If Baz Luhrmann Directed "Boundin'"

Possibly the weirdest Honda ad ever.

Hello Stevie

There's a great Belgian T-shirt site selling Sanrio-ized versions of Steve Jobs and Woz, along with other Apple-inspired stuff. Pricey, but hysterical!

Rabbit Test Answers

Here's the references that I caught in the Motorola spot. Feel free to write and let me know of any mistakes.

Bonus nerd points if you can list the directors!

Motorola Rabbit Spot

Rabbit tests were traditionally used to determine pregnancy, but now they can help test for nerds! How many of the film references can you recognize? I'll put the ones I think I know in my next post.

A Cute Toddler

My friend Bryan's son Devan is about to turn one year old!
Here's a Halloween picture, with happy birthday wishes.

Toe In The (Retail) Water

I sold a couple of my silkscreened "Li'l Russian" T-shirts to Double Punch - I stopped by and picked up the check last night. Of course, I promptly spent the earnings on the new "Little Lulu" vinyl figures, but it was neat to move a couple of items. So there's that, along with the prints for sale at Super 7. I guess I should try to sell something to Kid Robot, to finish off the trifecta!

Another Cool Book

This one isn't available in the states until January, but you can buy it at Amazon UK right now for about $28.00 USD. And why wouldn't you? A book about the designer of the Bond films? *And* Dr. Strangelove?! Hell, yeah!

Joining The Upcoming Glut

"Cat Tale" from Imagi International Holdings, Ltd. I'm assuming that this is coming out next year. You can see the trailer here.

Bean Is Born!

...and her name is Olivia Gatan Nierva! She was born on Saturday, November 19th at about 1:30 p.m. She measures 21 inches, 7 lbs 14 oz. Ricky and Angie are tired, but fine!

Congratulations!

Long Live The Fink

My friend Ken Mitchroney drew this art announcing next year's Rat Fink Reunion (I'm assuming that'll be in L.A.). Ed "Big Daddy" Roth was a buddy of his, so Ken does a lot of the new Roth art now!

Mazoonga!

PS - Best wishes to Ken -- it's his birthday today!

Three Trees Make A Forest

Ronnie del Carmen, Tadahiro Uesugi and Enrico Casarosa had a show this past weekend at Nucleus Gallery in Los Angeles. If you couldn't make it, you can see the show online! Some of the artwork is still for sale.

Enjoy!

80s Love

I've never had the reflexes to play video games well, but I love the simplicity of 80s game graphics. Here's a great Pac-Man shirt as an illustration. You can buy it at gkworld.com (short for "Geek World"?), or at your local Target store, if you can find one in stock. I couldn't.

What's Up, Doc?

The answer to the age-old question, courtesy of "Family Guy".

Must...Have...

Here's a beautiful new book, collecting some of Stanley Kubrick's early photography for "Look" magazine. $45.00 gives you fantastic examples in composition from one the best film directors ever. What more can you ask for?

That's going on *my* Christmas list!

Dave Chappelle Is Back!

Not on Comedy Central, though. He's starting to do stand-up gigs in Las Vegas, among other places. There's a New York Times piece on his sudden reappearance, but they couldn't get a lot out of him.

Pedestriantum!

"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", written by Steven Kloves and J.K. Rowling; directed by Mike Newell.

It's tough adapting wildly popular books for the screen. The outsized "Harry Potter" books have proven especially vexing, provoking a tug of war between the letter of the law, and the spirit. The first two films, directed by Chris Columbus, opted for the former, producing efforts long on exposition and short on character. The third, directed by Alfonso Cuarón, breathed fresh magic into the series, enriching the fantastic imagery and expanding the personalities of the characters. Mr. Cuarón passed on directing this installment, and we have a new freshman for the franchise - Mike Newell, the director of "Four Weddings and a Funeral".

Sadly, the invigorating effect of the third film hasn't passed on to "Goblet", and we've returned to exposition-land. There was a good opportunity here to transform Rowling's unwieldly plot into a more streamlined vehicle. Unfortunately, most of the bones have been jettisoned, and the fat retained instead. We're left to watch two and a half hours of introductions, ceremonies and lengthy speeches.

Dozens of half-muttered asides are scattered about to explain the various potions, rules, and dignitaries that litter the plot. It's hard to believe that it would make much sense, much less create a compelling tale, for the non-initiated. We're drawn into a world-wide Quidditch match, only to be awkwardly shoved to the post-game festivites without seeing so much as a single play. Aside from some athletic uniforms, who would know what that gargantuan meeting was for without reading the book?

This is all done with grand flourish, though the effect soon becomes deadening. The Big Game. The Bigger Dance. The Biggest Game, and bigger and bigger and bigger still, though we have little sense what any of this means to the characters, or to the forces of darkness that lurk beneath all of these stories. Human moments glimmer here and there as our heroes struggle with their budding emotions and self-awareness, but these are rare, buried in the pomp. There are some standout action sequences, too - Harry's battle with a ferocious dragon is exciting, and the climax retains some of its emotional force, but for the most part the proceedings are fairly dull.

Until the filmmakers feel courageous enough to leave some of the imagery to the audience's imaginations, and return the focus to the identifiable, human elements of the stories, we're in for some dispiriting films indeed.

Cash And Burn

"Walk The Line", written by Gill Dennis and James Mangold; directed by James Mangold.

"Walk The Line" will inevitably be compared (at least from now until Oscar time) with "Ray", Taylor Hackford's popular biopic of Ray Charles. Is it a better movie? Is Joaquin Phoenix better than Jamie Foxx? And so forth. The answers, at least for me, vary quite at bit.

Mr. Phoenix's Cash is simply not as vivid as Mr. Foxx's Charles. His resemblance isn't as strong, and his vocals are initially shaky - the scene where Cash comes into his own during his first recording session isn't very successful - but he becomes more convincing as the film progresses. Perhaps because I have no knowledge of June Carter's music, Reese Witherspoon's singing is far more successful.

In general, though, I think "Walk the Line" is a more satisfying film than "Ray". Granted, I grew up with Johnny Cash's music, and consider him to be one of the best country performers of all time, so I'm not sure how objective I can be. What truly sets "Walk The Line" apart, though, isn't the music or the plot, but the choices of what the filmmakers decided to show us.

The films opens strongly with the Folsom Prison concert - beginning as a distant thrum outside its walls, slowing building to a roar as we make our way toward the performers. This bookends the film, with the main body of the story spanning about thirty years.

