Jumping Jack Rant

One of those days...

2011-03-01T16:42:00.000-08:00

The Flame of Carthage...

2011-02-25T16:18:00.000-08:00

Nearly three thousand years ago the mythical Queen Dido, threw herself on a pyre in protest of being abandoned by her lover Aeneas, a wandering Trojan Warrior, to preserve her honor.

The allegorical symbolism of this act was to create a precise point of origin to the rivalry between Rome and Carthage justifying the war which would eventually destroy the Carthaginians. I like to believe that Dido was possibly the earliest of feminist, being a self appointed leader of an Empire that nearly eclipsed the Mediterranean -- and the concept of that outraged the misogynistic Romans of old. In the words of the Roman poet Virgil, "Women are like the wind, always changing!" So its not hard to surmise their distain of women venturing out of the status quo and cultural norms.

Thousands of years later, Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian street vendor, set himself on fire in protest of the corrupt government ruling the his country. The outrage over this act sparked a revolution that toppled the Tunisian regime, then Egypt, and now probably Libya. Time will tell if this brings a new wave of democracy to all of North Africa and peace and prosperity to well deserving people. Perhaps there is some irony of self-immolation (one mythical, and one very much factual) bringing about some great geographic and cultural change? I'm in no way trying to belittle their struggle, this is all quite serious business. Just an observation. By the way, Tunisia used to have an ancient name in the Latin Tongue: Carthage.

24 Hour Comics Day

2010-10-04T00:44:00.000-07:00

Alright here be my 24 Hour Comic, written by Alejandro Komai and illustrated by me. The goal was to do a 24 page comic, (that is come up with a story, lay it out, and draw) within a single 24 hour sitting without sleep or creature comforts. This turned into a crazy stream on consciousness exercise and devolved into madness near the middle when I was lacking in sleep...

View full Comic here: "Days End"

Battleship Potemkin

2010-09-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

"Battleship Potemkin" or "…so you thought Avatar had a subtle agenda?" was probably one of the worst films from the silent era I've seen. Usually that would not be saying much, considering how new the medium was back in 1926 and how crude many films were from that era. You usually have to put the film in context and accept it for its flaws looking through the spy glass of history. Battleship Potemkin deserves no such pardon. This is a terribly flawed movie. It is racist, classist, and promotes violence to further a jaded political message -- this all under the guise of being a ground breaking cinematic achievement in film. Like Avatar it should be held in the same contempt. Alright, I hate wasting effort talking about this film, because I feel discussing it only helps empower it... but I got nothing better to do at the office today so WHY NOT?

Battleship Potemkin, is a dramatized and completely inaccurate retelling of the 1905 mutiny on board the Russian Battleship "Potemkin." It was made in 1925 as a propaganda piece to bolster up the new Bolshevik Regime controlling Russia. For the life of me I could not tell you who the main character. The film maker intended this film to be more of an "experiment" in "montage" film making by juxtaposing the plight of the poor next to the splendor of the elite. This causes the film to feel all over the place, with no concise narrative. About the only thing we can gather is, the crew of the Battleship are tired of eating maggoty bread, and demand better rations from the officers. The Officers tell them not to complain otherwise they will be hanged. This causes the crew to mutiny, and throw the Officers overboard taking the ship for themselves. Again, I have no clue who the protagonist is because the film does not focus on a particular individual. Is the "Crew," as a collective unit the main character? That would seem very Communist.

No, this film then switches to the port where the Potemkin is anchored. It focuses on a new group of people who, somehow, know the crew has taken over the Potemkin and now sympathize with their plight (did they have short wave radios in 1905)?

The film gets very racist by focusing on a "trouble making Jew" who is trying to rally people to the cause of Potemkin. The "Trouble Making Jew" is then juxtaposed next to "a Greedy Capitalist" who shows up in his top hat and fine pressed suit telling everyone to be "good obedient poor people" or something? First off, why are "Jews" cliched in such a way? Either the usurpers of power? Or the ones who happen to cause revolutions? If this film was made today it would be hounded out of Hollywood for its racist undertones. I Guess communism unlike fascism ended up on the "right side of history?" Right? Right…

"Hes like totally evil don't you get it?"

