A Tale Of Two Kitties Trailer

Here it is. Watch it if you dare. Garfield goes to England, royal cat twin, blah blah blah.

Long-Awaited Soundtrack Alert

The Elmer Bernstein score for Ghostbusters is finally available through Varese Sarabande Records. Bootlegs have been flourishing for the twenty-two years since the film's release, but now you can own it nice and legal-like. Don't wait too long, though - it's a limited edtion of only 3000 copies!

Please

Just one more great Terry Gilliam movie. I'll be good. Well, mostly.

PS - Looks like other bloggers are wishing, too...but for a U.S. distributor, which apparently Tideland doesn't have yet. Did The Brothers Grimm do well? Will it encourage anyone to pick up Gilliam's latest? Stay tuned.

Jon's Still Not Getting It

...and Garfield is powerless to help him.

My Drawing In TV Guide

My drawings were small. It's TV Guide that got big.

PS - It just occurred to me that you might think I created this in Photoshop, which I guess would be easy enough to do. Hopefully, there's enough artifacts in it to prove to you that it's a scan.

Where Are You

...in the Geek Hierarchy?

Or, use the short form:

Silly, Silly Sony

SONY TO RELEASE HI-DEF MOVIES -- WITH NO PLAYERS

In an announcement that left many analysts scratching their heads, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment President Benjamin Feingold announced Wednesday that the company will release its first batch of movies on high-definition Blu-ray discs on May 23 -- even though no players will be available at that time on which to play them. Sony has indicated that the first players may not be available until November. In an interview with Home Media Retailing, Feingold said, "We realize there may be some delays
on the hardware side, but we are going to honor our commitment to release movies when we said we would." Questions immediately arose concerning what retailers will do with the disks when they receive them. Said Feingold: "There are two schools of thought: A dealer could have them for publicity purposes, to prime the market, or we can ship them later, when hardware is on the market. But the important point is, we can meet the date -- that's the key."

Remembering Bart (1989-2005)

We haven't forgotten you, Bart-O-Bart. We still love you so much and think about you all the time. Daddas and Mommas miss you.

A Really, Really Old Drawing

I'm not sure how old I was when I did this - probably just past the double digits. Check it out!

Bright Eyes

I've been thinking about this song a lot, not surprisingly. You can buy it on iTunes, if you're interested in hearing it.





Bright Eyes (Simon/Garfunkel - excerpt)

Bright eyes,
Burning like fire.
Bright eyes,
How can you close and fail?
How can the light that burned so brightly
Suddenly burn so pale?
Bright eyes.

Good-Bye, Kitty-Mose

We put Mouszers down yesterday. It was just a little over a year from when I put Bart down, so it brought up unpleasant memories for both of us, to say the least. Mouszers had been suffering from irritable bowel syndrome for almost a year, and it didn't look like she was ever going to get any better. It was especially difficult because (though she suffered from frequent vomiting and diarrhea) outwardly she appeared to be fine. Late in the illness, we wound up shutting her off from the rest of the house in the bedroom, and while she loved company, more and more of the time she was lonely and sad. Unlike Bart, she passed immediately upon receiving the injection, and we took it as a sign that she was ready to go. Take care, wuss-wuss. Mommas and Daddas love you.

If you have a moment, please send Anita a consolation note. She's had Mouszers for twelve years, and naturally is taking this very hard.

Asterix And The Vikings Trailer

Of course, there's been plenty of animated Asterix already, but this film is the first I've seen that looks well-drawn and well-animated! The backgrounds are a little gaudy, but I'd like to see it when a subtitled version becomes available.

Nice

Jon Muses On His Nonexistent Love Life

We've all assumed that Garfield talks, but he doesn't. He thinks to himself. This is what's really happening at Jon's house. Or it would be if he weren't fictional.

