passed around for all to enjoy. Joanna explores issues of womanhood and ideas of beauty personified in the character of Beryl. It is a nice touch to see Beryl has aged in this latest film. So, whether it is a Girls Night Out or the Wife of Bath to Dreams and Desires, Joanna and her work are not only positive role models but just plain brilliant animation. Pull the covers back and snuggle up beside the fleshy world of Beryl and don't be afraid to blush because now everyone will know about the private work of Joanna Quinn. Wouldn't it be nice to see a dvd with a collection of her work on it? Well Knight me as I wear my big cod piece and call me Sir Wishalot! Rowr!

Anders Nilsen

2006-07-11T23:45:00.000-04:00

It was in 2003 that Leesa and I met Anders Nilsen and his partner Cheryl Weaver at the inaugeral T.C.A.F.! So it came as a shock to both of us when we saw the forthcoming 'comic' from Anders as a comemoration of Cheryl's fight against hodgkins lymphoma. Don't Go Where I Can't Follow is a journal of notes, sketches and photos of her fight and untimely passing. Art is what we talked about three years ago and the struggle of being an artist today. Since that time, Anders has become a force to note about in the world of comix and graphic novels, from the pages of Mome to Dogs and Water and my favorite big question of Big Questions. His work, even in it's minimalist of forms, touches upon the aimless journey of life and all the frail steps that question or punctuate our emotional process(es). Meaningful? Only in absurdity and in the human condition does the rounded questions get more blurred and wander off into the distance. Maybe, I make his work sound too philosophical but in the end it is about man vs. man, man vs. nature and in this latest offering man vs. self and the healing of the creative process. Seek out Anders work and look out for his Monologue for the Coming Plague from Fantagraphics and The End (tentatively scheduled for next year). Required reading for the Bigheaded.

Jan Svankmajer

2006-07-11T22:24:00.000-04:00

There is only one animator that comes to mind when I here the descriptive words 'animated meat'...and that is Jan Svankmajer!! Lunacy (Selini) is the latest tongue-out-of-mouth offering from the abattoire filmhouse of Svankmajer. Click here for the trailor. Obviously, I wallow in the formaldahyde pool as a devote specimen with fake painted eyes at the surreal visions of Jan Svankmajer but then again, who isn't!!! Get on board the mystic train and befriend the rotting piece of flesh beside you as we journey into what has become the distinctive cut of human psyche this side of the Vltava River. Again, it is the familiar territory of live-action and animation that Jan takes us into. Lunacy is loosely based on two short stories from Edgar Allen Poe with the Marquis de Sade being a main character and inspiration. Cross pollinate that with Svankmajer's unique insight into the human mind and current political climate and you get this allegory of 'philosophical horror'. If you want to taste more of his work, you can go and watch some down through YouTube. But, don't just dig in...savour the imaginative process of this Master of Animation and buy his stuff for your 'Stuck on a Island' essential dvd collection. See I wrote this whole damn thing without saying Alchemy. Shazam!!

Sonic Sunday: Thinkbox

2006-07-10T02:42:00.000-04:00

Over the past couple of months I have been travelling around and neglecting the carnivorous plants growing in my blogosphere. Recently, in my Little Shop of Horrors I am playing the experimental ambient sounds of Thinkbox to quell the hunger of my Audrey II. Congrats to my hometown dial turners and beat manipulators for an overdue retrospective of their sonic experimentations in our local hotbed that is also the home of Richie Hawtin. They had their closing performance at the end of last month at the Art Gallery of Windsor. So let the sound wrap around as the heady rhythms of Chris McNamara, Rob Theakson, Mark Laliberte, Bill Van Loo, Chris Bissonnette and Steve Roy engulf you down to your shoegazing self. And while you are travelling down the tube take in the visual fever that accompanies the music. The strong visual presence of this collective is part and parcel of the whole organic feel of what makes them each a unique automaton being counted in the flow meter of photosynthesis. Stay tuned as I have brought back plenty of sacrificial victims to feed into this Venus fly trap blogosphere to get this head turning like the poltergeist horror that it has become. Projectile peas optional.

