(Click on images to view larger.)
I've scanned more from the booklet so be sure to check out the rest in my Fun Ephemera Flickr set.
11.14.2006
You can thank the Conquistadors
I'm currently working on a two-part post that I'm very excited about. I hope to have it up by next week, so in the meantime, check out some nice illustrations I found in this Peter Pan Peanut Butter booklet from 1963. You will thank me to no end for sparing you the text that accompanies the artwork because if you were ever so daring to read through it, you'd be treated to the fabulously mundane story of the peanut (which is not a nut, but a vegetable) which originated in South America and was taken back to Europe and eventually the world by the Spanish Conquistadors. Yes, George Washington Carver has his own chapter. Strangely, he's not pictured. Nevertheless, the illustrations are wonderful. And dig that cover! Too bad the artwork inside is not as colorful, but still interesting. Enjoy:
(Click on images to view larger.)
I've scanned more from the booklet so be sure to check out the rest in my Fun Ephemera Flickr set.
(Click on images to view larger.)
I've scanned more from the booklet so be sure to check out the rest in my Fun Ephemera Flickr set.
11.10.2006
Spotlight: Big Wide Action Show (Part 3)
This is Part 3 of a continuing series on the making of The Big Wide Action Show Open. Part 1 was on thumbnail storyboards. Part 2 was about character design. Today, I discuss layout, backgrounds and color, featuring an interview with the background artist for the project, Eric Garlinghouse. (Click on each image to view larger.)
Scene 1 final color.
Very sorry for the long interlude between Spotlight entries. No sense getting into explanations, so let's get into it, shall we?
After the character designs and final storyboards were signed off by the client, my next step in creating the Big Wide Action Show open was to create an animatic of the entire open. An animatic is basically a very early rough version of the piece, using the storyboard images as placesholders before we start work on actual animation -- basically a "moving storyboard." The animatic is very important at this stage because as a director, I need to know how the spot flows from scene to scene -- do the timing and pacing feel right? What scenes are working or not? Can we read what's happening? It's also important at this stage to find out the frame count for each scene so I know just how much animation is needed.
I put the animatic together in After Effects and typically I start by laying the rough audio down first as the "groundwork" and then I edit the storyboard images in order based on the audio track. Since there are no speaking parts in the Big Wide Action open, there was no need for me to worry about audio at this stage. I just started to put this puzzle together knowing that I have 30 seconds to tell my story and then Steve Mank, our sound guy, will work his magic afterwards.
After the animatic is finalized and the piece is flowing like it should, I then move on to layout. Layout is essentially creating the environments and setting for each scene -- the backgrounds, if you will. Similar to what a set designer does on a movie shoot, when I create my layouts, I'm trying my best to give a sense of place for my characters to reside in. That means I must know the path(s) of action for each and every character for each and every shot, and I must know if everything is clear and readable. Remember, animation is about communication. I need to make sure that every shot is concise and that the viewer has no problem figuring out what's going on -- especially for this particular job. For the Big Wide Action Show open there was about 30 shots -- quite a handful for a 30 second open. That means most of the shots would be on screen for at least a second or less -- I had to think BIG and BOLD. Good thing this was for Hi-Def TV -- the wider aspect ratio for the screen gave me more breathing room for most of my shots on this open. Conceptually, I went with broad camera moves and extremes -- from extreme close-ups, extreme zoom-ins to extreme zoom-outs, all to convey the frenetic outrageousness of the storyline. Since this was all about action in an exaggerated (and comical) sense, I really wanted to push it further than what our viewers were used to seeing.
Once I sketch out each of the scene layouts, I pass them onto an inker to ink the backgrounds and then I start to paint them in Photoshop. Since I had so much on my plate for this particular job, we called in a freelancer to help me out with the backgrounds. First of all, I have to say that I'm not one to pass things off to others so easily. I'm a firm believer in the addage "If you want something done right, you have do it yourself." But this is not a smart way of thinking when you're working in the animation biz. Animation is a collaborative effort. Not one person can do everything in this industry (unless if you're working on your own project, but even then you still rely on some help) -- it's just not feasible. Knowing that I was going to be stretched to the limit with all the amount of work that needed to be done, I relented and went ahead and passed off the backgrounds to another artist. Not just any artist, but someone who understood and really got my style and would understand my vision. I was a bit nervous, but man! -- what a stroke of luck when we found Eric Garlinghouse. Recently I decided to interview Eric for this post, so you can get an idea of what goes on when we hand a guy like Eric a job like this, and how he approached the job:
------------------------
Ward: So, who are you and what do you do?
Eric: I am Eric Garlinghouse, now the Senior Graphic Designer at Radical Axis, in Atlanta, Georgia. [Ed. note: Eric was a freelancer at the time of the Big Wide Action job.] Recently I've been working on commercials for Chuck E' Cheese and Cheetos [both are currently airing on Cartoon Network]. I've also been working on stuff for "Freakshow", which is on after Southpark on Comedy Central [first aired October 4th]. I've also been working on a graphic rebranding of Radical Axis including Demo Reel, Company DVD, and print materials. I've been working in motion design for about 4 years and have done freelance work for print.
Motion design is actually my second career. I taught music for about 10 years at schools such as Wesleyan, Starr's Mill H.S., Macintosh H.S. , and Georgia Tech.
W: What is your background—schooling, for instance—is it animation? design? shadow puppets?
E: I spent most of my post-high school years studying, performing and teaching music (percussion mainly). I constantly illustrated and tried to amalgamate the two disciplines into my compositions; both aurally and visually. I soon decided I would rather utilize my skills in motion graphics than become a band director so I went to school for graphic design. I graduated from Georgia State University where I spent almost a year as an intern then freelancer at Primal Screen. I currently work at Radical Axis as a motion designer/compositor and occasionally get to paint backgrounds.