So anyways the Potemkin in still anchored in the harbor, planning their next move because now they are all murders for throwing their officers overboard. Again it switches back to Odessa, where everyone is gather to show their support for the Potemkin, and their murdering ways. Even through they are essentially standing around doing nothing the Tsar's Troops decides to show and execute them all. This section, is the sequence everyone seems to cite when they talk about this film. It is paid "homage" to in the "Untouchables." Essentially it is a horrible montage of people being massacred as the Guard march in perfect line formation, executing unarmed civilians. First off, what humanity do we live, where a horrible act of brutality is held up as a piece of cinematic history? I will give it this much, the sequence, shot a wide angle, cutting away periodically while people are being shot, does very much visually display who the bad guys are and who the good guys are. That said in the context of the film, this sequence is probably as significant as the "Big Ol' Na'vi Home Tree" being knocked down by those evil-old humans!

Some how the crew on board the Potemkin find out about the massacre (short wave radio again?) and they react by firing the ships cannons on the Odessa Opera House. Because you know, if you really want to get back at the evil Capitalist Regime you gotta blow up their strategically placed Opera House. So the Potemkin pulls up anchor and tries to make its escape, but two ships have been dispatched to stop it. They reach the rendezvous point, where the two battleships have been ordered to fire upon the Potemkin if it should try to flee. But for what ever reason the Battleships don't fire on the Potemkin and its able to make its escape as the text cards scream, "Brotherhood! Freedom!" Why didn't the ships fire on the Potemkin? Did they have mutinies on board as well? Who knows. This film was created to serve a message: world wide revolution, by any means. Perhaps this film is only a propaganda film and should not been read into so deeply? I personally don't feel like giving it such a pardon. This film fails as a film before anything else. To Avatar's credit you knew who the Protagonist was, you knew who the Antagonist was, and the conflict, however simplistic was clear and straightforward. This film is an utter nightmare and should only be cited in educational venues of what "not to do."

"A Strictly Environmental Message"

September, Nine Years Later...

2010-09-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

I can safely say, my experiences on the morning of 9/11 don't even register slightly in significance compared to those who live on the East Coast, Washington D.C. or New York City. However looking back some nine years later I figured I'd reflect on my memories of that day -- so far isolated those tragic events, here in California.

My parents had recently decided to relocate from Laguna Beach to a community in North County. The new house they had purchased was being renovated so in the meantime we were temporarily living in an apartment till construction was complete. I had recently been enrolled in a new High School so I was still getting adjusted to my new surroundings as the events of this month unfolded. I was half asleep when I heard the phone ring in the living room. My mom picked up the phone, it was my grandma. I didn't think much of it, I was just trying to squeeze in the last few minutes of sleep before school. Suddenly I heard my mom shout, "They bombed what?!"

My grandma, a grand old lady born in the 1920's couldn't even comprehend the idea of someone hijacking a plane and crashing it into a building, so she automatically thought it was bombing. I jumped out of bed and ran into the front room. Before the screen turned on my mom told me they had "Bombed the World Trade Center." As cold as this may sound, the first thing that went through my head was, "Again?" I still had vivid memories of the 1993 World Trade Center bombings. The screen lit up and the first thing I saw was an image of the Pentagon on fire. By this point the Pentagon had already been hit. I though it was only the WTC? My stomach sank. Eventually the live feed switched to a view of the the Trade Center which were both on fire at this point. The recycled images of the plane hitting the south tower were pretty terrifying.

Of course the first thing that comes out of my mouth is, "Do I have to go to school today?" My mother's response, "Of, course." Its great to know my mom would still send me to school if for all we knew it, the world was ending. We were listing to the radio the entire car ride to my school. The radio host, announced the the collapse of towers. I arrived at school. The T.V. Monitor in our class room was still playing news feeds of the disaster. I could tell the teacher wanted to keep watching, but quickly switched it off, trying to get on with class. It was a Wood Working Construction class. Everyone was very silent the entire class. My CT Partner was especially quiet, as he had found out the day prior that his parents were divorcing. Great Timing?

By noon, every plane in the country had been grounded. Our High School was on the flight path for landings at LAX so we very noticeably realized the lack of 747s in the sky for the next couple of days. I went to an all boys Catholic High School, so we had school wide prayer service at the end of lunch. During the course of the day I would constantly get updates on the situation at the beginning of each class with teachers switching on the television for a few minutes at the beginning of each class before returning to their "duty" of educating the youth. After school had let out I was rushed to my grandmothers house where all the relatives had gather with their eyes glued on the big screen T.V. We learned about the plane crash in Pennsylvania, and the chaos consuming the Federal Government. I don't think we even knew where the President was at that point?