Perhaps inevitably, much of the film has a great deal of plot similarities with "Ray" - nascent beginnings, a troubled childhood, marital discord, infidelities, substance abuse, creative conflicts and triumphs. This familiar chain of events is a weakness, and keeps "Walk" from being a truly great movie.

Its main strength is that it doesn't try to encapsule all of Cash's life, but chooses instead to focus on one of its most emotional, sympathetic periods. His long term romance with June Carter is the film's true body, culminating in her acceptance of his proposal in 1969. Reese Witherspoon is terrific in the role, giving the film much of its spark and spine. It's a lively, heartfelt performance that makes Mr. Phoenix's passionate pursuit of her so convincing. Their chemistry together is strong, providing the film with extra heat.

"Walk The Line", then, reads more as a love story than a biography, which makes the inevitable summation paragraph (usually involving another forty or fifty years of the artist's career) less disappointing. "Ray's" attempt at biography was far more frustrating in this regard.

"Walk" also gets more help from its supporting characters. While "Ray's" supporting cast had a tendency to fade into the background, "Walk The Line" has a better spread of memorable performances, especially Waylon Payne's Jerry Lee Lewis, and Dallas Roberts making the most of his brief appearance as Sam Phillips.

The use of music in the film is also strong, supporting the emotions of the content, rather than receding (as can often happen) into montage wallpaper.

In the end, "Walk The Line" has its flaws, but is still a compelling and emotional story. Like "Chaplin" before it, I'm definitely motivated to dig up Cash's two autobiographies and learn more.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Best wishes to you and yours this holiday from Jeff, Anita & Mouzsers!

Vote For Pedro

A co-worker sent this one to me. I really hope this was for Halloween.

Now In Black!

Two of my PidgeonStuff designs, "Laffin' Sheep" and "Jazz Boids", are now available on black T-shirts! CafePress figured out a way to put images on black shirts at last. Keep your eyes eyes peeled for more designs!

Another Great Comic

"Concrete", by Paul Chadwick. The high concept pitch for this book would be (I guess), "The Thinking Man's Thing". The artwork is beautiful, and the stories are terrific and compelling, if a bit (as it was put by one of the characters) "on the Whole Earth Catalog side". One of the great underrated titles, it only comes out once in a while, but it's always well worth the wait.

You can read a little more about the book here, and look here for a list of available paperback collections.

Dammit!

Check out the cool trailer for "Lady In The Water", coming next summer.

Great. Now I'm going to have to sit through another disappointing twist ending!

More Robots. Because They're Awesome.

Muck about in this robot city for a while. It's fun!

PS - There's more fun flash cities to explore! Just put another number in the URL in place of the "1's".

Soaring Praise, Indeed

"In telling their entwined stories, Mr. Columbus has managed a feat similar to the one he pulled off with the first two 'Harry Potter' movies; he has taken a source that is fiercely and jealously loved by its core fans and refrained from messing it up." - A.O. Scott, The New York Times, on the film version of the musical "Rent".

Wow, that makes me want to go. For me, this movie already has two strikes going up to the plate, so what does the reviewer do? They try to convince me that 'not messing something up' (which I don't even agree with in the case of the first two "Potter" films) is an achievement. Hoo boy.

Read the rest of the review here.

Real Women, Real Reactions

Dove's "Campaign for Real Beauty" advertising has provoked some interesting columns. Here's a few from the Chicago Sun-Times - one from Wendy McClure, and two others from Maureen Jenkins and Lucio Guerrero.

Thanks to Wonderful Woman's blog, "phuddy duddy" for having these articles!

Another Great Figure From Sideshow

The 12" Metaluna Mutant from "This Island Earth". It's just an okay movie, but what a cool creature! The box is lovingly slathered with vintage poster art, too. It's sold out at the Sideshow Collectibles website, but you can still get it at darkfigures.com, or other online retailers.

An Awkward Moment

...today, when one of my reading buddies picked a poem for me to read. It was about a confrontation on a school bus, with one child calling another the N-word. In the poem. I called the teacher over, and she discussed the word with them (without saying it), and we moved on to another book.

In my mind? She earned her annual pay in about a minute or two.

A Family Portrait

Here's a picture of my high school classmates Amy and Ernie Mailloux, and their family. Look like they're doing great! They have a store right off Route 7 in Vermont. Amy sells her own brand of granola, both there and online. It's really good!

Jingle Bells, Batman Smells

Another great design from Rocky Davies and threadless.com!

Shave The Yeti

Thanks to the internet, people from all over the world can shave this Yeti.

Onslaught Of Buffoonery

An old cartoonist pal who goes back to my "Mighty Mouse" days, Marc Crisafulli, has started a blog festooned with his own artwork. Take a look!

Other Cool Robots

Toshiba has the ApriAlpha and the ApriAttenda, ZMP Inc. has the Nuvo, and Tohoku University has the Partner Ballroom Dance Robot.

Mmmmm... cold and impersonal...

Congressman John Murtha On The Administration

"I like guys who've never been there that criticize us who've been there. I like that. I like guys who got five deferments and never been there and send people to war, and then don't like to hear suggestions about what needs to be done. I resent the fact, on Veterans Day, he [Bush] criticized Democrats for criticizing them."

This quote is from an interesting Asia Times article concerning the erosion of President Bush's support base.

Meet The iCat

Unlike the Sony Aibo, this robot pet has a face! I'm sure a lot of people find it creepy, but I think its Gumby-like visage is oddly pleasing. Philips Research has developed iCat to further study human/robot interactions. iCat can respond to your voice with a variety of facial expressions. Like almost everything else these days, it can also connect to the net and display online info on your TV. Or read it aloud. Eek!

PS - Unfortunately, you can't buy it. Philips is only selling them to universities and labs for research. Darn!

A Funeral In Vermont

Within the week of Gramma's passing, I traveled back to my home state of Vermont for the funeral. Setting up the trip involved a lot more work this time, as we were a bit short on money. If you've always interpreted 'bereavement fare' as a lower price, think again - the airlines, rather than cutting you a break, will often charge you more for a standard ticket. I guess the reasoning there is that they'll assure you a seat if you need last minute travel accommodations, so they'll charge you more for that privilege.

Regardless, I was determined to go home. I've had a perpetually distant connection with my family, and I needed to do this to show them that I wanted to be there for them when they needed me, not simply when I felt like it. I'd spent a lot of my young adult life establishing boundaries for myself to build the independence and strength I'd lacked as a teenager, and now it was time to try to give more back, to show my support for them.