Hail the Brothers Quay

2006-06-26T23:39:00.000-04:00

Funny how life sometimes feels like it is stuck in some stop motion world filled with hollow-eyed dolls, creatures assembled from your bones and that annoying hair that vibrates incessantly at the crown of your forehead. No. Well, stop taking those pills and let the Brothers Quay treat you in absentia. With porcupine needle in hand head on over to the AWN and stick it into Taylor Jessen's interview with the expatriot twins who were in L.A. for a lecture and retrospective of their work. If you do not know who Stephen and Timothy Quay are then get yourself to the sanitorium and frantically scribble 'I am a loser' until your fingers bleed and the dead opera lady sings. Here are some St. Quay relics that we put the token in to illuminate the leathery skin--IFFR wish I could see this!! Also, Jack and Diane and no do not think John Meloncamp but a movie they are doing some animation for starting this summer. All hail the Brothers Quay.

Hyacinthe

2006-06-15T00:12:00.001-04:00

Here is just a quick slice and splice of the winner of the best video award @ Annecy. Sébastien Cossett and Joann Sfar's underground eye popping strangle(r) hold of Thomas Fersen's "Hyacinthe". This is a nice cross breeding of Joann's graphical stylings set into motion to this slice of life story of Hyacinthe (lady of the house speaking!) and the Monsanto-like results that occur. So swap them factory farmed cows in for the genetically modified seeds of Joann Sfar and gang to take the vine downward into the disturbed ground. See what creature is spliced into the genetic strain to make up this modern day Frankenstein.

Annecy winners

2006-06-13T22:22:00.000-04:00

I have rigged up a self-torture device that looks like some medieval Rube Goldberg contraption that would make Flaggellants bleed with envy as I bemoan the fact of missing out on going to Annecy this year. So, it is with tar and feathers that I parade out like the village idiot to happily announce this years winners:
The grand prize goes to a specimen that hasn't strayed too far from this curiosity cabinet--
Regina Pessoa and her short film A Tragic Story with a Happy Ending. Also, Run Wrake's Rabbit, which you can now view on the BBC film network, took a special destinction award!! There are many winners so go and check out the full list here. I will open up the door of the Iron Maiden to pierce your heretical soul and enlighten you to some of the saints and sinners of the biggest animation inquisition in the world. So put on that 'Mask of Infamy' and bring your tortured self back for a pagan dance on this cranial altar of sacrificial offerings.

Rob Sato

2006-06-12T19:21:00.000-04:00

I have been toiling in the bunny patch so that I can grow my genetically modified army of cabbage patch drones. But then, I realized in so doing that I have neglected the propaganda crusade of unearthing delectable morsels to share with yous'all. Well pack your lunch and march in single file to bury those cut off crusty edges in the back garden with Rob Sato. I took shovel in hand to start the uprooting of what I consider one of the most overlooked comics of last year, Burying Sandwiches. Fortunately now Rob has his own greenhouse to showcase the fruits of his blackened thumb. With that check out his freakish flora form art that grows wild with seeded imagination. Also, the sample pages of his comic are ripe and ready to sink your canine teeth into. See why this beautiful yet simple story of anorexia is more subtle in tone than the black and white marks on the page.

Sunday Inspiration: Kara Walker

2006-06-05T10:21:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, under the blistering gaze of the afternoon sun my shadow became long and agitated. It soon left as I sat and lazed unable to lift myself from beneath the burden of the struggle of labour. The shadow(s) play but underneath the silhouette it can convey a story of complex starkness. Unlike Peter, we get a chance to enter into the history of the South through magnifying lens of Kara Walker. Paper beats rocks but she doesn't cover the hardships of the past up with a white sheet but perforates it to reveal the negative spaces around it. Life-sized images of escaped silhouettes confront us with violence, brutality and murder in a playful punctuated tableaux. Just like in first year animation class where you have to convey action in an 'easy to read' silhouette, Kara captures the caricatured forms and unbridled actions of the cracked 'Song of the South'. We have already backlit the art and craft of Lotte Reininger and Michel Ocelot's shadow puppet animation. But unlike the elegant cameo vision of these two artists Kara uses the cut-out technique to free the idealizations and stereotypes and rewrite the visual language of this black and white imagery.
Kara has exhibited extensively and is included in the Art Now 2 book and the pbs Art:21. So play in the shadows and run the Races of the past as this bunny has already pulled the trigger.