Why The Internet Can Be Great

For a lot of people, you say, "internet", and you might conjure up images of a lot of people wringing their hands over online porn and how we should all try harder to keep The Children away from it. But this is what I think of - tons of useless crap that you're still happy to see painstakingly gathered and sorted by someone else. Here's a collection of sound-effect cards from the old Batman TV show. Enjoy these while you wait for the DVD release (there's no plans for it, so you may be waiting quite a while).

A tip of the Bat-cowl to Drawn! for the link.

A Little More Seuss

Here's a super-rough one. I cleaned it up in Photoshop, as usual.

I can't avoid cleaning up my roughs. I tried doing a doodle, and just posting it as it was, but I wound up pulling it. I'm too compulsively tidy to do that!

Jon Blows Dates He Didn't Know He Had

Nathan Jurevicius' New Toys

Mini Tree House, series 2 - another line of twelve interchangable characters, all blind-boxed (like baseball card packs). Collect 'em all for $80.00 at Ningyoushi.com.

Jon Keeps Trying To Connect

...without much success, it would appear.

Farewell, Lettie

Lettie Schubert - In Memoriam

By Alan Cook

Lettie Connell Schubert of Mill Valley, 77, died of cancer on March 21. She was an important figure in American Puppetry in many capacities. She worked with the late Ralph Chesse working marionettes on "BROTHER BUZZ" on Bay Area TV, and had her own TV show as well. Her early puppet work was entwined with Ralph Chesse's (he taught puppetry at SF State U). Lettie directed Oakland's Vagabond Puppet Theater which visited Oakland parks, where she mentored Jerry Juhl, the third person to join the Muppets as puppeteer and script writer, and she also mentored Frank Oz who joined the Muppets after work with Vagabond and graduating from high School.

Bruce Chesse (Ralph's surviving son) describes Lettie as the glue which held the San Francisco Bay Area Guild of Puppetry together in the 1950s and 1960s. She was a force of major importance to San Francisco, California and National puppetry, conducted manipulation workshops, organized regional and national puppetry festivals in the Bay Area, Asilomar and the Los Angeles area and served the national Puppeteers of America, Inc. Lettie follows Perry Dilley and Ralph Chesse in the Bay area in historical sequence.

She is survived by husband Gage, son David and daughter Becky.

Memorial info TBA.

Latest Auction Purchase

I just 'won' this Paul Coker Mad magazine ad that I saw as a kid. This drawing was part of a series of subscription ads called, "Why Kill Yourself?" It went for far less than I expected for a color piece!

Working On My Comic This Weekend

Four pages down, nine to go...

The Archives Are Down

Sorry about the blog archives being inacessible right now. I'll try to figure out how to fix it! Maybe Ms. Kate can once again come to my rescue...

Decisions, Decisions

Cruel, but fair. The comic's from here. Thanks to boingboing.net!

UK Simpsons Spot To Air With US Episode

Read about it here.

Another Second Assistant Editor Needed

Hello everyone! We're looking for a second assistant to start in June. If you know someone who is looking for Second Assistant work and would like a scenery change (which means, move to Portland), please pass this on to whomever you think would be interested. I can be reached at mandres@laika.com.

Cheers!
Margaret Andres


http://www.laika.com/entertainment/

Second Assistant Editor

We are seeking a full time Assistant Editor who will provide Avid Adrenaline support on a PC platform. Candidate must possess strong interpersonal and organizational skills. Ideal applicants must be able to work under pressure while maintaining a consistent eye to detail and assuring the highest level of quality control in their own work.

Responsibilities include:
- Assisting editors
- Digitizing footage
- Import and export deliveries
- Media management
- Engineer scratch dialog sessions
- Create dubs onto multiple formats
- Creating DVDs
- Create and manage media databases
- Maintain sound effects library
- Troubleshoot Avid problems
- Prepare cultists for compositors


Qualifications:
- Must have at least 3 years Avid experience
- Strong working knowledge of Windows and OSX platforms
- Experience working with a variety of tape/DVD decks
- Working knowledge of audio mixers
- A thorough understanding of different video and audio compression techniques
- Strong organizational skills with the ability to prioritize and multi-task
- A self-starter able to work well independently within a dynamic and deadline-oriented environment
- Animation experience is desirable but not necessary
- Feature film experience is a plus

Project 1982 Podcast

Here's the interview I did for Dave Maurer's website, Project 1982. Enjoy!