W: What sort of direction (if any) did I give you for the Big Wide Action Show open?
E: You have always been an inspiration to me and I was overjoyed to be asked to paint the backgrounds for the Big Wide Action Show. You and I discussed how the backgrounds should look and we both were imagining things slightly different. The backgrounds were roughed out by you but I imagined heavy textures that complimented the lines that are so descriptive of your style. A bit later, we were watching a clip from Disney's, then recent, HOME ON THE RANGE and fell in love with the background textures and decided to use that movie as a reference. We were also inspired by TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE (aren't we all), and I seem to recall someone bringing up THE CARE BEARS MOVIE...hmmm maybe not.
W: No comment on the CARE BEARS MOVIE bit. But you're right, I forgot that we based a lot of our backgrounds on HOME ON THE RANGE. They had some great stylized shapes and textures in the backgrounds for that film. I felt that you did a great job incorporating that look but making it completely your own.
E: Thanks, I always try to draw inspiration from things I see and absorb the idea instead of making a direct copy. I think the whole spot turned out vibrant and fresh.
W: I agree. I was very happy with what you came up with. It was like you took my background drawings and added that extra "umph" that they needed. What approach to the overall look and style of the backgrounds did you take?
E: Armed with inspiration from you and about 500 photoshop brushes (some created specifically for this project) I started out painting the desert scenes. The first scene I painted was the scene where the road vanishes to the right and Big & Wide drive off after the villain with the money bags.
Scene 2 layout.
Scene 2 line.
Scene 2 final color.
I started out by creating some extra swaths of sand along the edges as if it had been blown into that fashion by passing cars. Then I added multiple layers of color to create one unified color scheme. A very painterly approach. The final result of the clouds was a happy accident. Using feathered masks on lines drawn with a pen tool, I applied varying blending modes and gradients to create the soft, distant stratus type cloud.
The underwater scene is probably my favorite. I remember showing some of these to you and you said that the appearance was "refreshingly different" from what you had first imagined. I felt that the underwater scenes needed a sense of mysticism and other-worldliness. These scenes were incredibly thick with layers and blending modes to get the right blend of color. I even worked some of the textures in Painter 8 to get a natural feel to the application of color. I made some really cool bubbles in painter, but they weren't used in compositing. This is the only scene where i used actual photography, as well. It is pulled way back in saturation and color, but it helped give reality to the surface of the water. You can kind of notice it in the shot where Big is about to catch the torpedo.
Scene 13 layout.
Scene 13 line.
Scene 13 final color.
In the city scene the colors were meant to be dark and apocalyptic. I thought this was a humorous approach given the ease of which Big & Wide remove the threat upon the city. There are a couple of funny stories about this scene. A quintessential Ward-ism is precariously placed if you look on the billboard over the top of the lowest set of buildings on the left. There you will see an homage to none other than his wife, of course. Also, in the scene where Big & Wide are looking up at the monster and the paperboy is on the corner, there is a slight zoom out from their faces. This was the last background to be painted and the zoom out wasn't working properly because there was not enough of the drawing to zoom out that far. So I went back in to add some extra linework along the edges, just continuing the rocks, sidewalk and textures. Somehow the compositor got a hold of an older version of the background and the scene went to layback with some of the textures clearly not running all the way to the edges. So we ended up with only a block of textures just inside the viewable area. I went out of town and wasn't there for layback, so i believe that that was the version that was sent to the client. Oops.
W: You know, I never noticed that. I'll have to go back and check it. And "Ward-ism?" I like it. I'll have to copyright that. So, last question: Did the characters' look, color, and design have an effect on you when you created the backgrounds?
E: Big & Wide are designed very well and I had to stick with colors that complimented them and not fight with their appearance on screen. I did change some colors after seeing the rough composite of the desert scene. I also darkened up some of the city scene as to lessen the similarity between the sky and Big's uniform.
W: Well, Eric, you did an excellent job with the backgrounds. It was so nice not to have to worry about that part of the job, and if you know me, that's a big big deal, considering that i tend to get my grubby fingers in all aspects of a particular job. Thanks for all your hard work, Eric. Fantastic stuff.
E: Back at ya Ward! It is an honor to work with you any project. It was a smooth ride and I it really turned out beautiful...um, can I un-pause THE CARE BEARS MOVIE now? Grumpy Bear is about to go belly-up freebasing rainbows again...
W: Again, no comment on CARE BEARS. Some things are better left unsaid.
------------------------
It was relaxing to know that I could hand off my background drawings to Eric and know that he would create some beautiful work for this piece. I was extremely happy with everything that he did. Big thanks to Eric for taking the time to do the interview (sorry for the lengthy delay in getting it up) and also for his incredible work on the Big Wide Action open. Much appreciated, man. (FYI, I'll post the frames featuring what Eric called "quintessential Ward-isms" for the next post.)
Here are some other examples of the backgrounds and layouts we created for The Big Wide Action Show open, with pencils by me and final painted versions by Eric:
Scene 10 final color.
Scene 11 layout.
Scene 11 line.
Scene 11 final color.
Scene 12b layout.
Scene 12b final color.
Scene 20 layout.
Scene 20 line.
Scene 20 final color -- Eric's version (here you can see where Eric expanded the background).
Here's the final color for our two boys, Big and Wide:
It was hard to figure out a color scheme that would be typical of superheros but one that hasn't already been done. THE INCREDIBLES wasn't out yet when we were working on this, but there was the teaser trailer available online and I tried my best to not get too close to that. We had to think about a multitude of things since our characters were going to be placed over a vast variety of settings -- there were going to be scenes in broad daylight, underwater and in space, so we had to find a color scheme for Big that would look great in all these settings. For Wide we just wanted something simple since he was a robot, but we didn't want your typical metal grey -- so I choose to go with an off-white with some varied tones of that original color. I think it worked really well.