A is for...

2006-06-01T18:21:00.000-04:00

ANIMATION BLAST 9! This is for anyone out there that doesn't know about or just woke up from some deep hibernation or the icecaps melted to expose a new intelligable life form to the Darwinian proof of highly evolved animation magazine. Amid Amidi has been dragging his knuckles on this one for awhile now but it will finally stand tall this month to the chagrin of the Neanderthalic stone and chisel reporting news of some myopic organizations. So preview and then throw away that so called magazine of intelligent design and see who the Creator(s) really are!!! A stands for Annecy too. And Amid Amidi will also be the abomidable reporter from zee Amazing festival via the Cartoon Brew. Ack too many A's, eh! So while this bunny is getting over the passing of his kitty put on that beret and drink some whine cuz I wanna be in France. Bring back a t-shirt for me Amid:)

Sonic Sunday: Tanya Tagaq

2006-05-28T11:12:00.000-04:00

Since the cobwebs have overtaken the light coming in from the Rose window of Sunday Inspiration, I have decided to stick the electrodes back into the specimen to hear the spasms that lie within. A couple of months ago I was driving home when I was overtaken by the sounds of Tanya Tagaq performing with Kronos Quartet. Night had taken over but the colours of the percussive voice of Tanya mixed with the Titan power of Kronos (quartet) illuminated the slow descent down the throat as I was consumed by the sound. The playful interaction of the throat singing and the instrumentation was almost primal in nature and drove me closer to the center of something inately familiar. It was of course something that I had heard before and later realized that Tanya has collaberated with that otherwordly nymph, Bjork. I had picked up the soundtrack to Drawing Restraint 9 and Tanya performs on one of the tracks on it. (Aside) ironically, Matthew Barney is someone I have been meaning to feature on Sunday Inspirtation...go here to see the trailer. The mesmerizing voice of Tanya certainly matches with the texturally rich imagery of Matthew Barney. Expand the mind and unnaturally splay open the throat to the earthy sounds of Tanya Tagaq!! Now if only they would release the performance with Kronos Quartet. Check out her MySpace audio stuff. Sonic headtuning!

Joseph Feltus

2006-05-25T23:21:00.000-04:00

Today we fire up the giant hot air bunny balloon head and take it high up where the lack of oxygen makes us giddy! Joseph Feltus along with brother Tobias hover in the stratosphere of emptiness and regret with their latest offering Solo Duets! Beautiful puppet animation that delves into memory, reflection and longing. I would love to see this in it's entirety but we are just given a teaser and plentiful pre/production photos to give us enough air to want more. Definately, these two float between the realm of art and animation and their creative voice shines through on this graduate film from the Edinburgh College of Art. Also, check out Joseph's other films on his site and the italian duos siamese hybrid connection of FeltusFeltus.
So take another gasp and fly high on this flashback of broken dreams. Munchies optional.
(Aside) sort of looks like the Brothers Quay when they are old and retired.

Fimfárum 2

2006-05-23T22:51:00.000-04:00

I have no idea what this film is about but I know I like it! Crazy puppet animation that looks like Rankin and Bass on crystal meth! What is it you say? Why it is Fimfarum 2 done by Jan Balej, Vlasta Pospíilová, Betislav Pojar and Aurel Klimt and it took Best Feature Length film at Anifest. Go and explore this world of big teeth, little tom and hunchbacks! Pull the string and chuckle til you run out of cord.