Music For One Apartment And Six Drummers

Even if they didn't really do this live, I love the fact the film makes it look like they did. Long, but enjoyable.

I Don't Think Ben Is Gonna Show Up

Don't Shoot The Puppy

A sure-fire productivity destroyer. Just click "start" and don't move the mouse. When "start" reappears, you've won the level! If you move the mouse after clicking "Start", you'll shoot the puppy. See how much restraint you can exercise before you crack.

PS - I won the game! Heh, heh.

A Brand-New Drawing Of Hampton

I just did this today for a co-worker. I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's appealing, but it feels so much more graphically conservative than the original design drawings. Hmmm. Well, I guess you'll draw a character differently sixteen years later.

One thing I am happier with is my use of the WACOM tablet on this piece. I turned the brush up to 20 or 25 pixels. Next, I need to turn up the (brush) sensitivity so I can get more thick-and-thin going on as well as boldness.

Butter Battle Scientist

Other Geek Tests

You can see how big a geek you are, how big a comic book geek you are, and how big a movie geek you are.
For comparison, I scored 72%, 68%, and 84%, respectively.

Superhero Quiz

Which superhero are you? Find out before Marvel and DC make the term their own.

Snakes On A Plane Logo

Pretty funny! The movie can't be this "good".

Ghostface Killah Gets His Own Action Figure

$500.00 is pricey, even for the collector toy market! Pre-order it here.

For Grins

Here's a promotional piece for UPA that I cleaned up in Photoshop for fun.

Ill-Conceived Department

An animated series featuring Paris and Nicky Hilton, not to mention Paris' dog Tinkerbell (see all of them here). Since you can still see a generous portion of Paris' hindquarters in the concept art, I'm assuming this is going to air off-network, and later at night. Like Cinemax After Dark late.

Seriously, though, what is this going to be about? Shopping, parties and sex? Who's going to want to watch -- oh. Never mind.

Matt And Trey Have Their Revenge

So the moral of the story is: Do. Not. EVER. Piss off Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Or they will eviscerate you for America's amusement, making money in the process. Fighting it will only make you look like an even poorer sport. It's as simple as that.

Reading the premise of the "revenge episode", it's worse than I could've imagined. Much, much worse. Read all about it here, and here. Looks like it's gonna be hilarious!

I hope the stroke isn't true, though.

Unnerved By Giant Devils?

Then this toy probably isn't for you. NECA's released the 21-inch Lord of Darkness figure from the film Legend. You can get it now for $75.00+shipping at Entertainment Earth.

Is It Memorex? Or Is It Live?

Check out the ongoing debate over the veracity of the documentary Unknown White Male and its subject, Doug Bruce. Interesting!

It's Back!

This seven-year-old design is resurrected, thanks to some zippy Illustrator work by Ellen Moon Lee. Celebrate by buying some stuff from my PidgeonStuff store! Look in the "NewStuff" section.

Bing Crosby And The Beatles Don't Mix

Nor does it mix with this odd assortment of co-stars. This clip is from Hollywood Palace, broadcast on October 11, 1969.

Prissy Polly's Pig Pickin' Bar-B-Q On Television

Here's a picture of the restaurant where my sister Deb and her husband Greg work (Greg's dad owns it). Apparently, they're working on a TV spot right now, so if you live near Kernersville, NC - keep your eyes peeled!

Development Art For The Butter Battle Book Special

Here's some more artwork for those who have missed it. Have I written about my Butter Battle escapades yet? I'll have to go back into the archives and check.

Noble Boy Article

Here's a write-up on Scott Morse's latest book, Noble Boy, a biographical sketch/touching tribute of animation legend Maurice Noble. Even if you know nothing about Maurice, the paintings alone are more than worth the money. Go Scott!