Up next (and last installment for this series -- finally!): Animation. Also, I'll have a nice quality Quicktime version of the open available to download. Stay tuned!
LINKS:
Article on AWN of a book about layout artists: Animation Layout: Support Material
Don Bluth's description of layout: Don Bluth's Animation Academy: Layout.
Nice article on Skillset about layout artists: Layout Artist.
Scene 1 final color.
Very sorry for the long interlude between Spotlight entries. No sense getting into explanations, so let's get into it, shall we?
After the character designs and final storyboards were signed off by the client, my next step in creating the Big Wide Action Show open was to create an animatic of the entire open. An animatic is basically a very early rough version of the piece, using the storyboard images as placesholders before we start work on actual animation -- basically a "moving storyboard." The animatic is very important at this stage because as a director, I need to know how the spot flows from scene to scene -- do the timing and pacing feel right? What scenes are working or not? Can we read what's happening? It's also important at this stage to find out the frame count for each scene so I know just how much animation is needed.
I put the animatic together in After Effects and typically I start by laying the rough audio down first as the "groundwork" and then I edit the storyboard images in order based on the audio track. Since there are no speaking parts in the Big Wide Action open, there was no need for me to worry about audio at this stage. I just started to put this puzzle together knowing that I have 30 seconds to tell my story and then Steve Mank, our sound guy, will work his magic afterwards.
After the animatic is finalized and the piece is flowing like it should, I then move on to layout. Layout is essentially creating the environments and setting for each scene -- the backgrounds, if you will. Similar to what a set designer does on a movie shoot, when I create my layouts, I'm trying my best to give a sense of place for my characters to reside in. That means I must know the path(s) of action for each and every character for each and every shot, and I must know if everything is clear and readable. Remember, animation is about communication. I need to make sure that every shot is concise and that the viewer has no problem figuring out what's going on -- especially for this particular job. For the Big Wide Action Show open there was about 30 shots -- quite a handful for a 30 second open. That means most of the shots would be on screen for at least a second or less -- I had to think BIG and BOLD. Good thing this was for Hi-Def TV -- the wider aspect ratio for the screen gave me more breathing room for most of my shots on this open. Conceptually, I went with broad camera moves and extremes -- from extreme close-ups, extreme zoom-ins to extreme zoom-outs, all to convey the frenetic outrageousness of the storyline. Since this was all about action in an exaggerated (and comical) sense, I really wanted to push it further than what our viewers were used to seeing.
Once I sketch out each of the scene layouts, I pass them onto an inker to ink the backgrounds and then I start to paint them in Photoshop. Since I had so much on my plate for this particular job, we called in a freelancer to help me out with the backgrounds. First of all, I have to say that I'm not one to pass things off to others so easily. I'm a firm believer in the addage "If you want something done right, you have do it yourself." But this is not a smart way of thinking when you're working in the animation biz. Animation is a collaborative effort. Not one person can do everything in this industry (unless if you're working on your own project, but even then you still rely on some help) -- it's just not feasible. Knowing that I was going to be stretched to the limit with all the amount of work that needed to be done, I relented and went ahead and passed off the backgrounds to another artist. Not just any artist, but someone who understood and really got my style and would understand my vision. I was a bit nervous, but man! -- what a stroke of luck when we found Eric Garlinghouse. Recently I decided to interview Eric for this post, so you can get an idea of what goes on when we hand a guy like Eric a job like this, and how he approached the job:
Ward: So, who are you and what do you do?
Eric: I am Eric Garlinghouse, now the Senior Graphic Designer at Radical Axis, in Atlanta, Georgia. [Ed. note: Eric was a freelancer at the time of the Big Wide Action job.] Recently I've been working on commercials for Chuck E' Cheese and Cheetos [both are currently airing on Cartoon Network]. I've also been working on stuff for "Freakshow", which is on after Southpark on Comedy Central [first aired October 4th]. I've also been working on a graphic rebranding of Radical Axis including Demo Reel, Company DVD, and print materials. I've been working in motion design for about 4 years and have done freelance work for print.
Motion design is actually my second career. I taught music for about 10 years at schools such as Wesleyan, Starr's Mill H.S., Macintosh H.S. , and Georgia Tech.
W: What is your background—schooling, for instance—is it animation? design? shadow puppets?
E: I spent most of my post-high school years studying, performing and teaching music (percussion mainly). I constantly illustrated and tried to amalgamate the two disciplines into my compositions; both aurally and visually. I soon decided I would rather utilize my skills in motion graphics than become a band director so I went to school for graphic design. I graduated from Georgia State University where I spent almost a year as an intern then freelancer at Primal Screen. I currently work at Radical Axis as a motion designer/compositor and occasionally get to paint backgrounds.
W: What sort of direction (if any) did I give you for the Big Wide Action Show open?
E: You have always been an inspiration to me and I was overjoyed to be asked to paint the backgrounds for the Big Wide Action Show. You and I discussed how the backgrounds should look and we both were imagining things slightly different. The backgrounds were roughed out by you but I imagined heavy textures that complimented the lines that are so descriptive of your style. A bit later, we were watching a clip from Disney's, then recent, HOME ON THE RANGE and fell in love with the background textures and decided to use that movie as a reference. We were also inspired by TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE (aren't we all), and I seem to recall someone bringing up THE CARE BEARS MOVIE...hmmm maybe not.
W: No comment on the CARE BEARS MOVIE bit. But you're right, I forgot that we based a lot of our backgrounds on HOME ON THE RANGE. They had some great stylized shapes and textures in the backgrounds for that film. I felt that you did a great job incorporating that look but making it completely your own.