I decided to use frequent flyer miles (that I'd accrued through myriad visits to Los Angeles) to save money. Since Southwest doesn't fly directly into Burlington, I supplemented the flights with train trips in and out of Vermont. I'd fly into Philadelphia, train into Burlington, and have someone pick me up at the station in Essex Junction. That's not too much further from Vergennes (where I'd be staying with my parents) than Burlington, so that leg of the trip would only cost $60, not counting my hotel stay in Philly or cab fare - much cheaper and more convenient than a car rental. The return would be similar, so the round trip would only cost about $120. The only drawback to this itinerary was that the train trip from Philly to Essex would be twelve hours, and the route back would be another six, in addition to the flying I'd have to do. Since any travel over six hours was usually reserved for international trips, this was going to be epic.

Arriving in Philadelphia, I suddenly realized that they'd filmed part of "Witness" in the enormous train station there. Since the film deals with an Amish family witnessing a murder in a Philadelphia train station, it certainly made sense, but it hadn't clicked until I saw the enormous, totemic statue dedicated to the train workers who had died in World War II. It's only in the film briefly, but it's striking.

I prepared as best as I could, and overall, it wasn't too bad. I vastly prefer train travel to air travel: You're on the ground, so you don't have to worry about ditching in the water (or worse). There's far fewer possible destinations, so the chance of someone commandeering the train for their own purposes is far more remote. The food is a little better, and you never have to keep sitting down or stay strapped in. Generally, there's also more to look at, but unfortunately, trains don't go through the nicer parts of most areas (remember 'the other side of the tracks'?).


Taking a page from my honeymoon trip to Venice, I brought five or six films with me, and my portable DVD player. I also brought a couple of books along, since new acquisitions have been piling up at home, and a notepad in case I felt like writing on my long-form graphic novel project. Having a variety of activities certainly helped, and I managed to finish one and a half of the books (biographies of Simon & Garfunkel and Natalie Wood, respectively), as well as five of the six films (one was the wrong region for the player). I wrote reviews for two of the films in longhand for this blog, and jotted down roughs for a new comic strip I'm thinking about debuting here. Usually I sit semi-comatose when I travel, so this was a nice change in productivity. I credit a lot of that to the train ride.

My two older sisters (Cindy and Debbie) met me in Essex the evening before the funeral, and we drove back to Vergennes. When you've traveled for about sixteen hours (not counting the ten-hour gap between the plane and train trip), a forty-minute drive is pretty trivial. We chatted and I looked out at the things on Route 7 that had changed, and the things that have been the same for over forty years. There's fewer of the latter each time, but there's always more than I'd expect. The source of much monotony in my adolescence is now more of a comfort, especially when your life changes in unwelcome ways. We arrived at the house late, but everyone was still up waiting for us. We hugged and exchanged small talk.

Since my uncle was also in town, Deb and I stayed next door with our neighbors, happily, one of those ongoing constants. I stayed in their youngest son's old room, who has since moved out and had a family of his own. I set up my belongings and prepared for bed, remembering the times I'd played in that room as a kid. He'd had a spaceship toy that made an electronic engine sound - if you tipped it up or down, the pitch would rise or fall, insinuating climbing or diving. I remember tipping it straight into the air, seeing how high the pitch would actually go, giddily excited at first, then a creeping fear that it would somehow go wrong, popping the tiny speakers like a Sears-catalog Icarus.

The next morning, I dressed and crossed the yards only to find no one was home. In spite of our equal status as independent adults, I couldn't help but feel offended, abandoned. I began to clean up and get ready to go, as I'd slept late and the funeral would be at one in the afternoon. The rest of the family soon returned (one of my cousins and his family had also visited), and we chatted some more as we waited to leave.


This was in mid-October, so it was much more comfortable than when my grandfather died last January. I brought a heavy fall jacket and it was more than adequate. A few other guests were already there, so we came in, sucked on the hard candies in the foyer, and mingled. I knew very few of Grandma's surviving friends and relatives, and those not very well, so it was difficult. It was a rough day for Deb, and I held her as she cried in my arms. We'd had a rocky relationship as kids, so that was a powerful moment for me. I also ran into an old high school classmate, and it was great to catch up with her again, in spite of the circumstances. I never seem to be able to remember that they don't require to me to be Noel Coward - they simply want an update on my life: what I'm doing, how things have changed, and what changes there might be in the future.

Anita and I had discussed returning to Vermont together, and I had felt that due to our financial situation, and to the fact that she never got to meet Gramma, that it would be fine for me to return alone. During my time there, though, it was hard not to feel I'd made a mistake - there were plenty of people there who asked about her, and it wasn't at all clear that they'd be around for our next visit.

The organist played cheery pop tunes from my grandparents' era - songs like "A Bicycle Built For Two", and so forth. It was a bit odd to hear such sprightly music at this affair, but Grandma had asked her to play the types of songs she'd played for the two of them at the nursing home. My grandparents (chronologically, anyway) were born in the midst of the Russian revolution, and had seen the world change so much around them. The depression. World War II. Korea. The cold war. The moon landing. Vietnam. It all seemed so small after such long lives. A few rooms. Some flowers and chairs. A gold cross. Two marble urns.


The funeral itself was simple - some words from the pastor, a few hymns, and some words of remembrance from the audience. There was a political element to my grandfather's funeral, in that no one had spoken of him in fear of how Gramma might react. This time, though, several spoke up with personal thoughts and memories. Debbie and Cindy both had good things to share from their many childhood visits. Deb, who was especially close, struggled to finish her remembrance, breaking down completely. Cindy's humor helped to keep things on an even keel.

Going into the funeral, I had had no intention of speaking, but as things progressed, I felt a desire to speak build inside me. Maybe I simply didn't want to be left out, but before we all left for the cemetary, I said my piece. As much as I liked my blog posting, I wanted to do something more direct, personal and immediate. It wasn't all that coherent or focused, but I'm still glad that I did.

The cemetary is walking distance from the house where I grew up. I tried to take more pictures, but my digital camera didn't like the standard batteries and refused to function. I wasn't sure it was all that appropriate, anyway. Everyone - even a friend of Grandma's who was in her nineties and struggled to reach the grave site with her walker - was there. A few more words by the pastor that I don't remember. I think I disconnect early for things that upset me - I don't remember what happened to the urns. Then it was over and we returned home to sort out the remaining details - where would the extra flowers go? And so forth.

That evening, Cindy (who'd been dealing the most with Gramma's funeral and estate), Debbie and I went over to Gramma and Grampa's house to pick out anything that we wanted to keep before it was sold or disposed of. They were classic Depression-era hoarders, so there was still a lot left that they'd accrued, mostly from various garage sales and flea markets. There was still electricity in the house, so after fiddling with the automatic light timer, we went inside.