Before September, the only significance "2001" had for me was the same date as "2001 A Space Odyssey." I think the Sci-Fi channel was even promoting their line up with the tagline of, "2001: The Year of Sci-Fi." I can only imagine what my grandmother thought, having lived through Pearl Harbor and lost a brother in the War that Followed. Probably uncertain if this was the beginning of another Great War that would consume our time? Nine years later, after completing High School, College and a nasty two years in the "industry" I can only look back and envy the simple time before 2000 when me and my friends never concerned ourselves with politics, war and doomsday scenarios. I think the most serious point of conflict between any of us was whether Charizard was better than Bulbasaur? Probably the disappointing part of growing up...

Break Time!

2010-07-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

Hit rock bottom, now finally bouncing back. I've decided to take a break from the internet and all it's various drama for a bit. Temporarily disabled my Facebook, AIM and Twitter so as not to be distracted. Feel like I need to be more focused on work. Not sure when I'll get back into the mix, but hopefully I'll remain active and actually "blog" a bit more. Planning to add new comics SOON to my comic blog (REALLY this time). Other than that not much else to say. Just gonna keep on keeping on.... god I'm starting to sound like a depressing country song...

P.S. OY! Look! New design template! AWESOME INC!

ALIVE AGAIN

2009-12-06T16:24:00.000-08:00

Hey look...

http://john-j-perez.blogspot.com/

...is alive again! Hurray for my name sake. So now it is December. Once again I'm looking for employment. But in the meantime I have lots of personal project work to keep me busy. OH HELL, I also just got a PS3! I have a piles of games waiting to be beaten by yours truly, with DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS (was there a Dragon Age: Proper?) and MODERN WARFARE 2, sitting at the bottom of the pile -- lying in wait ready to eat up my life. Lemme see... lots of GREAT movies have come out and like a bunch of horrible ones are soon to be released *cough*Avatar*cough*

If you haven't already, PLEASE go and see the FANTASTIC MR. FOX. It is such a great movie. I suggest seeing it before the PRINCESS AND THE FROG, not because one is better than the other but because the JOY of seeing 2-D again might dwindle in comparison to the amazing that is Wes Anderson directing an Animated Movie. Hmm, I what else? Well, I'm going back east for New Years. That's right, the havoc that is the annual Pasadena Rose Parade has driven me to flee to the opposite coast! Take that turtle neck yuppies! Hope to have fun over there, in the land where seasons actually exist. Well not much else to say at the moment, will report in hopefully before the new year is borne!

Is John avoiding work...?

2009-10-26T18:53:00.000-07:00

Twilight themed World of Warcraft mount!

...damn right he is!

Year in Review...

2009-09-21T19:28:00.001-07:00

So this September marks the one-year anniversary since I've "quote-un-quote" begun working Professionally in the Southern California Animation Industry (a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company, VIACOM, NBC Universal and Peoples Republic of China). I figured I might as well give you guys a year in review recap bout what I've been up to. Unfortunately certain things I cannot go into too much detail on for various copyright reasons, and other stuff just cause I don't wanna be ripped off. Where to begin?

In September I began contract employee, employment at DELFINO MEDIA GROUP, a small studio located in North Hollywood. They were a very business savvy group of people who always had work that needed flashiminating.

The TWO MAJOR projects I worked on aside my friend and fmr. roommate Melissa Goodway was LUCKY KAT TV, an educational interactive Web Series for children and EDDIE & THE SQUID a pilot for a animated sitcom for Television distribution. (Images taken from Delfino Website, copyrights applied). Besides those two projects, between September of 2008 and February of 2009, we also did work for various other spec. projects many of which never came to fruition but were education none the less. Nearing the end of my tenure I also did a freelance, storyboard piece for their partner company D.A.R.E. which proudly gave me my first "professional storyboard artist" cred.

