Boing Boing- Tastic

Three blog entries in one day. This is what happens when you drink Red Bull AND your one year old has an extra long nap.

Anyway, saying that boingboing is a cool site is a bit like saying Mount Rushmore is tacky. Tell us something we DON'T know.

But here's a particular archive that gets to the core of why, for me, boingboing is so enjoyable. Heaps of art items, that at the very least blow my mind concerning how many people are making crazy/amazing/weird/provocative/insane/remarkable artwork. And at best, the entries really make me think about the world and how we all move through it.

For whatever reason, I'm extremely varied in my tastes and interests, and look with great skepticism at those who refuse to see or at least search for the connectedness in all things (art or otherwise). There's so much out there, it's breathtaking.

Boingboing gets that, big time.

Enjoy having your brain boggled...

Seth

Speaking of Seth, here's a nice little essay he wrote for what's basically my fave Canadian magazine these days, The Walrus.

Of course, it also features a nice comic story as well.

Seth's work, generally speaking, is quiet, elegant, and infused with a melancholy that never drifts into self-pity. Well, rarely drifts into self-pity. Wonderful rainy day reading. And what better kind of day to read comics?!

Someday I'll try to pay his work more dues in a longer entry but if you don't know his stuff, consider yourself introduced...

Doug Wright-Canadian Cartoonist

I've been meaning to offer a modest intro to Doug Wright for a while, and sure enough, just as I get around to it, I discover there's a newly released collection of his work now available! Lovely timing...

This is a highly personal thing, as everyone who loves comics and comic art has their own faves. And those faves are often formed in childhood. And that's the case for my and the work of this artist. Quite simply, someone in my family (probably my Mom, and probably at the checkout counter in the grocery store) purchased a collection of Doug Wright's Family strips when I was a kid. I'm sure it went for about $1.00, at the time. That book lived in my house forever, until about 10 years ago when I grabbed it from a pile of old books and magazines, so I could keep it safe.

Growing up, I knew only that Wright's world really seemed like MY world, middle class (admittedly, whitebread as hell, but I am what I am), southern Ontario. The clothes, the houses, the toys, the TV shows seen playing in the backgrounds, the general "feel" of the world was real to me, in a way other strips simply weren't.

Thick knit sweaters in the fall, groceries picked up in big cardboard boxes, furniture by Sears and The Bay, "fruit cellars" used to store canned foods and more exotically, wonderfully stubby beer bottles...I could almost literally see myself in the strips.

Today, as an adult, and with a finer eye to craft and detail, I appreciate his work for how elegant and perfectly expressive it is. To put it WAY too simply, he was just so damn good at what he did! Compared to 95% of current strips, he's a complete master. Nothing is wasted, nothing distracts, but there's heaps of detail to engage the eye. It almost literally feels good, physically, to take in his stuff.

His work makes my eyeballs happy.

And his stories are even more relevant to me now, because I'm no longer the kid in the strip. I'm the Dad, struggling to keep his cool as he carries recycling bins to the garage while stepping on toy blocks and cars my kid has scattered around. It seems I have a life-long relationship with this artist, and how satisfying is that? To not outgrow something you love, but grow INTO it? So often we leave what we loved as kids behind (I'm looking at you, Marvel comics). It's not often we fall deeper in love the older we get.

I'm so happy to see him recognized now, with this released two volume collection. It features an intro by Lynn Johnston (Canadian comic strip superstar), and is collected by good ol' Seth (another masterful Canadian comic artist, and increasingly a huge champion of ensuring comic art is given the reproductions it deserves).

I've included just a couple of Doug Wright's stories, at the top of this entry, to entice you to search out more (and now you can, easily). Be sure to click on them, to enlarge. Enjoy!

And enjoy this CBC interview with Wright. It's a bit corny but hey- there's hamburgers on the BBQ, and that's never a bad thing.

Where The Wild Things Are

I'm a big Maurice Sendak fan (who isn't), and I'm also a big Spike Jonze fan (there are also many of those), so I've been following the development of this film adaptation pretty closely.