It was a strange experience. It's similar to the feeling you have when you've cleared out your dorm room at the end of college, but deeper, and darker. The sense of finality is profound - this part of your life, two whole lives, their lives together - in many ways, all that is over. The house was already a ghost. Soon it would belong to someone else entirely, and look completely different, if it remained standing at all. We picked through the remnants, hoping to find things that would help keep the past closer to the present, to stop it all from fading away completely.

I was traveling without luggage, so I didn't bring back a lot. I carry their collecting instincts within me already. I brought back a handmade, wooden Mickey Mouse letter holder that I'd always seen near my Grampa's chair, right by the front door. I took a Mickey Avon bottle, since Gramma had collected them steadily since I was little. I also brought back some second-hand toys for some of my friends, a tin recipe binder, and a silver teaspoon for my wife. My main item will come home later - Grampa's Edison cylinder machine, with boxes and boxes of cylinders. I'm not sure how important it was to him, but he seemed to enjoy playing it, and it always fascinated me.

Now I'm home. I don't want to feel that pain, that emptiness every day. But I need a part of it to keep going, to remind myself that tomorrow is promised to no one. To stay charged up about the things I still want to learn and experience and do. Those feelings can get lost so easily. It's never been easy for me, and it's getting harder. Happily, I'm still healthy, and Anita is here - so I think it'll be fine.

The Late Great Novelty Song

Whatever happened to novelty songs? You know, those stupid. catchy anomalies like "Purple People Eater", or "They're Coming To Take Me Away"? Do people still record these things? Is "Weird Al" Yankovic the sole survivor these days?

I know a lot of them are awful ("Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer"), but it was still great having that genre around. It's like a newsstand without Mad magazine, or television without "Saturday Night Live". You may not have enjoyed them in years, but you don't want them to disappear completely. Silliness, parody and (best of all) satire are vital, I think.

I don't listen to commercial radio all that much, so maybe the novelty song heart is still beating. But I haven't heard a large-scale craze in quite a while. Weird Al's "Fat" is the last one that I remember. Are there others that I've forgotten?

PS - There's a great song on Weird Al's latest called "eBay". I've been an eBay junkie since it started, so naturally I think this song is far better than the original Backstreet Boys song - it captures the entire eBay experience perfectly. For me, a sublime pop experience.

Two Cool New Vinyl Toys!

Great new sculpts of Little Lulu and her nemesis, Tubby! These figures were made by Dark Horse Deluxe, and are only $18.00 each. You can buy them for that (plus extra for shipping) at ningyoushi.com.

PS - If you're scratching your head at why I care about these seemingly-lame characters, check out the reprint collections, also published by Dark Horse. They're still some of the best comics (especially for that age group) around!

Computer Art Gallery

Check out the Gallery of Computation's assortment of cool designs! They're created by algorithms written by the programmer. Some can be a little chilly looking, while others are quite beautiful. This series in particular has an interesting back story.

Enjoy!

John Cusack On Bush And The War

Here's a post from John Cusack about our current administration. It's pretty strong stuff, but I think he makes a lot of good points. At least, he does from my lefty-lefty-bleeding-heart-liberal point of view. I'm not very happy about my retrenchment after W's 2004 'mandate', but I'm not sure what to do next.

Comics Exhibition In LA

The Hammer Museum is hosting a show called "Masters of American Comics" from November 20th - March 6th of next year. There'll be over five hundred works on display, including artists like Winsor McCay, Lyonel Feininger, George Herriman, E.C. Segar, Frank King, Chester Gould, Milton Caniff, Charles Schulz, Will Eisner, Jack Kirby, Harvey Kurtzman, R. Crumb, Gary Panter, Chris Ware, and Art Spiegelman. If you're in the area, this a great chance to walk in the pantheon of comic greatness!

Art-Bots

A New York artist has made an installation of cool robots out of old cool stuff! And you can buy them, if you're so inclined. Take a look!

Look! Up In The Sky!

Here's a film I just can't help but get worked up about - Bryan Singer's "Superman Returns", coming out next summer.

I love the teaser trailer, but you could show a guy mowing the lawn to that music and I'd get excited! I'm also happy Kevin Spacey was willing to shave his head to play Luthor.

I just wish I could get over Superman and Lois being so *young* - it's hard to buy Brandon Routh as a reporter. As Superman, he looks like he's an intern superhero, working his way through college.

Coming... July 2005?

Here'a a trailer (if "trailer" means "full song sequence") for "Tugger", a Jeep 4x4 who... wants to fly. Well, who doesn't, I guess?

Retro-licious!

Here's a much better picture of the upcoming "New Frontier" figures from DC Direct. Man! I'm such a sucker for this old-fashioned stuff!

Victoria And Sean Are Married!

Anita and I went to Victoria and Sean's wedding last Saturday night in Oakland. Aside from the venue itself, everything involved with the ceremony was done by family and friends. Anita (like many of the guests) brought a couple of dishes for the reception afterward, so we arrived about a hour and a half early. Sean and his family were already busy setting everything up!




I was the head usher, and led some of the family members to their seats. The ceremony was sweet and heartfelt - I don't know a Muppet fan alive who doesn't mist up a little when "Rainbow Connection" begins to play. The priest's words were simple but compelling. The vows were traditional, with the exchange of rings and the lighting of a candle.

Sean was purportedly pretty emotional at the reheasal, but he managed to hold it together. Patrick misted up a little, though - I could see him dabbing his eyes. So touching! There were some nice musical interludes - proof that songs from "A Mighty Wind" can work in a sincere context - a happy kiss, then time for reception fun! We chatted, snacked and danced well into the night. We would've stayed later still, but Anita had to drive to LA the next morning to perform still more shows with Swazzle. Sean and Victoria seem very happy, even when working frantically to bring their ceremony off without a hitch. What a great beginning to what we hope will be a long and happy life together!

Scores Of Scores

You may have heard that James Newton Howard is composing a eleventh-hour score for "King Kong" to replace Howard Shore's music. I'm assuming that's also happened on "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", with Patrick Doyle standing in for John Williams. Of course, it's also possible Williams simply turned the third film down, but he's not really one to pass up scoring a sequel.

What I wonder is - with all these "music-inspired-by" CDs proliferating everywhere, why not release the rejected score as a separate CD, or as a two-CD set with the final version? It's almost like having supplementary material for a soundtrack album. Sometimes rejected scores are released long after the fact for collectors, but I'm curious - why this doesn't happen sooner, especially with high-profile films like these?