February of 2009, was a terrible month. Experienced family tragedy and sudden job turn over. I still hold a healthy relationship with my friends and co-workers at Delfino, I cannot go into specifics as to why I am no longer there, but as of February of 2009 I only worked for them freelance. I decided to approach unemployment with an upbeat attitude... well as upbeat as I can personally be. Basically as opposed to sitting around being apathetic and blaming the economy for like 9 or 10 months, I decided to just fill my free time with work. I immediately after decided to try and write a comic, or graphic novel of sorts. THE LAST TROJAN is an adaptation of the "Aeneid" by Virgil. I teamed-up with Daniel Stultz, who will be illustrating the Graphic Novel. It will be a more psychological depiction of the ancient Roman Myth, more akin to a 21st Century audience. Dan went above and beyond the call of duty, here's a look at some of his designs:

That project is still in the works and will hopefully be pitched to a Publisher (not yet owned by a corporate mouse mascot). Off and on during the year I've been working on a feature script, a retelling of the myth of SAINT GEORGE AND THE DRAGON:

Of all my pipe dreams this is probably the most baked, as I lack the millions of dollars to produce and the directorial experience to direct. However its still something nice to keep on the shelf. I made a lot of progress this summer for whatever reason, storyboarded out a few scenes and have a rough script written for anyone interested in beating me with critiques. Leading up to Comic Con, I collaborated with my brother, Matthew R. Perez and friend Daniel S. Mills (I know lots of Dans) on a live action film which Matt directed. He is a film student at Chapman University so he has uber resources at his disposal. If only I was that spoiled in college :/

The project was a psychological comedy called SHOVELOVE. Essentially consulted them on the script, helpped them with a few story points and "gripped" a bit on the set. Funtimes to see how the other half lives. The film should be released within the next few months, I'll keep you in the loop. Now, Comic Con rolled around in July. What was intended as just a chance for me to plug my comic turned into a crazy mass interview, or "portfolio review" what-have-you for myself. It was there that I interviewed for a small studio named SMORGASBORD PRODUCTION. They're a small outfit in West Hollywood, do a lot of flash based animation, some for G4's Attack of the Show. Shortly after Comic Con I began an 8-week long internship at that studio.

The bulk of what me and Krystina Haggerty, who also got the internship, did was for the pilot episode of SUPA PIRATE BOOTY HUNT. It was interesting testing out my flash animating and flash designing skills. Totally felt like a chicken with his head cut off at several points during the production. Soon after that wrapped I begun work on yet another live action project directed by Jay K. Raja who previously produced on Shovelove. Doing this stuff in unison with the NETHERWORLD ART SHOW I'm going to be in, in October. Check it out if your around!

I cannot comment too much on this project as it is still in pre-pro. All I can say is its sorta like "EYES WIDE SHUT" meets "ELECTION." Having alot of fun storyboarding on this project. Live action storyboarding is quite a different beast than animation storyboarding. Both useful skills to have though. On top of all this, I've been freelancing, both with previous employers, random contract and my fathers "company." Basically when my bank account needs money to live, I whore my college art degree like a golden age New York Hooker. I was also drafted to be the Art Director on my brother's next film, an UNTITLED post-apocalyptic Sci-fi thriller.

Without giving away the edge of your seat M.Night plot twist: there's a robot.

Expect to see this horrible design on a T-Shirt near you.

Which brings me to my current project: HELP WANTED. I can't really comment too much on this project either... but I'm working with a lot of cool people, and you'll be seeing more post concerning this project in the near future.

What can I say about this project? Like "THE OFFICE" meets "DISTRICT 9?" Or "DOGMA" meets "COPS?" I dunno. I can pitch you this project on a person to person or client to client basis. I'm excited to be animating again, and its my first directorial gig since college, so here's hopping for success! So all-in-all I cannot complain about this previous year. Kept busy, kept drawing and kept in contact with all my friends from school and work. Looking forward to 2010 and the prospects that'll bring. So thats it, if you made it this far good for you! Hope you don't think I'm a lazy bum anymore! See you... out there!

Avatar Tralier

2009-08-21T01:59:00.000-07:00

"Yiffie Kay Yay!"

So James Cameron's 'Avatar' is on the chopping block today. I know its terrible to judge a movie based on a trailer, but hell why not? At Comic Con I believe they coined the phrase, "...like Aliens meets Dances With Wolves." I'm going to say its more "...like a Deviantart Fan Artist meets a budget." The plot as has been gathered thus far from various wiki, rumor mill sources, and E3 panel is as follows:

"Humans go to Alien Planet to do some serious exploiting... cause you know that's all we humans do? Protagonist guy is injured and gets put into Blue Berry Alien body... why? Uh, I dunno. He goes out exploring and during the course of his journey he finds comradery and true love with the native aliens... also judging by the trailer a lack of clothes. So then he turns tail (pun) and decides to join up with the natives to fight off those nasty human invaders. All-in-all it makes for a movie that is not at all like 'Battle for Terra' which came out earlier this year."