A Domestic Afternoon

Here's another high school buddy, Jan Pieter Versweyveld, mowing the lawn with his kids.

More Vinyl Coolness

Here's another great figure called Trace. I forget where I saw it, or how much it costs. More on this guy later.

Okay, I remembered! It's available at My Plastic Heart for $55.00 + shipping.

Our Wizard World Weekend

It was fun, but it didn't come easily at all. I forgot my wallet on the plane, so we had to wait a half an hour to get it back. It took more time to get lunch, but eventually we started out from Burbank to go to Los Angeles. If there was a poorly-marked freeway junction or exit, I picked the wrong one every time. Lots of backtracking!

This year, Wizard World took place at the L.A. Convention Center, so I had to learn a new route (last year's convention was in Long Beach). L.A. proper is similar to San Diego in that it has a lot of one-way streets, making navigation difficult if you haven't been there before (or often, like me). More backtracking. At last, we located and parked at the Sheraton, whose parking structure wasn't easy to figure out either - neither of us could easily figure out where the valet parking ended and the standard parking began!

On top of that, the fellow at Expedia was wrong about how far it was from the hotel to the convention center. I thought it was a block or two. It was eight. Plus, the L.A. Marathon was last Saturday as well, so it wasn't easy to walk over there.

We finally made our way over to the convention center. Hooray! Comic time! Toy time! Well, not quite.

The first thing we saw in the center was a huge Christian revival-style meeting. Huh. Oh! - there's another event further along - that must be it. Nope - that was an organizing area for the marathon. So we kept walking. And walking.

It turns out that the L.A. Convention Center is as big as an airport, and naturally, Wizard World was at the opposite end. I think there were at least five events in the center that day. I'd never run into that before!

Anyway, we had fun at the convention. It was a little small (about the size of this year's WonderCon, maybe a little smaller), and there wasn't much in the way of panels or forums, so we mostly cruised the dealer's room with our friend Dave (it took him even longer to arrive, as he had to park his car - poor guy). This was a big statue weekend for me - I bought a three-maquette set of characters from the new Krypto animated TV show, as well as a couple of silver age X-Men statues that I got for cheap. Of course, I'll probably spend all the money I saved trying to get the whole team, as a couple of the figures are pretty rare. I ran into Stephen Silver, and got to say hello and peruse his beautiful artwork. I'll have to see if he does commissions!

We also got together for dinner with the Johnson family on Saturday night, so that was very nice. Victoria prepared a chicken curry that was quite tasty, and we topped off the evening with a few rounds of Apples To Apples. Fun, but I couldn't play to save my life! Dave was there, too.

We got together with him again to look over the convention more on Sunday, since we hadn't finished the day before. After lunch, we sneaked into the center's empty theater and recorded an interview with him for his podcast (I'll let you know when it's online, so can listen to it if you want). It was getting late, so we headed out for the airport.

Traffic was heavy, so we didn't make it back for the departure time. Fortunately, our flight was delayed, so we made it anyway. Phew! At least our wonky travel karma didn't extend to car accidents or plane schedules.

Well, we're back now, so I guess the lesson is that traffic is temporary, and toys last a lot longer!

Cool New Vinyl Figure

The character's name is Buzz Carney, but I don't know yet who designed it. Looks great, though! You can get one for $84.95 at KidRobot.

Snakes On A Plane T-Shirts

Why are people so fixated on this? Why am I so fixated on this?!
Anyway. You can buy the first design here, the second one here.

More Disappointment On The Way

From The UK's Guardian: Lucas plans Star Wars TV spin-off

Staff and agencies
Thursday March 16, 2006

And you thought the Star Wars saga finished with Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Wrong you were, my youngling friend.

George Lucas and his team are currently hard at work on a Star Wars live-action TV series. It will be set between the end of Revenge of the Sith and the beginning of Episode IV: A New Hope. The plot would centre on Luke Skywalker's early years growing up on Tatooine.