Am I a huge soundtrack nerd? Yes. Yes, I am.

Hooray! I Was Wrong!

As it turns out, my laptop is okay! The fellow at Apple's Genius Bar ran some recognition repair stuff (if I remember correctly), and it's working again! Phew... no new computer needed yet. I could take down the "Laptop R.I.P." post, but I think that computer mouse skeleton picture I found is kinda neat.

Posting From The Emeryville Apple Store

While I'm waiting to erase the memory of my ex-laptop, here's the link to the "Hoodwinked" trailer. I forgot to post this earlier - the "Hoodwinked" website doesn't have the trailer yet.

I have no words.

Laptop R.I.P.

Well, it looks like my laptop is officially dead. Fortunately, I think I backed up everything important before the end. I'm going to try to have its memory erased - then I can donate it to my friend, who needs used computers for his girlfriend's school. Sigh.

More Pop Culture Crap

For tons of awesome retro junk, check out The Secret Fun Spot! The shimmering lies of comic book mail-order premiums. The tacky splendor of roadside motel signs. The low-rent righteousness of religious comics - it's all here, and more! Enjoy.

Thanks to Jamie Baker for the tip!

Art Show in Monterey Tomorrow

My buddy Eric Joyner is doing a two-man show with Shawn Barber this Friday at Outer Edge Studio. He does a lot of great paintings with tin robots and cartoon characters, among other things. Check out his show if you're in the area!

This Doesn't Bode Well

There's four more animated features on the horizon. First, there's "Hoodwinked", from the Weinstein Company:

"Barnyard" from Paramount,

"Monster House", from executive producers Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg,

...and "Happy Feet", directed by George "Mad Max" Miller.


This is starting to look like the "Lion King" bust all over again.

The Boy Who Heard Music

"The Who" frontman Pete Townsend has jumped on the blog-wagon. Check it out here.

A Word Of Caution

The base pegs on the "Corpse Bride" General Wellington figure are pretty fragile, so take care when you're setting him up. I've broken two figures so far.

How Fast Do Movies Succeed Or Fail? Really, Really Fast!

Read how a studio can tell within hours of its release how well a film is doing, both theatrically and in the home video market. It's pretty amazing, and scary at the same time.

Bad News For Filmgoing Adults

Rather than trigger an increase in films made for adults, the recent decline in attendance means more films aimed at teenagers. Read about it here.

Thanks to John Hazelton for finding the article!

Fetus Hands

Another cool artwork blog. This one's by Deanna Marsigliese in Canada. Enjoy!

Entire Nation Can't Take Joke

The Kazakh government, that is. Check out the details here.

Thanks to Jason Katz for the tip!

The Soft Sell

Gotta love that title. Classy. But then, if you've seen her videos, you already know that it's not really about the music. I like how the baby is playing the role of the serpent/Satan. What the heck does that even mean?!

Benefit Art Auction (Short Notice)

This one's by Maverix Studios, to help raise funds for the Charlotte Maxwell Contemporary Clinic. It'll be on the 16th and 17th (this Wednesday and Thursday, 7-10 PM on Thursday) at 1717 Street in San Francisco. Check out their blog for a list of contributors.

We're In Super 7 Magazine!

Anita and I went to the E-Ville Press book signing at Japantown's Super 7 store (see earlier post). Lo and behold, what should we see in the following issue, but a picture of us at the party! What fun! That's Nate Stanton to the right.

PS - Here's an ad for their upcoming poster show. I'll be selling my "Jazz Boids" print, so feel free to stop by and check out all the great art!

Ted Knight Sings!

If you're a fan of the "Golden Throats" CDs, you'll like this. Someone has made mp3s of this obscure LP so you may savor them on your own computer.

It's about what you would expect - maybe a little worse.

Shadow Puppets Via Flash

Michel Gagné designed some new bumpers for Nickelodeon that aired during Hallowe'en. Thanks to animators Mike Hogue and Jayson Thiessen, they look great! Check 'em out, then take a look at his website to see more of his design work.

Big thanks to Patrick Johnson for the tip!

Master Replicas Do The Muppets

According to an article in Lee's Toy Review, Master Replicas is going to offer a line of photo puppet replicas, starting with (of course) Kermit. These will be made with the same fabric and fabric cut patterns that are used at the Henson studio. They'll be fully articulated for posing, just like the ones used for publicity photos. Unfortunately, you won't be able to put your hand inside of them, but I'm sure some enterprising puppeteer out there will remedy that. No word on the price, but you can be sure they won't be cheap - probably in the $200 - $500 range. Kermit will be released in the first quarter of 2006, with Animal to follow later in the year.

So where's the Miss Piggy?

Collectors Assemble... Uh... Again

Series 4 of Mezco's Family Guy figures are in stores! I found them at Things From Another World at the Metreon. You can buy them there, or at the TFAW website.

Backed Up, Part II

More sluggish and uncooperative behavior from my laptop last night. I couldn't get it to start up at all until this morning, and even then it took a while. As soon as I could, I made new copies of everything onto my LaCie hard drive. I had no idea where any of the new files were, so I just copied it all again so I'd be covered.

I'm assuming it's drive trouble again for the laptop. I know new drives last about three years or so, but I have no idea how long replacement drives last. EEK!

A Petulant Rant

About six months ago, I did a series of faux-Seuss drawings for The Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose. Every year, the museum has a dinner commemorating a noted figure in the children's entertainment community, and all of the corporate donors are invited to celebrate. As is common with this sort of thing, a gift is distributed to all of the attendees.

This past year, the honor was posthumously awarded to Dr. Seuss. The museum asked me if I would do the artwork for a Seuss-like book as the dinner gift. The book would contain an illustration and poem for each of the fourteen donors, plus two drawings to bookend the piece. They needed all of the art in a week, and they would assemble the book themselves. Would I do it?

I said 'yes', not really doing the math on how long sixteen full-color pieces would take to do, especially alongside work, and with my wedding preparations underway. The final product took three months, because a few of the pieces were done more than once. To my credit, I got ten drawings finished before I went on my honeymoon. Every time the museum started hinting that they would revise the artwork, I tried to re-do it rather than risk an awkward tweak on what I was doing. I thought that that would disrupt the overall feeling of the book.