E: Thanks, I always try to draw inspiration from things I see and absorb the idea instead of making a direct copy. I think the whole spot turned out vibrant and fresh.
W: I agree. I was very happy with what you came up with. It was like you took my background drawings and added that extra "umph" that they needed. What approach to the overall look and style of the backgrounds did you take?
E: Armed with inspiration from you and about 500 photoshop brushes (some created specifically for this project) I started out painting the desert scenes. The first scene I painted was the scene where the road vanishes to the right and Big & Wide drive off after the villain with the money bags.
Scene 2 layout.
Scene 2 line.
Scene 2 final color.
I started out by creating some extra swaths of sand along the edges as if it had been blown into that fashion by passing cars. Then I added multiple layers of color to create one unified color scheme. A very painterly approach. The final result of the clouds was a happy accident. Using feathered masks on lines drawn with a pen tool, I applied varying blending modes and gradients to create the soft, distant stratus type cloud.
The underwater scene is probably my favorite. I remember showing some of these to you and you said that the appearance was "refreshingly different" from what you had first imagined. I felt that the underwater scenes needed a sense of mysticism and other-worldliness. These scenes were incredibly thick with layers and blending modes to get the right blend of color. I even worked some of the textures in Painter 8 to get a natural feel to the application of color. I made some really cool bubbles in painter, but they weren't used in compositing. This is the only scene where i used actual photography, as well. It is pulled way back in saturation and color, but it helped give reality to the surface of the water. You can kind of notice it in the shot where Big is about to catch the torpedo.
Scene 13 layout.
Scene 13 line.
Scene 13 final color.
In the city scene the colors were meant to be dark and apocalyptic. I thought this was a humorous approach given the ease of which Big & Wide remove the threat upon the city. There are a couple of funny stories about this scene. A quintessential Ward-ism is precariously placed if you look on the billboard over the top of the lowest set of buildings on the left. There you will see an homage to none other than his wife, of course. Also, in the scene where Big & Wide are looking up at the monster and the paperboy is on the corner, there is a slight zoom out from their faces. This was the last background to be painted and the zoom out wasn't working properly because there was not enough of the drawing to zoom out that far. So I went back in to add some extra linework along the edges, just continuing the rocks, sidewalk and textures. Somehow the compositor got a hold of an older version of the background and the scene went to layback with some of the textures clearly not running all the way to the edges. So we ended up with only a block of textures just inside the viewable area. I went out of town and wasn't there for layback, so i believe that that was the version that was sent to the client. Oops.
W: You know, I never noticed that. I'll have to go back and check it. And "Ward-ism?" I like it. I'll have to copyright that. So, last question: Did the characters' look, color, and design have an effect on you when you created the backgrounds?
E: Big & Wide are designed very well and I had to stick with colors that complimented them and not fight with their appearance on screen. I did change some colors after seeing the rough composite of the desert scene. I also darkened up some of the city scene as to lessen the similarity between the sky and Big's uniform.
W: Well, Eric, you did an excellent job with the backgrounds. It was so nice not to have to worry about that part of the job, and if you know me, that's a big big deal, considering that i tend to get my grubby fingers in all aspects of a particular job. Thanks for all your hard work, Eric. Fantastic stuff.
E: Back at ya Ward! It is an honor to work with you any project. It was a smooth ride and I it really turned out beautiful...um, can I un-pause THE CARE BEARS MOVIE now? Grumpy Bear is about to go belly-up freebasing rainbows again...
W: Again, no comment on CARE BEARS. Some things are better left unsaid.
It was relaxing to know that I could hand off my background drawings to Eric and know that he would create some beautiful work for this piece. I was extremely happy with everything that he did. Big thanks to Eric for taking the time to do the interview (sorry for the lengthy delay in getting it up) and also for his incredible work on the Big Wide Action open. Much appreciated, man. (FYI, I'll post the frames featuring what Eric called "quintessential Ward-isms" for the next post.)
Here are some other examples of the backgrounds and layouts we created for The Big Wide Action Show open, with pencils by me and final painted versions by Eric:
Scene 10 final color.
Scene 11 layout.
Scene 11 line.
Scene 11 final color.
Scene 12b layout.
Scene 12b final color.
Scene 20 layout.
Scene 20 line.
Scene 20 final color -- Eric's version (here you can see where Eric expanded the background).
Here's the final color for our two boys, Big and Wide:
It was hard to figure out a color scheme that would be typical of superheros but one that hasn't already been done. THE INCREDIBLES wasn't out yet when we were working on this, but there was the teaser trailer available online and I tried my best to not get too close to that. We had to think about a multitude of things since our characters were going to be placed over a vast variety of settings -- there were going to be scenes in broad daylight, underwater and in space, so we had to find a color scheme for Big that would look great in all these settings. For Wide we just wanted something simple since he was a robot, but we didn't want your typical metal grey -- so I choose to go with an off-white with some varied tones of that original color. I think it worked really well.
Up next (and last installment for this series -- finally!): Animation. Also, I'll have a nice quality Quicktime version of the open available to download. Stay tuned!
LINKS:
Article on AWN of a book about layout artists: Animation Layout: Support Material
Don Bluth's description of layout: Don Bluth's Animation Academy: Layout.
Nice article on Skillset about layout artists: Layout Artist.
11.09.2006
Ava Thursday...sort of
Today I would like to direct your attention to my wife's blog -- she's kindly taken over Ava Thursday for the week, and I couldn't be happier. I've always wanted Andrea to post her own Ava Thursdays because, after all, she IS the girl's mother. Plus, I knew that Andrea would have some great stories to tell from the little masterpieces that our daughter has bestowed upon her. (Actually, Andrea twisted my arm until I screamed like a little schoolboy, but I'm not telling you that.)And this won't be just a one time gig -- I'd like for Andrea to host Ava Thursday whenever she feels like it. And whenever she does, I'll be sure to let everyone here know and post a direct link. Although you should be checking out hula seventy on a constant basis, so I shouldn't have to tell you.