Okay, I know I should be sitting here a praising James Cameron for taking a chance and doing something different, something that isn't an adaptation, reboot or remake of... but I'm not going to. He's gonna make his money back on this and then some so I have no sympathy. This is probably a personal thing more than an systemic thing wrong with the project but anthros-finding-spirituality type stuff has been circulating the internet for ages now. Yeah, yeah get over yourself... I know I'm suppose to believe they are "aliens" but common, this is science fiction/fantasy they are anthros... or to use a more volatile word, they are furries.

"What you call me mother fucker?"

You heard me. I cannot speculate what's going on in the mind of James Cameron. I doubt he's a furry. However I do know he has his ear to the ground when it comes to anime, cult animation and what have you so I'm rather disappointed this is the best he could come up with: a video game trailer. Even for a first contact story with an alien species this is pretty dull. We're going to search the stars for countless eons only to discover the most advance intelligent life is a character from Sky Doll? I guess that's the universe for you... :|

"They'll never know cause its french."
**Note: this based solely on the Trailer and what is known of the plot from various releases. Brother said he saw the 15min 3-D promo in theaters and thought it was visually amazing but had no comment as far as plot goes. Still might be good, I was wary of District 9 when I saw the first trailer for it and proven wrong. We can only see.

District 9

2009-08-15T02:11:00.000-07:00

District 9 is why we go to the movies. Only two movies this summer have exceeded my expectations, first being 'Moon' the other being 'District 9.' Now I'll be the first to admit early on when I saw the previews for yet another fake documentary film the likes of Cloverfield, Blair Witch Project or Quarantine I was pretty much... "Beh! Whatever..." I was f-ing blown away by this movie. What a pleasant surprise that Sci-fi owned the summer movie season. That not counting 'Terminator' or 'Transformers' which might as well be glorified action figure commercials.

To return to my original point, District 9 was the perfect blend of political commentary and entertainment. Lets be honest people, in this country we go the movies to be ENTERTAINED and INSPIRED. We don't want to sit in a two and half-hour depressing look on how we're responsible for all the worlds problems. We don't want to be be treated like 3rd graders with immature fart jokes and big explosions. Films that last the test of time, films we go and see over and over again are films that get closer and closer to that perfect equilibrium of thought provoking and excitement. I could go on a long rant pointing out all the flaws in modern animation, cinema or whatever but really who cares. Think of all the movies you've seen this summer or in the past few years and ask yourself we're you more entertained or inspired? Hopefully the film maker did both. Something we all can aspire to.

New Arts

2009-08-11T01:29:00.001-07:00

Interning. Being whored out for my limited flash knowledge... for a screen cred. Here is some stuff I've been doing on the side.
*Additional Note: yes my rants have been rather neutered as of late, take comfort in the fall movie season. Inspiration is but a new dawn away!

Lupin's opinion on New Moon

2009-07-15T12:51:00.000-07:00

Bleh...

2009-07-09T12:05:00.000-07:00

Nothing new going on...
...sleep schedule fail.
...insanity setting in.
fun times to be had for the congress of crazy in my head....

Not a Hater...

2009-06-07T05:13:00.000-07:00

Working once again. Storyboarding for a children's show. Really only a temp gig, thus the financial and job stress is only temporarily off-set. Nuff said. People call me a 'hater' or 'ass' because I speak my mind. I wonder if I was a woman would they call me a 'bitch?' Or if I lived on the east-coast would they call me 'normal?' Mostly I get this label when ever I critique movies or television. People are way too sensitive when it comes to someone criticizing their 'escapism,' but without critique how do you improve? You don't, you stagnate which is a big problem with entertainment now a days, especially that which we reguard as 'high art' entertainment. Let me start my tirade with this point:

If we all thought the same we'd probably be robots that don't produce anything new or of interest, or members of the church of scientology.

That point alone legitimizes my right to say whatever I want about modern entertainment. Also think the leg up I have over most career critics; that I actually do art instead of soley sitting around all day criticizing it. Now what I'm increasingly become irritated with is the notion that certain studio and individuals can 'do no wrong.' Number one on my list: Pixar.