Yesterday, producer Rick McCallum announced the tale would be spun over at least 100 hours. "Hopefully if we can make it work and everybody's excited and watches it, we will keep on going," McCallum told BBC Radio 1. A writing team will start sweating on a script soon, with filming scheduled to begin in 2008 for transmission later the same year.
McCallum said there would be "a whole bunch of new characters" and the series would be "much more dramatic and darker". The actors from the films are not expected to take up their roles again.

The live-action TV series is not the only spin-off in the offing. Last year, at a Star Wars fans' convention in Indianapolis, Lucas also said he was preparing a 3D animated TV series called Clone Wars, about the battle led by Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi and other Jedi knights against the army of the Republic at the end of Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Clone Wars is based on an existing animated series, made up of five-minute episodes, broadcast on the Cartoon Network TV channel. It is set to be ready next year.

Before work on the live-action TV series can begin, Lucas needs to work on his long-cherished project Red Tails, a drama about African-American pilots in the second world war. He has also just approved the script to Indiana Jones 4, which will see the return of Harrison Ford at the whip and Steven Spielberg in the director's chair.

I don't really care about the rest of it, but I am a little curious about the long-gestating Red Tails project. I thought this might've gotten scuttled after the similarly-themed Laurence Fishburne TV movie that came out a while back. Unfortunately, most of those twenty-year-old projects haven't ended well. We'll have to wait and see - hopefully, we'll at least get a Tucker-level film out of it.

A Little More Finished Art From Fetch

Here's a new panel. The story's only thirteen pages, so I don't want to post too many drawings, or there won't be any surprise left!

Snakes On A Plane Website

This just won't quit! Or maybe I won't.

Jon's Doing It Again

Now he's taking his cat out to dinner. Sad.

Anita & I -- Wizard World Los Angeles

Here's a shot of the two of us at this weekend's convention! We had a lot of fun, but it was a hectic couple of days! More about that tomorrow...stay tuned...

I'm Off To Wizard World!

See you soon...

Japan's Answer To The Banana Splits

Weird! I've never seen an episode of this before, but it turns out I have a toy of the red octopus at home.

Comedy Central Pulls Repeat Of South Park's Scientology Episode

A great response from the guys! It's all pretty funny, as I'm sure it'll be included on the appropriate DVD set anyway.

Inside Move: 'South Park' feeling some celeb heat?
Cable net abruptly pulls repeat of Scientology episode
By MICHAEL FLEMING

The battle between "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Scientology is escalating.
The dust-up gained steam last week when Isaac Hayes, a practicing Scientologist who has long been the voice of the character Chef, quit after objecting to a "South Park" episode called "Trapped in the Closet," which lampooned both the religion and Tom Cruise.

The skirmish continued this week, when Comedy Central abruptly pulled a repeat of that episode that was scheduled to air Wednesday evening. Showing instead was another memorable seg which featured Hayes's character, called "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls."

Blog reports pegged the mysterious episode switch to objections raised by Cruise, who, the reports stated, threatened to not promote "Mission: Impossible 3," the summer tentpole for Viacom-owned Paramount.

A spokesman for Cruise denied that Cruise had ever made such a threat. "He never said any such thing about 'Mission: Impossible 3," the spokesman said.

While the "South Park" creators didn't directly comment on Comedy Central's decision to pull the episode, they issued an unusual statement to Daily Variety indicating the battle is not over.

"So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun! Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies. Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!"

The duo signed the statement "Trey Parker and Matt Stone, servants of the dark lord Xenu."

Date in print: Fri., Mar. 17, 2006, Los Angeles

Snakes On A Plane Trailer

Truth in advertising at work. Take a look!

Speaking Of Garfield...

...here we go again. Or 'not go' again, as the case may be.

Garfield Comedy Theory

Lakini Malich discovered that if you remove Garfield's dialogue, it changes the tone of the strip entirely:

An interesting thing...if you remove Garfield's thought balloons, it goes from an unfunny comic to a rather sad, poignant story about a lonely man who has wasted his life talking to his cat.