So, begone, you! Go to hula seventy pronto!
11.08.2006
Loft Graffiti
Speaking of Justin, I just realized that I had posted this over on Sugar Frosted Goodness back in March, but never posted it here. It's some graffiti characters I painted for Justin for his loft in Cabbagetown Mill Lofts, deep in the heart of Atlanta. The two dancers were painted in 2001, over the course of a long weekend. The leftover fumes were so bad at night that Justin had to sleep somewhere else for a couple of days for fear of passing out. I wore a respirator when I painted the wall, making sure that I didn't pass out, didn't see pink elephants on parade, or at the very least make sure that my next child didn't have a third arm. When Justin moved out in 2003, another fellow Primate (what we Primal Screen employees call each other -- cute, huh?) Brandon moved in with his girlfriend, vowing to keep the mural up. Alas, Brandon eventually moved out in November of last year (when these pics were taken), so who knows if the current resident has kept it up? Oh well. It had a good run.
I really enjoyed working on this wall -- it was my first graffiti job inside a building. As typical per any artist, I see some things that I would go back and fix, like proportions, poses, line quality, etc. But ah, why bother? Gotta get over it. It was fun, and I learned some valuable lessons -- like for example: lofts don't have very good ventilation. Keep that in mind whenever you get the urge to spray paint the walls of your loft apartment.
More photos (you can click to view larger):
11.07.2006
My Life as a Soundtrack
Don't normally do memes, but this one struck a chord with me, mostly because it's about music, and also because when I started to go through the songs for each stage of my life, some amazing coincidences occurred. Too coincidental for me not to share you all. For what it's worth, I didn't cheat -- these songs actually came up in the order shown below. Here goes:
If your life were a soundtrack, what would the music be?
Here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, winamp, media player, iPod).
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press play.
4. For every question, type the song that's playing.
5. New question-- press the next button.
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool.
Opening credits:
"Night of the Living Baseheads" Public Enemy
Waking up:
"Going Out West" Tom Waits
First day at school:
"Love and Peace or Else" U2
Falling in love:
"Run" Soul Position
(Pretty much sums up my love life during my early years.)
Breaking up:
"Dignity & Shame" Crooked Fingers
(What a wild coincidence here! Again -- all too telling.)
Prom:
"Babalu" Yma Sumac
Life's okay:
"Everything Is Everything" Lauryn Hill
Mental breakdown:
"Raspberry Beret (extended version)" Prince & the Revolution
(Nothing like a little Prince to get me through any sort of mental state I'm currently in.)
Driving:
"Feelin' Alright" Traffic
(I mean, c'mon -- TRAFFIC? For the "Driving" section? This was just too creepy for me!)
Flashback:
"Downtown" Petula Clark
(Ha! Nothing like a flashback song for a flashback.)
Getting back together:
"Paint It Black" Rolling Stones
(Hmmm...more truth being told here?)
Wedding:
"Fool Says" M. Ward
(Let's hope this isn't true. After 12 years it's been a pretty good run so far.)
Birth of child:
"Naked As We Came" Iron & Wine
(Yeah. This was what came up. I'm not kidding. I know. I'm freaking out too.)
Final battle:
"Valentine Heart" Tanita Takiram
(Very anti-climatic. Oh well. Can't win them all.)
Death scene:
"Elvis Presley & America" U2
Funeral song:
"Do Right Woman Do Right Man" Aretha Franklin
(Well, I have to say that Aretha singing for my funeral isn't all bad.)
End credits:
"Relax" Frankie Goes to Hollywood
(Nothing like a little retro 80's to take people out of the auditorium.)
So there ya go. Something fun for this cold, rainy day. I'd love to see what comes up for your life soundtrack. Post them in the comments and share with us. In the meantime, I'm tagging three: Jared (because he's got an nothing better to do), Johnny (because of the same reason), and Sister Amy (because she needs to get her head out of her daily novel writin'). Get to it, guys!
Be sure to check out wifey's, too.
If your life were a soundtrack, what would the music be?
Here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, winamp, media player, iPod).
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press play.
4. For every question, type the song that's playing.
5. New question-- press the next button.
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool.
Opening credits:
"Night of the Living Baseheads" Public Enemy
Waking up:
"Going Out West" Tom Waits
First day at school:
"Love and Peace or Else" U2
Falling in love:
"Run" Soul Position
(Pretty much sums up my love life during my early years.)
Breaking up:
"Dignity & Shame" Crooked Fingers
(What a wild coincidence here! Again -- all too telling.)
Prom:
"Babalu" Yma Sumac
Life's okay:
"Everything Is Everything" Lauryn Hill
Mental breakdown:
"Raspberry Beret (extended version)" Prince & the Revolution
(Nothing like a little Prince to get me through any sort of mental state I'm currently in.)
Driving:
"Feelin' Alright" Traffic
(I mean, c'mon -- TRAFFIC? For the "Driving" section? This was just too creepy for me!)
Flashback:
"Downtown" Petula Clark
(Ha! Nothing like a flashback song for a flashback.)
Getting back together:
"Paint It Black" Rolling Stones
(Hmmm...more truth being told here?)
Wedding:
"Fool Says" M. Ward
(Let's hope this isn't true. After 12 years it's been a pretty good run so far.)
Birth of child:
"Naked As We Came" Iron & Wine
(Yeah. This was what came up. I'm not kidding. I know. I'm freaking out too.)
Final battle:
"Valentine Heart" Tanita Takiram
(Very anti-climatic. Oh well. Can't win them all.)