1.) Pixar is not a Religion. It is a Corporate Studio, whose number one goal is to turn a profit for their investors and employees. They have a good formula, and they produce great movies, but they are capable of flaw. Point and case, Cars. Cars was an experimental movie that I believe fell flat of its goal, which was to inspire and entertain people. It got too caught up the in it's own cleverness of being a 'world of cars' that it forgot why you even create a movie for animation in the first place. Wall-e is another example of a movie that got caught up in its own idea, that being the 'last robot on earth.' Wall-e fell flat the second they decided to 'leave earth' and go on a bay-area left-wing crusade against all the enemies of Al Gore. Anyone who likes Wall-e (myself included) likes the first 'ground' 30 mins of 'silent movie' robotic romance. Finally Up, let me start by saying as someone who recently lost a grandparent I was touched by the emotional openning and some of the themes throughout the movie. It took many risks and I think they were justified.

HOWEVER that does not excuse obvious plot-holes, cliche character arcs and underdeveloped antagonists in a professional feature film! The entire cataylist of the film is the belief that the main character didn't turn a page in his scrapbook after all these years? I know what your saying, "Well John, it's a metaphor for turning a new page in ones life!" SHUT UP! There were not enough plants, pay-offs and various other things to merit that reveal and you know it. For all you people who say "Pixar teh bestz!" I say, "Take off your beer goggles." They are great, but they are not perfect. Also, I liked Up so don't call me a 'Hater' for nitt-picking it.

2.) Directors are not directing if they cave. Lets start at the bottem and work our way up. "Terminator Salvation," directed by McG, upsets me because it is a movie that had potiental but fell to pieces at the last minute due to directorial pansy-ness. For the handfull of you that saw it it was a movie that was all over the place with a main character (John Connor aka Sgt. Screamy) who was unlikable and pathedic. The original script as I understand it was re-written at the request of Christian Bale to give himself a larger role in the movie. Pansy-ass McG instead of laying down directorial integrity pretty much heard Bale's request and was all 'Meh, alright.' Result: waste of $10 and valuable time at the movies. A lot of movies suffered this year because of either studios or executives coming in altering a movie mid-production in order to 'play it safe.' Watchmen included. I expect the same was the case for Terminator, having such a big name actor attached was more important than the integrity of the movie itself. More important to turn a minimum profit right? Right?

"THIS IS NOT THE MOVIE JAMES CAMERON WARNED ME ABOUT!"

Brad Bird is a wonderful director, but WHY THE FUCK, is he trying to do a live-action film? (1906) Andrew Stanton, riding on his Wall-e fame has also decided to jump on the live-action film bandwagon (John Carter of Mars). Have either of these guys done a short film before? Written for screen? Anything? To be fair believe Brad wrote a treatment for '*batteries not included,' which was a GREAT film so I'll give him a chance. Still though, after years of success in animation I'm somewhat lead to believe these guys have caved and decided they have to do a 'live-action film' if they ever want to be considered a 'legit director.' If that is the case, I think thats BULLSHIT. I also think, years of mastery in one medium (be that animation) is no merit to simply jump into the leading reigns in another (be that live-action). I happens alot with live-action directors TO animation namely Tim Burton. HOWEVER Tim Burton does not 'direct' these movies he 'produces' them. He has the foresight to realize no matter how much cinematic experience he has in directing actors on screen he cannot match the skills of another accomplished 'animation director.' We'll see what happens with Brad and Stanton.

3.) The Best movie of the summer had enough plot holes to fly a spaceship through...... (thus retconing another billion dollar franchise). Star Trek proves a long running theory, that if you up 'characters' and 'effects' "OVER 9000!!!!" people will excuse weak plotlines. 'Sleeping Beauty' is a good example of this: beautiful characters and visual design. Plot? What Plot? Bitch gets sleepy, Prince gets dragon slaying. Star Trek was a great movie, and it has reinvented a franchise for a new generation. However it was not without flaw: the time-travel concept, bad-guy with confused motives and vague plan for galactic destruction, and the magical bromance of Kirk and Spock. If this movie had been named 'Firefly' you all would have ripped this feature apart, but no. You suspended your disbelief and accepted it for what it was: good entertainment. I don't fault you, hell I ate this movie up.