It got to a point where I finally had to beg off from more revisions. There were more rumblings of changes, but I thought I had laid the concerns to rest, and now all that remained for me to do was to see the finished book. I got it this weekend, at Victoria and Sean's wedding in Oakland. As an example of the result, pictured below is the original cover design, followed by the image on the final dust jacket:



To be fair, the hand binding looks great, and some of the pieces I did were too big for the page dimensions (the original cover is far too tightly cropped). Overall, it wasn't anything some judicious image scaling and font size adjustments couldn't have fixed. As you can see, though, the changes were far more significant. Colors differ greatly from one monitor (and printer) to the next, so I wasn't expecting miracles there. Still, there were plenty of other alterations, with the end result having about 75% of the effect I had intended. Needless to say, I wasn't too excited about Audrey Geisel seeing this any longer.

At least the book did what it was intended to do - it was a huge hit with the donors. Still...

I've never understood why people request your work, only to alter it the minute it leaves your hands and have no more control over it. Why do people who get free artwork act like paying clients?!

Grrr.

A Brand New Drawing!

I just finished this last week - a wedding gift for Sean and Victoria Johnson (the ceremony was this past weekend). This was 100% Photoshop, no 'analog drawing' whatsoever. Enjoy!

Congratulations to the happy couple!

You Know What I Don't Get? - Part II

Supermodel Tyra Banks puts on the fat suit, in an attempt to walk a mile in different shoes - for an episode of her talk show. Read about it here and here. The Big Fat Blog has some reactions.

PS - David Spade reminded me of another Fat Suit Comedy: "Big Momma's House", with Martin Lawrence. This cross-dressing riff on "The Nutty Professor" also spawned a sequel. Drag and a fat suit - eegh.

That Reminds Me...

While I was searching for images that would illustrate my last post, it brought up memories of another great comic. It's called "Dork", and it's written and drawn anthology-style by Evan Dorkin. It's crammed with as much pop culture as you can probably stand - maybe more. But's it's dark and hilarious, especially the Eltingville Club stories, a fictional group ("The Eltingville Comic-Book, Science-Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Role-Playing Club") of nerds who will indict you as you laugh. There's ten issues so far, many of which you can probably still buy at Evan's website, or through Slave Labor Graphics.

It's been two years since the last issue, but Evan's blog seems to insinuate that there will be more "Dork!" someday.

PS - The Eltingville Club was made into an animated pilot by Cartoon Network, but I have no idea if it ever aired. Check the above sources for more details.

Collectors Assemble!

The "Corpse Bride", "Wallace & Gromit", and "Cult Classics - Series 2" figures have started to turn up at comic shops and your neighborhood Suncoast store. The "Were-Rabbit" line is especially popular, so if you're looking for 'em, be prepared to haunt the nearby shops for a while. Dr. Comics and Mr. Games in Oakland is another good place to look.

PS - Don't throw away your Replay Rewards certificates if they're past the expiration date! Suncoast will honor them anyway. You can call Replay Member Services at 1-888-REPLAY1 to re-send any you may not have received, if you know what I mean.

Two Blogs I Like

"Perfect Body, Perfect Soul", a well-written blog by sexyrexie, a young student struggling to define herself in the context of her family and their faith. She's not posting right now (due to reasons described in the last entry or two), but I find her entries compelling.

"One Movie a Day", a (sadly finite) film review blog written by David Wester. His reviews are nicely crafted, funny, and thoughtful - a writing style I aspire to.

Check 'em out!

Celebrity Politics

Here's another interesting Times article. This time, it's about celebrity and its uses (both cinematic and literal) in American politics. The timeline ranges from the work of Robert Redford and Warren Beatty to George Clooney and his new film, "Good Night, and Good Luck".

"Chronicles Of Narnia" Article

Here's an interesting New York Times article (registration required) about C.S. Lewis, his relationship with J.R.R. Tolkien, and the upcoming Disney version of "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe". Very interesting - some surprising things about Lewis that I never knew!

Finally!

A toy book for female fans to enjoy! The boundaries of the sophomoric boy's club are expanding! Well... aside from the vinyl body suits... and the thigh-high lace-up boots...

Never mind.

Anyway, you can buy this book for $40.00 + shipping at ningyoushi.com.

It's The Marvel Of The Age

The die-cast Supercar has also been released! I like this design even more than the Stingray - so much so that I've been waiting a year for this thing to come out. And now it's on its way.

Joy-ee!!

PS - The Fireball XL-5 is also out!
PPS - There's a black & white version of Supercar, too! I love it when manufacturers do that.

Great Design, Great Animation

"Pocoyo" is one of the animated programs produced at Zinkia Entertainment. Check it out!

Cool Opening Titles!

From "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang", the new film written and directed by Shane Black. It's great to see the Saul Bass style of film titles coming back. First "Catch Me If You Can", and now this!
Nice.

Raw Materials

If you were curious about how much tinkering I did, here's the original scan of the piece, with no Photoshop.

More From The Archives

This is an excerpt from a cut paper assignment from college, circa 1985. If I remember correctly, this one was about analogous colors. I've manipulated the living heck out it with Photoshop, so it's my George-Lucas-special-edition-version, minus the rubber cement stains and some of the more egregious design choices. Enjoy!

PS - That's a Union Civil War hat he's wearing, so he's marching, not goosestepping. In the original piece, he's glaring at a little girl playing with her Hula Hoop® in the foreground. Maybe at some point, I'll clean her up too, and put the whole thing back together.

You Know What I Don't Get?

Fat Suit Comedies. The heartwarming kind. This still is from an upcoming film called "Just Friends" where a formerly overweight guy tries to hook up with his Friend Zone-sweetheart from high school. He's currently hanging out with a hot pop singer, so that gives him a choice to make: hot and shallow, or cute and heartfelt?

First of all, this story doesn't even need the fat suit. Everybody gets trapped in the Friend Zone with someone - it doesn't matter what you look like. In fact, the fat suit obscures the issue, making it seem in the trailer like only "unattractive" people get caught in the Friend Zone. Why bother? Why not just dump the pop star and the fat suit and make it a decades-long battle to get out of the Friend Zone?

"Shallow Hal" is another Fat Suit Comedy, with Gwyneth Paltrow doing the honors. I've never seen it, I'll admit, but I'll bet there's a lot of scenes of Ms. Paltrow sans suit, or at least one big scene at the end. Again, why bother? Why not hire an actor or actress who *actually has* the physique? It'd be a lot cheaper - you don't have to pay (or potentially babysit) the Big Movie Star, or the Famous Makeup Guy that has to make the fat suit. Heck, the large actor? They'd probably do a starring role for scale, they're so sick of being cast as the Funny Friend of the Big Movie Star. Then the movie is cheap enough that you don't need the marquee value. Plus, if these films really are about the "It's-what's-inside-that-counts" stuff, than the main character shouldn't ever lose weight. They should stay unchanged, so we can focus on learning (and coming to appreciate) who they really are.