Death scene:
"Elvis Presley & America" U2
Funeral song:
"Do Right Woman Do Right Man" Aretha Franklin
(Well, I have to say that Aretha singing for my funeral isn't all bad.)
End credits:
"Relax" Frankie Goes to Hollywood
(Nothing like a little retro 80's to take people out of the auditorium.)
So there ya go. Something fun for this cold, rainy day. I'd love to see what comes up for your life soundtrack. Post them in the comments and share with us. In the meantime, I'm tagging three: Jared (because he's got an nothing better to do), Johnny (because of the same reason), and Sister Amy (because she needs to get her head out of her daily novel writin'). Get to it, guys!
Be sure to check out wifey's, too.
11.04.2006
Dance Party: Ward-O-Matic is 2!
Yikes! This sort of snuck up on me -- today The Ward-O-Matic turns 2! Expect me now to rant and babble on about how my blog hates its diapers, running around the house willy nilly with a runny snot-filled nose, throwing temper tantrums, crying, poking, biting, pinching...the list could go on and on. Looking forward to it!
Well, to celebrate the occasion, I'm throwing a Dance Party. All you hep cats are welcome. I'll be spinnin' the cool tunes of Bobby Darin, Robert Goulet, Bobby Rydell, Ricky Nelson, some Indian chick and more. It'll be a happenin' shin-dig. Here, check it out: (Click on images to view larger.)
I have to give credit to my good friend Justin (previously) for the old 45 record carrier from 1961 (the records shown above were what I found inside). He gave it to me during his going away party last year. Justin, you're missed on a daily basis down here in the great ATL. Come back to visit soon, won't 'cha? Extra big heaping thanks for the parting gift! You knew that I'd love this thing and you're right. Can't thank you enough for it.
Be sure to visit Justin's site -- he's updated it since I last mentioned it and all of it is wonderful. Look, he drew the Jenkins family back when we consisted of three:
So, The Ward-O-Matic is two. Big thanks for sticking with me this long for all those who've been there from the beginning, and another big thanks to those who are new. I really appreciate all the visitors, comments, emails, contacts I've made since I've started this thing. It's been a ton of fun so far, and can't wait to see what the future holds! Got lots of great things to share with you all. Stay tuned...
Well, to celebrate the occasion, I'm throwing a Dance Party. All you hep cats are welcome. I'll be spinnin' the cool tunes of Bobby Darin, Robert Goulet, Bobby Rydell, Ricky Nelson, some Indian chick and more. It'll be a happenin' shin-dig. Here, check it out: (Click on images to view larger.)
I have to give credit to my good friend Justin (previously) for the old 45 record carrier from 1961 (the records shown above were what I found inside). He gave it to me during his going away party last year. Justin, you're missed on a daily basis down here in the great ATL. Come back to visit soon, won't 'cha? Extra big heaping thanks for the parting gift! You knew that I'd love this thing and you're right. Can't thank you enough for it.
Be sure to visit Justin's site -- he's updated it since I last mentioned it and all of it is wonderful. Look, he drew the Jenkins family back when we consisted of three:
So, The Ward-O-Matic is two. Big thanks for sticking with me this long for all those who've been there from the beginning, and another big thanks to those who are new. I really appreciate all the visitors, comments, emails, contacts I've made since I've started this thing. It's been a ton of fun so far, and can't wait to see what the future holds! Got lots of great things to share with you all. Stay tuned...
11.02.2006
Ava Thursday: Alexander was inbarist
Thought I'd do a special Ava Thursday this week with a follow up to Ava's now-famous Love Is Embarrassing book posted last month. In the post I wondered out loud if Alexander would appreciate just how special this gift was that Ava gave him. Would he take the book home and show it to his parents? Would he put it under his bed for safe keeping? Or would he simply toss it into the trash? Well, I found out! Alexander's mother came up to Andrea the other day at school and asked if she was Ava's mother. She just had to tell Andrea that her daughter is an amazing storyteller and that both she and Alexander's father were quite taken by the book. They both know that it was a very special book and that they definitely plan on keeping it. They've already written the date and details on the back, which is proof to me that they truly respect this gift that Ava gave their son. So, what about Alexander's response? Well, it was quite interesting. His mom told Andrea that they could tell that he was flattered by the gift, but was -- get this -- embarrassed. He was embarrassd because Ava read the entire book in front of class (I found out that her teacher had her read it out loud -- knowing Ava I knew that she wouldn't have volunteered to do this on her own). Not sure if Ava gave the book to Alexander afterwards in front of everyone, or after school.
He did have questions for his mother: Why did Ava give this to me? Well, she told him, she probably likes you or appreciates you. He was really sweet about it and his mother said that he was really flattered by the book and slept with it that night.
I can't tell you how much that means to me. When Ava was creating these books I knew that she was planning on giving them away and I cringed more and more with each creation of a page. The amount of detail given to each book made my heart swell and break because I knew that these precious little paper gems were not going to be here under our roof soon. I was deeply envious of the recipients to these books -- I don't care how that sounds, it's the truth. I admit, I'm selfish when it comes to my daughter's creations. I'd rather all three books be in my possession, no one else's. I even went so far as to seriously think about hiding the books while Ava slept later on that night, but stopped short -- I realized that I can't possibly horde away every single piece of Ava artwork. Part of Ava's enjoyment of creating these books is to give them away to her friends. In fact, she's quite emphatic about giving them out to her buddies, and I applaud her for being that way. Good for her.
It's extra icing on the top for me to know that the new owners of these wonderful little books love them just as much as I do -- so much that they are willing to go to bed with the books by their sides. A way of keeping Ava close to their hearts, I guess.
I wouldn't want it any other way.