What does it matter in the end? Posterity matters. Its one thing having a nice afternoon at the Roman Colosseum, its another thing building a structure to last 2000 years. Okay, vague analogy. What I'm saying is yes I know studios and directors have their hands tied in certian situations causing them to simply target the broadest market for the best results. But NO film is meant for every person, no matter how good the director or script. When you make a film that is so bland what happens is it becomes lost to the ages. I once heard a Disney Animator say, in reguards to her work on 'Beauty & the Beast,' (I paraphrase),

"We tried really hard working long days and nights not even having time to shower or clean our clothes. We were trying to make something great because in the end audiences aren't look back years from now and say, 'well at least they released it on time.'"

That's what separates the "CLASSICS" from the "RUN OF THE MILL blockbuster forget it next week until maybe the dvd release, what else is on?" ....film.

Short Rant, for those with Short Attention Span.

2009-05-31T14:23:00.000-07:00

'Up' was good. Not 'Star Trek' great, or 'Incredibles' incredible, just good.

'Terminator Salvation' should have been canceled the second Christian Bale decided to write himself a larger role in the film.
I must see 'Drag Me to Hell.'

Complication Celebration

2009-05-16T16:41:00.000-07:00

Nothing new on the job front, as usual. I don't feel as bad now that I know many of my fellow Allums are also feeling the wrath of an economy scorned. Many in our next lifetime we'll be reincarnated as toolish Cal-Arts students who some how manage to get the slim pickings of jobs and internships that are out there. OKAY, whose seen the new "Princess and the Frog" trailer? I think... it looks.... goo--ood? Uh... yeah. Hey! It's the first traditional animated film in like ten-years can't be picky. I'll make this prediction: its gonna be good. Not Star Trek lived up to the hype and then some good, but just good.

My major complaint thus far, why complicate such a simple idea? I mean really? Princess kisses a Frog and it turns into a Handsome Prince? Why subject yourself to so much controversy and cross cultural differences by putting it in a New Oreleans setting? It poses more questions than it answers: Why is there a Prince or Princess in America? Why is the crocodile from "All Dogs go to Heaven" in this? Why does Randy Newman still have work!?! That said. I think I can be pulled off, and it could probably be DAMN good if they did it right. Ron Clements & John Musker (the directors of this movie) have done this before though. Treasure Planet and Hercules being their shinning achievments in complication of simplicity:

Treasure Planet aka "Treasure Island." Lets put pirate ships in space and make the island a PLANET!! Why don't these people get sucked into a endless void of space walking around a top deck like that? How can they even breath!? Wheres gravity play into this?! Is Silver a alien or cyborg-human thing? Why are their furries in space!? Star Fox!!!
Hercules aka, "Heracles." Lets throw some Gospel flavor into a Greek Myth. Okay, this could work since hero myths were relgion to the ancient Hellenistic Greek people. Wait, why is Hercules having Growing Pains moments? "Jerk-cules?" Why does Megara sound like a 40's era movie femmfatale? It takes Hades two decades to figure out Hercules' Achilles heel is "love?" Isn't Achilles suppose to be an ancestor of Hercules? (okay thats the myth buff in me talking).

Either way these are two examples of simple ideas complicated. Granted these two films were still WAY better than most of the CGI crap coming out now a days but still, if theres soo much ridding on the success of this movie why take such a risk? If this movie tanks, it will take 2-d down with it along with the job security of all those poor pamered Cal-Arts students (my heart is bleeding internally for them). If it succeeds, it will mean more studios will follow suit with greenlighting their own 2-d projects because afterall.... "children and christians are retards? but if they go and see a 2-d movie that must mean its HOT again! :D"

This bitter rant was brought you by the letter "H" as in Hell, which I'm speeding down desert highway towards. Love you guys!

Too much Fallout...

2009-05-06T04:35:00.001-07:00

Not much going on, as of late. Still writing for that comic project, and drawing when I can with this nice unemployed downtime. Playing Fallout 3! Did this nice piece here of my character. Actually its my character from U.T. transplanted into Fallout, but works really well with their nifty character creator. Aye! Back to the job search!

Industry of Awkward

2009-04-28T01:24:00.000-07:00

I went to the Academy Honors Milt Kahl event, in Hollywood tonight. Very cool engagement. Milt is one of my personal heroes not just for seer awesomeness of his craft but ability to be a tyrant among insect and still demand respect almost 21 years after his death. That room was filled to the brim with all the whose who of Animation: Brad Bird, the Duo of Ron n' Jon, Andreas Deja, Eric Goldberg. Very cool to hear these guys talk about their own personal experiences with the Kahl.