I think it's much funnier this way, personally!

Remember Jot?

He was the hero of a series of shorts produced by the Southern Baptists. I saw one or two of them on TV when I was little, and managed to buy a cel/bg set-up from The Deep Archives. The music is treacly, and the tone is creepy and guilt-wracked, but the design and animation are imaginative and quite nice. Check 'em out!

Thanks to Nate Pacheco for posting them!

Snakes On A Plane

An excerpt from a Premiere magazine interview with Samuel Jackson:

Q: Which brings us to your upcoming sensitive human drama, Snakes on a Plane, for which you lobbied the producers to stick with the title rather than change it to Pacific Air Flight 121.

A: They had already changed the title when I got to Canada to start shooting. I let it go for a while. Then one day all the producers were standing there, and I'm saying, "So are you seriously going to leave this name like this?" And they're going, "Yeah, we don't want to give too much away to the audience." I'm like, "Yeah you do. That's the way you get them in here. Nobody wants to see Pacific Air Flight 121. People want to see Snakes on a Plane." When I picked up the script and I saw the title, I didn't even read it and I said, "I want to do it." You know, before I opened the first page, Snakes on a Plane. If this is what I think it is, I want to be in this. I want to be on a plane full of poisonous snakes. And I want to see other people on a plane full of poisonous snakes. You say Snakes on a Plane, people who don't like snakes are intrigued. The people who don't like to fly are intrigued. The people who don't like both are totally terrified now. People who just like seeing mayhem are ready for that. They want to see, you know, people enclosed in a big tin tube getting attacked by poisonous snakes. Come on! What could be more exciting than that, you know? What do you do? What do you do until the plane lands? Come on, Snakes on a Plane, that's the title. And, you know, somebody heard that comment, people on the Internet got behind it. "That's right! [pounding the table, with gruff voice] We want Snakes on a Plane!" So now, there's, I don't know, five, six websites, you know, that are dedicated . . . There are T-shirts, there are bags, there are jackets . . . Snakes on a Plane. [pauses, then looks wide-eyed] And by the way, you get some good snakes too!

Tales Of Worm Paranoia

Eddie Fitzgerald's contribution to the What A Cartoon! days at Cartoon Network, when the studio was very open to pitches for animated shorts and series. He threw a pretty wild hat in the ring! Check it out.

Thanks to John K. for the tip-off!

Dad Update

Since I last wrote, I've been getting daily e-mails from my family. Dad's doing much better - he's eating more and taking the Celebrex is helping with his joint pain. After a few days, he didn't need those meds anymore, so that's good! He's done a blood panel through his local doctor, so now we're waiting for the results. We'll see if anything shows up.

Blood On The Red Carpet

Annie Proulx on how her Brokeback Oscar hopes were dashed by Crash
Saturday March 11, 2006
The Guardian

On the sidewalk stood hordes of the righteous, some leaning forward like wind-bent grasses, the better to deliver their imprecations against gays and fags to the open windows of the limos - the windows open by order of the security people - creeping toward the Kodak Theater for the 78th Academy Awards. Others held up sturdy, professionally crafted signs expressing the same hatred.
The red carpet in front of the theatre was larger than the Red Sea. Inside, we climbed grand staircases designed for showing off dresses. The circular levels filled with men in black, the women mostly in pale, frothy gowns. Sequins, diamonds, glass beads, trade beads sparkled like the interior of a salt mine. More exquisite dresses appeared every moment, some made from six yards of taffeta, and many with sweeping trains that demanded vigilance from strolling attendees lest they step on a mermaid's tail. There was one man in a kilt - there is always one at award ceremonies - perhaps a professional roving Scot hired to give colour to the otherwise monotone showing of clustered males. Larry McMurtry defied the dress code by wearing his usual jeans and cowboy boots.

The people connected with Brokeback Mountain, including me, hoped that, having been nominated for eight Academy awards,