11.01.2006
Basking in a post-Halloween glow
Boy am I pooped. Last night was tons o' fun, but the kids wore us out. We definitely had a blast -- the kids had fun and looked great (Ava was a cowgirl and Ezra was a skeleton) and it helped that the weather was amazing. There's a neighborhood just down the road from ours that goes all out for Halloween. And when I say go all out, I mean GO ALL OUT. I'm talking full throttle, balls to the wall, no holds barred Halloween fun and mischief all up and down this one particular street. There were dueling houses with each offering their own haunted scenery and environments for visitors to enjoy. We discovered this neighborhood last year and promised that we'll have to return each year. There were tons of people walking through the streets: from kids to teens to adults. There was so much electricity and energy going on -- the scene looked too perfect that it was almost like when you see Halloween shown in a movie. The costumes would look just a tad too good, you know? But this was real. Everyone was in some sort of costume (some of the adults had pulled up their masks to be able to drink) although I didn't plan on putting together anything. Time was limited after work, so no fun & funky Halloween dress-up for me. Maybe I'll recreate that 1978 costume next year. I've always wanted to do that.
Expect pics soon, most likely on Andrea's Flickr. By the way, check out our Halloween pics from last year.
A couple of links that I meant to list on my Spookish Flotsam post:
Michael Fleming, aka Tweedlebop, just finished the Tweedlesketch's 31 Days of Monsters project on his blog. Great characters! Fleming's a contributor to The Retro Kid and a great artist to boot.
Another Retro Kiddo is Todd Franklin, who goes by the moniker of Neato Coolville. He's got a blog with tons of great Halloween stuff from the days of yore. Very very cool.
In the What were they thinking? catagory, here's a list of The Worst Halloween Costumes of All Time from RetroCrush. Baretta? Chuck Barris? Asteroids? Rubik's Cube??? I mean, I kinda watched those shows and I kinda got into that Rubik's fad (loved Asteroids), but COME ON -- I can't imagine ANY kid wanting to go out dressed as a dorky multi-colored cube. And that "motorcycle enthusiast" from the Village People? That's rich, I tell ya. Rich.
Expect pics soon, most likely on Andrea's Flickr. By the way, check out our Halloween pics from last year.
A couple of links that I meant to list on my Spookish Flotsam post:
Michael Fleming, aka Tweedlebop, just finished the Tweedlesketch's 31 Days of Monsters project on his blog. Great characters! Fleming's a contributor to The Retro Kid and a great artist to boot. Another Retro Kiddo is Todd Franklin, who goes by the moniker of Neato Coolville. He's got a blog with tons of great Halloween stuff from the days of yore. Very very cool.
In the What were they thinking? catagory, here's a list of The Worst Halloween Costumes of All Time from RetroCrush. Baretta? Chuck Barris? Asteroids? Rubik's Cube??? I mean, I kinda watched those shows and I kinda got into that Rubik's fad (loved Asteroids), but COME ON -- I can't imagine ANY kid wanting to go out dressed as a dorky multi-colored cube. And that "motorcycle enthusiast" from the Village People? That's rich, I tell ya. Rich.
10.31.2006
Ghosts of Halloween Past
Happy Halloween! To celebrate this All Hallow's Eve I present to you a tour of my costumes of Halloween past. Hope you enjoy.
We start the tour in the year of 1971. My sister is 1 1/2 and I am (almost) 3. The outfit that sis is wearing is something that Mom concocted with a bedsheet. She had me wear the same thing when I was Amy's age. In fact, there's a photo of me wearing this bedsheet/bunny-thing and I have this strange confused look on my face. Mom tells me that I'm looking at her as she's trying to take the photo but can't because she's laughing so hard at me. (I couldn't find the photo.) UPDATE: Found it! Here, my love for Disney and Mickey Mouse becomes self evident at the (extremely brown) kitchen table.
Next is 1973. Umm, I have to explain this. See, my Dad was notorious for freestyling a costume for Halloween. The more ludicrous, the better. He would dress up in anything that he could get his hands on: in this year's case, it was some old white pantyhose and an outrageous bedsheet. (Just check out that pattern! What could we do? It was the 70's.) Amy is 3, I'm (almost) 5. Lookit, I'm already digging the classic horror monsters: Frankenstein's monster. Amy is another monster of sorts: Barbie.
1976: This is me, our friend Susan, and my sister Amy. I'm some sort of ghoul, not sure what Susan was, sis was a gypsy. This is just as we are about to embark upon our trick-or-treatin' -- I was in full character with that freakish pose. I believe Mom painted on that third eye, probably at the last minute.
Just down the street, our neighbors loved our costumes so much that they took a photo of us. I'm posting this because I find it hilarious that I'm still in character.
1978: I'm saving the best for last. This is perhaps one of my favorite Halloween costumes of all time. I was almost 10 and was so into horror and blood and creepy stuff. I definitely was into full "gross phase" at this stage in my life.
My costume was as follows: I ripped up some old jeans and a sweater and put some fake blood in the rips and holes, I painted the skull on my face myself (complete with fake blood), I had Mom buy some black leggings so I could paint skeleton legs that could be seen through the holes in the jeans, and -- the kicker -- I taped my right eye shut and glued a paper mache eyeball that I had made by myself earlier in the day (with optical nerve, of course). Also, I had a fake rubber hand that was supposed to be in the shot here (it's on the ground in front of me), and with it, I would try to freak people out by dropping it into the candy bowl or whatever as I went out trick-or-treating. Ahh, good times.
That's it for this year's Halloween! Hope you all have a wonderfully spooky time tonight and don't get too stuffed from your annual haunting the neighborhood for sweets and sugar!