As closely as you can follow any production that has been mired down by so many rumours, half-truths, and curious misleads. Things like "the producers are making Jonze re-shoot the entire film because they don't like the effects," to "the producers are making Jonze re-shoot the entire film because they don't like the lead actor's performance," to "the producers have fired Jonze". I am sure there are many, many others...

What's given me hope throughout is this: the production stills I've seen look very promising, Sendak has given it his blessing, Jonze has a great way with visual effects, a way that insists on effects feeling physical (even if they're digital), Dave Eggers (whose fiction I greatly admire) was co-writing the screenplay, and Jim Henson Company was involved in a big way.

Now the trailer is out, it LOOKS like its a clear path to a release later this year, and all is as well as it can be. I think the trailer looks exciting, and hints at an emotional depth that I hope the film has.

I've long admired Sendak primarily for his insistence that kids can TAKE IT. And by "it" I mean the darker realms of human existence. Kids are humans, not "pre-humans," to be treated like idiots.

Consider Sendak's "Higglety Pigglety Pop!" to see how he addresses death, and the loss we feel when a loved one leaves us. Not material for kids? Then why is Sendak so popular?

Anyway, I hope this film is dark, scary, ferocious, angry, tender, loving, comforting, and moving. All those things can co-exist- in life, and in cinema.

Gerald's Last Day

Legendary NFB animator Kaj Pindal (with whom I have the pleasure of co-teaching an Animation History course with) has a great way of describing the process of making an animated film. To paraphrase- "Making an animated film is like writing a novel one word a day." In other words, the challenge is to create a world that lives and breaths and captures your audience, BUT you have to do it through a process that is incredibly slow and careful.

In still OTHER words, it ain't easy.

Justin and Shel Rasch, a California-based duo, has somehow managed to make it look easy.

Their stop mo film Gerald's Last Day runs just over 11 minutes, and tells the story of a chubby pooch (Gerald) who is facing "termination" in the dog pound at the end of the day, unless someone takes him home.

When I talk with students about developing strong stories for short animation, I really try to encourage them to focus their efforts (at least initially) on 1)- character and then from that, 2)- character's objective. I've learned the value of this through my own storytelling efforts, my work in animation and live action film, and from my studies with renowned story editor/writer/filmmaker/ professor Amnon Buchbinder. Keep your character focussed on his/her/its objective, and you're on a good path, in terms of developing a story.

Consider the following objective: "I want to continue living." That is essentially the strongest objective a character can have! And THAT, quite simply (and powerfully) is what drives the story in this short film.

It's so clean, so clear, and so deeply rooted (thanks again to Buchbinder's language here), it allows the film to fly forward like an arrow, perfectly, towards its conclusion (which it hits like a bull's eye).

This film is doing very well for itself in animation festivals and competitions. That success is due in no small part (along with very nice animation and performances) to the clear/clean/concise quality of the story. When I finished watching it, I felt supremely satisfied, and why? In part because the character had stayed on task in terms of moving towards his objective.

That's not to say he ACHIEVES his objective, but rather that he stays on task. You'll just have to watch the film to find out whether poor Gerald finds a home.

Also, briefly, in terms of the "less is more" school of acting (especially when considering acting with puppets), the climax of the film is very strongly done. The acting is modest and restrained, and reveals a very careful directing hand. What could have been a very sappy, overdone moment instead honestly touches the heart.

This is close to a perfect little film. And it's extremely encouraging to any indie filmmaker (working in any form of animation), because it's literally a "home made" film. Justin and his partner Shel (who contributed greatly to the film, not just co-directing but also creating a VERY tight edit) toiled away in a home studio to bring this to life, while also managing outside jobs and SEVERAL kids.

Wow. What an inspiration (for an exhausted father of just ONE little ankle biter).

I can't wait to see more work from this film making team. They are already well underway on their next stop mo project, which you can follow here.