I have seen some films where fat suits work, but they're deliberately exaggerated, turning the character into a cartoon. Fat Bastard in "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me". Mr. Creosote in "Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life". Goldie Hawn in "Death Becomes Her". We're not supposed to accept them as 'real' characters, like in "Just Friends". One look at that film, and you know it's makeup.

I think the best execution of the fat suit for both empathy and comedy was Eddie Murphy in his "Nutty Professor" remake. It's not a perfect film or anything, but Eddie Murphy is so good at creating characters (and not just Seymour - the Klump relatives were so good that they took over the sequel) that he makes it work. I think it's a big bonus that the "attractive" Buddy Love is a real jerk - that definitely helps with the inner beauty theme. Maybe that's what these other films are shooting for, but most of them don't cast someone that strong at making up characters.

I don't know what brought all that on. I guess it's a pet peeve or something.

PS - If you want to see a great dramatic film about love and weight, check out "Heavy", directed by James Mangold. It's got great visual storytelling.

More Cool Toys On The Way!

DC Direct will be releasing two cool action figure lines next year. Figures based on Darwyn Cooke's retro-tastic "The New Frontier" will be released, but it looks too early to say when exactly that'll be. April 2006 will see another line based on the "Looney Tunes" characters. While these sculpts aren't perfect, these are the best toys of these cartoons that I've seen in a long time!

Oxymoronic Toy Of The Day

Art Asylum is taking their Minimates line to the next level with Minimates Max, 8" high versions of their tiny, Lego-esque counterparts that'll cost about $85. I've seen a lot of pictures of the upcoming Spider-man and Wolverine, but the one that tickles me is Galactus, because of how it fits with the other Minimates!

Oddly, the Minimates Max won't be plastic but resin, with no articulation. That's disappointing. I thought they'd be like the Mega Muppets line - basically, big versions of the same figures. That line was discontinued, so maybe that's not a good example.

Best Pet Costume This Hallowe'en?

You decide.
Thanks to Ted Mathot for the image!

Waner Brother's Latest Entry In The Sci-Fi Sweepstakes

"The Fountain", written and directed by Darren Aronofsky.

I thought "Requiem for a Dream" was incredible, so I'll be checking this out. The trailer looks cool, too! The website is a little disappointing - nothing there but a looping screensaver that you can download.

No word on when it's coming out, just sometime next year.

Blockhead Tree For Sale

Or, as they call it at Urban Outfitters, the "Pathetic Tree".

It's a funny item, but...I guess there's no symbol of the season too small or heartfelt to be mass produced and sold at your local retailer.

But why should I care, anyway? I'm a huge merchandising addict. Still...that moment in the special meant something to me, so I have some mixed feelings about it.

Oh, well. I guess Charlie Brown did buy that tree.

Beautiful "Kong" Still

This stuff looks AMAZING. John Landis and Rick Baker must be camped out in front of a theater somewhere. There's more stills to see online, too!

Every Theater Manager's Worst Nightmare

A New York audience expecting a screening of "Chicken Little" was shown five minutes of "Andrea" instead. Read the full story here.

Another Blast From The Past

I did this back when I was working at "The Simpsons", which is now about thirteen or fourteen years ago! There were rumblings at the time that John Landis wanted to direct an animated "Sinbad" feature, and I was inspired to do this drawing. It's a very cluttered design, but there's things I still like about it. So there you are!

PS - The Valentine card design I posted a day or two ago is now available for sale at my online store, pidgeonstuff.com! A box of six cards costs $11.99 + shipping.

A Picture Of Kate Bush

Why post this? No real reason. I just think she's pretty.

Coming To Theaters December 23rd

Steven Spielberg's "Munich", a "suspense thriller set in the aftermath of the massacre of 11 Israeli atheletes at the 1972 Olympics", according to the film's website. You can see a trailer for it there, too.

I thought it was going to be a dramatization a la "Bloody Sunday", so I'm a little disappointed. Still, I can't shake my Spielberg addiction, so I'm sure I'll see it anyhow.

A Long-Awaited "Album"

"Aerial", Kate Bush's first CD in twelve years, hits stores today.
Man! I've got to find people to like who work a little faster.

New For The Bookshelf

"Droidmaker: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution", by Michael Rubin.

It looks to be a timeline of technical breakthroughs, starting in the early Zoetrope/Electonic Cinema days, winding up somewhere in the early days of Pixar. Sounds interesting to me! I'm still a big Lucas nerd, and I know some people in the book, so I plunked down the cash. You can buy it for $17.00 used at Amazon, or for a little more elsewhere.

PS - Mr. Rubin also has a website for the book, and a blog of his tour.

Stingray Is Here!

The 10" die-cast Stingray sub is available now from monstersinmotion.com for $90 + shipping.

I didn't grow up with Gerry Anderson's puppet creations, so watching them on DVD wreaks havoc with my hyper-American attention span. But those ship designs? SWEET.

An Upcoming Documentary

My friend Justine Jacob and her husband Oren are working on a documentary called "Runners High". Check out the trailer and the official website.

One From The Archives

Here's an older piece -- a Valentine design (click on the image to enlarge it). If you don't know why I drew the card this way, I guess the design's too much of a "thinker".

Anyway, I'm going to try to set up a proper website here soon - and one of the things I want it to have is an online gallery. Until then, I'll try to post old and new pieces as often as I can!

Perfect For The Nursery

"Rabbbit", a vinyl figure based on the character created by Ron English (look at page two of his paintings section). You can buy it for $18 + shipping at ningyoushi.com.

"The Complete Peanuts" Continues

Volume Four of Fantagraphics' "The Complete Peanuts" is now available. The series will ultimately encompass the entire fifty-year run of Schultz's work, contained in over twenty hardcover volumes. Pairs of the first four volumes are also available in boxed sets through the publisher, or at your local comic or book retailer.

This strip is the one that made me want to become a professional cartoonist (before "Star Wars" made me want to make movies). For a volume of this quality, $19.00 is a steal! Buy 'em for your kids or for yourself, but buy 'em!

Afterworks 2 Art Preview

Here's a rough page from my upcoming story in E-Ville Press' Afterworks 2 compilation (click on the image for easier viewing). Since it's a pantomime story, I've scanned page two to help keep a little mystery. I work pretty rough, so I'm not sure how clearly it'll read. Anyway, enjoy!

Great Expectations

"Chicken Little", written by Robert L. Baird, Steve Bencich, Ron J. Friedman, and Dan Gerson; directed by Mark Dindal. Spoilers abound.