We start the tour in the year of 1971. My sister is 1 1/2 and I am (almost) 3. The outfit that sis is wearing is something that Mom concocted with a bedsheet. She had me wear the same thing when I was Amy's age. In fact, there's a photo of me wearing this bedsheet/bunny-thing and I have this strange confused look on my face. Mom tells me that I'm looking at her as she's trying to take the photo but can't because she's laughing so hard at me. (I couldn't find the photo.) UPDATE: Found it! Here, my love for Disney and Mickey Mouse becomes self evident at the (extremely brown) kitchen table.
Next is 1973. Umm, I have to explain this. See, my Dad was notorious for freestyling a costume for Halloween. The more ludicrous, the better. He would dress up in anything that he could get his hands on: in this year's case, it was some old white pantyhose and an outrageous bedsheet. (Just check out that pattern! What could we do? It was the 70's.) Amy is 3, I'm (almost) 5. Lookit, I'm already digging the classic horror monsters: Frankenstein's monster. Amy is another monster of sorts: Barbie.
1976: This is me, our friend Susan, and my sister Amy. I'm some sort of ghoul, not sure what Susan was, sis was a gypsy. This is just as we are about to embark upon our trick-or-treatin' -- I was in full character with that freakish pose. I believe Mom painted on that third eye, probably at the last minute.
Just down the street, our neighbors loved our costumes so much that they took a photo of us. I'm posting this because I find it hilarious that I'm still in character.
1978: I'm saving the best for last. This is perhaps one of my favorite Halloween costumes of all time. I was almost 10 and was so into horror and blood and creepy stuff. I definitely was into full "gross phase" at this stage in my life.
My costume was as follows: I ripped up some old jeans and a sweater and put some fake blood in the rips and holes, I painted the skull on my face myself (complete with fake blood), I had Mom buy some black leggings so I could paint skeleton legs that could be seen through the holes in the jeans, and -- the kicker -- I taped my right eye shut and glued a paper mache eyeball that I had made by myself earlier in the day (with optical nerve, of course). Also, I had a fake rubber hand that was supposed to be in the shot here (it's on the ground in front of me), and with it, I would try to freak people out by dropping it into the candy bowl or whatever as I went out trick-or-treating. Ahh, good times.
That's it for this year's Halloween! Hope you all have a wonderfully spooky time tonight and don't get too stuffed from your annual haunting the neighborhood for sweets and sugar!
10.30.2006
My Obligatory Nightmare Before Christmas Post
Hmmm...lessee here...it's October, almost Halloween, the leaves are brown and falling, the air has a slight cold nip to it -- yup, it's time to revisit my two-part review of THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS! Back in November of 2004, when I started my blog, it seemed that I had oodles of time to spare and would work on incredibly lengthy posts. So please, by all means, check out Part 1 and Part 2 if you have gobs of time on your hands. I go into great detail about the design and characters of the film, as well as offer some filmmaker comments that I gleaned from the director's commentary on the DVD.
There's no need to reinstate that I love this movie. It's probably one of my top 10 favorite films -- a list that requires each and every film worth watching a million times over without my tiring of it. I see something different in the flick each time I watch it.
I took Ava to go see NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS in 3D on a very busy Saturday. It was great to see NIGHTMARE up on the big screen again, even if it was because of the 3D gimmick attached to it. I was a bit underwhelmed by the 3D effect, with some scenes that I though for sure would pop out with flying colors become dull and flat; but surprisingly, other scenes that were quite subtle become alive with just the right amount of the 3D touch. Scenes such as in Halloween Town's townsquare where all the characters looked nice and dimensional up against the town buildings and the sky in the background. Another excellent scene that worked for me was the whole sequence of Sally going over to Jack's to give him her picnic basket. Dynamic shots with items moving towards or away from the camera worked really well. Graphic elements worked the best off of the 3D technique, like the 2D animated ghosts, smoke and the new portraits of all the characters during the end credits. Also, the countdown to the beginning of the show with the jack-o'-lantern-in-the-box was fantastic. But I think that that was done in CG -- which was made just for this presentation. So, the 3D was, for the most part, an interesting twist to an already perfect movie, but all in all, I would've preferred to have seen the original movie. It was a classic case of WHY? Just my opinion.
One nice thing about seeing it this past Saturday: there was a young mother sitting behind us who I could tell had not seen the film (the horror!). Since I have seen NIGHTMARE hundreds of times, the newness has worn off on me and I've since forgotten the parts that were funny and fresh the very first time. What parts garnered a response? When Sally's arm hits Dr. Finkelstein on the head as she runs off; Dr. Finkelstein opens up his head to give it a little tickle; Jack hits the Christmas Town sign post; Lock, Shock & Barrell nab the Easter Bunny instead and the Behemoth (big dude with the axe in his head) yells out "Bunny!"; the angel decoration being hung by the string lights when Jack lands on the rooftop; most of the Halloween Town gifts doing their dirty deeds in the "normal" town; the Behemoth and Undersea Gal creating snow angels in the snow. It was great to enjoy those moments again vicariously through this faceless person. Oh, and Ava loved the movie, of course. But she's not one of those kids who talk incessantly about the movie right afterwards. She bounces around a bit as we leave the theater, but she's always been low key when it comes to movie outings.
Hey, since you all are such nice people, especially by being patient with me during my two-part NIGHTMARE review, here's some extra framegrabs that I had sitting in the dark confines of my computer, gathering dust. They were from when I was working on the review and just didn't have enough time to post them. Be sure to click on each to view larger:
Here is the very last sequence in order, of Jack and Sally finally together, which I feel is one of the strongest in the film. Just check out the poses and staging. Excellent shots here:
There were a couple of scenes with panshots and so I grabbed the images and did some Photoshop to see what the whole thing looked like. Here are two (click on images to view larger):
Rats -- Blogger is acting up for me now, and I still have lots more images to share with you. Please come back later on today and I'll have the rest up in the post. Stay tuned...
Tomorrow: see horrors of Halloween past!
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