Holy crap, the animation industry is populated by crazy awkward fanboys and equally as crazy if not more awkward career professionals. It makes me feel better about myself that I choose a career inhabited by the kids who ate lunch on the bleechers drawing flip animations in their History books while the popular kids got the good grades and all the sex. I think the dynamic is still the same: the Film Industry is the popular kids courtyard frequented by loud mouths like Lauren Conrad while the Animation Industry is the Dungeons & Dragons Club hidden in the Library, never taking itself seriously but having a good time in their own special degree of fail.
BOTTOM LINE! I need to go to more of these things -- beh, maybe I should roll over and join ASIFA?

Bite fish... BITE!!!

2009-04-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

Well I dropped off my port at Disney Studios today. I'm crossing my fingers for the best but preparing for the worst. I'm sort of at a loss in finding other job leads. AWN is the suck, and most of my friends in the field are still in school or looking for work themselves. I think I'm becoming a recluse again. I've been off and on going down to Laguna to help out a friend with her senior film. I did not notice how long it has been since I had actual human contact. I think since I quit my job I've gone about 2 and a half months without brushing up on my social skills. Mind you I have pretty lame skills to start with, but at least I used to get out more talk to people. Now I feel like Gollum emerging from the cave after 500 years shreeking at the light and hating various people for minor things like not saying "hello" when they enter a room. I suppose I just need to be less vindictive and morbid, so everyone will stop perceiving me as a "downer" all the time. My own personal battle whatever.

IN OTHER NEWS, I got an interview with an editor at D.C. Comics coming up in a month or so. I'll be pitching new I.P., which I think is pretty viable (sorry I can't put that stuff on the blog). I don't foresee myself illustrating it though, so if ANY ARTIST reading this has a desire to break into comics, ("D" fuckin "C" comics for christ sakes!!) get in touch with me, I might have some conceptual work for you to do before I ship out to New York. I hope this works out. I'm not sure if this will entail me moving out that way. I've just got settled in my current "new place." But what can I say? Like the seagulls artist fly away when the weather changes. Speaking of which, down to Laguna I go!!

This is where I do my ranting...

2009-04-12T00:43:00.000-07:00

Okay all, this is my blog... blog. This will be where I will be doing all my ranting, updates and such. The previous blog's sole purpose is to display my Portfolio Online without requiring me to buy a domain name and space because... I'm a cheap fuck. What have I been up to you ask? I'm so happy to hear your concern over my recent activities as of late.

Fuck, what have I been doing? Stressing. When I'm not up late working on animation or other portfolio filling material, I'm downing tons of coffee and probably looking at porn -- anything to distract me from the realities of a downer economy and an even downer Traditional Animation Job Market. I think I have a leg up over some of my fellow grads in the sense that I have some professional work experience, but that still doesn't excuse the fact that most of my work looks like the result of Jackson Pollock meeting a Pocahontas Coloring book.

I'm currently living in Pasadena CA, in a very yuppie area of town that I some how stumbled into; what happens when you use craigslist to find an apartment. It reminds me of Laguna in the sense that people think they're the shit, and wear fancy clothing -- just add in scarfs and turtle necks and you get the full Paseo-Experience. Kinda boring I know, but at least I don't have to worry about getting stabbed at the Jack'N The Box Drive-Thru. I was working at DELFINO MEDIA GROUP. It was a fun experience working there. It was not a fun experience working there.

I got the job through my cousin, who was a director at the company. He had been scouting me since my Junior Year of College but I kept refusing because I needed to get the drama of college out of the way before I could handle the drama of the work place. All things considered it actually wasn't a very bad first job. I did however have creative differences with the aforementioned director, who intern had creative differences with every person on the face of the planet resulting in his termination from the company and a downward spiral of other difficulties which added to the need for me to resign my self.

So I've been working on my own crap since. I'm developing concepts for a feature adaptation of "Saint George and the Dragon" and other various concepts for projects I've been hoping to make since probably middle school. Not like I have any connections or industry clout to get these things made quite yet, but its a nice hobby and sometimes results in nice portfolio pieces. I've also been doing work for Sierra Lewis' senior film "Retail Madness." If you ever see her down on the LCAD campus force her to show you the working animatic... you will lawl. Other than that, I'm pretty much sitting on my ass waiting for something to happen. If you're in the L.A. area gimme a call. I need to get drunk, and I'm not pathedic enough to do it by myself.... yet.