Disney's feature animation unit has seen some pretty rough times in recent years. Most of the Disney films released since the glory days of "The Lion King" and "Aladdin" (with the possible exception of "Lilo and Stitch") have progressively lost more and more of their audience. Many have attributed this to the rise in popularity of computer animation, that perhaps audiences now see hand-drawn animation as old-fashioned (I don't think that's true at all, but that's another article). "Chicken Little", then, is Disney's biggest bid yet to enter the 3D sweepstakes, and once again be a dominant force in animation. I think that there's a lot riding on this film for the studio, fairly or not.

Unfortunately, the strain shows, and the talky, hectic "Chicken Little" probably won't put much of a dent in their current track record. To their credit, the filmmakers went in a different aesthetic direction than most computer fare. The film's look is a charming hybrid of cockeyed fifties design and children's storybook art. A menagerie of fuzzy animals putter about in their diminutive cars, and many of the characters are boldly stylized and well animated. But charm can only take you so far, and that's where the trouble begins.

The story is an update of the old fairy tale, which, to be honest, I hardly remember. In this version, Chicken Little (Zach Braff) is a boy, and he's right about the sky falling - if 'right' means that the sky is a piece of a spaceship's cloaking device (a nice use of the computer medium). The problem is, there's been no evidence to support his warnings. The plot attempts to worsen his situation in a school dodgeball game, but he comes off more as an unlucky klutz than the chicken who keeps crying wolf.

When the "sky" falls a second time, Chicken Little, not surprisingly, wants nothing to do with it. He's just helped his little league team win the pennant, and doesn't want to risk his precariously restored bond with his father, Buck Cluck (nicely voiced by Garry Marshall), who also wants to get past the whole town-laughingstock-thing. This unfortunately removes their conflict (Son needs to prove himself, Dad wants him to lie low) established at the beginning.

It's especially frustrating to see this central conflict wasted - the entire town misses crucial proof by a couple of seconds for the sake of a gag. Where's dad, pulling Chicken Little by the arm, telling him to stop this nonsense and just come home? This would've exacerbated their problems, rather than the aliens having to drive the plot. But they do, and it's up to father and son to reunite and save the world from the oncoming invaders.

This is pretty familiar stuff, and the film doesn't stop with echoing "Finding Nemo" and "Billy Elliot", but also borrows heavily from "Jimmy Neutron", "Shrek", "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "E.T.", "War of the Worlds" (which is explicitly mentioned), "Signs", "Raiders of the Lost Ark", and Top Forty playlists from thirty years ago. Most of the the songs are ill-fitting, the nadir of this being the "I Bruise You" song, disservicing a good emotional moment.

The supporting cast - buddies Runt (of the litter), "Ugly" Duckling, and Fish (out of water), are mostly one-joke characters who wear thin pretty quickly. Runt starts out as a panicky overeater and winds up a Streisand fan. Fish seems especially extraneous, serving only to generate distracting background business.

Some of these problems would be easier to handle if the film were funnier than it is - there's a chuckle here and there, but by far the best bit is the "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" coda where the cast watches the film version of what just happened to them. Adam West makes a guest voice appearance, and sadly, the film feels the most at home with itself than it has for most of its running time. While some small children may enjoy "Chicken Little", its future doesn't look bright.

Palisades' New Figures

Series one of the Fairly Oddparents figures are now available for sale at ToyWiz.com, as well as at the Palisades Direct Store. More great sculpts and loads of cool accessories!

Looks like the set's going for between $50 - $60.00 + shipping.

A Terrific Short from Sheridan

"An Eye For Annai" by Jonathan Klassen and Dan Rodrigues, done at their third year in college. Beautifully designed, nicely animated and so cute! Click here to see the film, and here to go to Burst of Beaden, Jonathan's website.

Big thanks to Ralph Eggleston and the Drawn! illustration blog for alerting me to it.

A New Issue Of Optic Nerve

The tenth issue of "Optic Nerve", Adrian Tomine's anthology comic, is on the shelves! Beautiful artwork and subtle, compelling stories make this title one of my favorites. If this is your first issue, you might also want to get #9, as this issue is part of an ongoing story (unusual for this comic). You can learn more about Adrian Tomine at the website of Drawn And Quarterly, his publisher.

"Ant Bully" trailer

My friends Ken Mitchroney and Karen Prell (among others) are working on a feature called "Ant Bully" over at DNA Productions. It's loosely based on the children's book by John Nickle.

You can watch the trailer here. As the copy says... coming next summer.

Another Fun Archive From retroCRUSH

Yes, it's retroCRUSH's top ten classic arcade game songs! I love the naive, unpretentious quality of this music, back in the day when there was simply no hope whatsoever of challenging a film's production values. Enjoy!

The Latest Creation From PodBrix

PodBrix's newest release is BrixPod Classic, a Lego case for your iPod Shuffle. There's 150 of the BrixPods left, and they'll sell that part of the edition on or around November 17th. Keep a very sharp eye on the site if you want one -- their pieces usually sell out in 10 or 15 minutes!

The New Woody Allen Film

I missed "Melinda and Melinda", but the trailer for this one looks even more interesting. No jazz music, hardly any one-lines. It looks to have a bit of the "Crimes and Misdemeanors" vibe to it, and I hope it does. Oddly (for a film so apparently dark), it opens Christmas day.

Hide Your iPod, Here Comes Bill

According to this Wired article, a large number of Microsoft employees own iPods, to the chagrin of management. Read about the impact to the company culture.

How great must *that* be for Apple? They must be giggling themselves to sleep over there.

The Art Of Ben Cooper

You have to be of a certain age to remember the misbegotten Halloween creations of dime-store auteur Ben Cooper. Danny Horn's musings on these costumes of old are pretty doggone funny. Check it out here. The other essays (parts 2-5) are great, too.

PS - For more Halloween costume fun, check out this collection (now auctioned to the four winds) at retroCRUSH.

Another Cool Ad

A 60-second spot for the Sony Bravia television. Apparently, this was done with thousands of real superballs, and no CG at all. See the commercial here, and other making-of clips here. You can even get the song "Heartbeats" (by José González) at the iTunes store. Nice use of it in the spot. Boy, half the budget must've been spent on the cleanup.

Thanks to Brian Stokes' blog for pointing this out!

Great Aardman TV Spot

It's a terrific ad called "Pintlings", and you can watch it at boardsmag.com. You may have to watch it a few times to decipher all the dialogue, but I don't think you'll mind. Enjoy!

Thanks to the Puppetvision blog for pointing it out.

A Comic Strip

Click on the image below for easier viewing: