Men in (Stripey) Tights

Last week, my brother David was passing through town on his way to a reading with Sam Shepard and Patti Smith. We took the opportunity to check out Tim Burton's exhibition at the MOMA, an event I was actually slightly dreading.

Let me explain.


Like almost every outcast 'art girl' in High School, I went through the black stripes and eyeliner Tim Burton phase. Hell, I even declared a Tim Burton week one year (don't ask - if you don't already know the details, well, you're just not meant to).

Over the years, my outlook expanded and I began to realize how narrow Burton's niche was. Not to mention the fact that his films just, for lack of a better phrase, 'got bad'. I remember deriving some amusement out of Sleepy Hollow, mostly due to the 'Walken Factor'. But Planet of the Apes, Willy Wonka, Sweeney Todd? Ugh.


Beetlejuice was a blast. Scissorhands, wonderful. Ed Wood, interesting. And of course, Batman.

Tim Burton's first Batman works because it has just the right balance of dumb action and macabre humor. Also, Keaton is kinda 'off-his-rocker' as both Batman and Bruce Wayne ("You wanna get nuts?") Burton's second Batman becomes a little too much about Burton.

But I've gotten off-track...


I was slightly dreading the exhibit. All I could think of was Depp's performance as Willy Wonka.



Then I was reminded of Burton's excellent drawings and design sense, what drew me to his work all those years ago. And really, that's what's worth braving the stripey-tight wearing crowds - the hundreds of doodles and drawings of random dog-walkers and kissing couples he's brought into his own demented little world.




And of course, all the movie props from the films I loved in grade school (special thanks goes to my brother for blocking the guard's view while I snapped these photos).

To the Dogs...

Every so often you experience something that can only be described as a triumph.

About two years ago I heard the song 'To the Dogs or Whoever' by Josh Ritter for the first time. The instruments, vocals, lyrics, all make you want to throw your fist in the air, celebrating the pure triumphant joy the music shares.


Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox is no different.


The stop-motion is refreshing and charming. The characters, well-designed, directed and cast, are easy to love and identify with even after only a few quick scenes. The shots and framing are pure genius, artful and emotional.

And as with every Wes Anderson film, the music is a treat. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the theater who got the tender reference to another animated film starring two enamored foxes. If it hadn't of won me over by then, the strains of Bruns and Huddleston's Academy Award nominated "Love" certainly would have had me pumping my fist in the air in triumphant joy.

Simply put, see it.

Took a Trip to Another Land

Last week marked my fourth Ottawa Animation Festival and I have exactly 0 pictures to show for it. You'll just have to take me at my word that it just keeps getting better.

Last year was decidedly lackluster in the short film section but, thankfully Nina Paley's Sita Sings the Blues made up for the depressing showcase of talent. This year, the shorts stood out while the features took a back seat.

My personal favorites?

Git Gob


I had actually seen this already but catching it on the big screen made it even better. What's more, the filmmaker Philip Eddolls seemed to be the only interesting character at the Meet the Filmmakers the following morning. His process for coloring the film was refreshingly creative.

The Bellow's March


The best part about this film is knowing how Eric Dyer made it. Several folks were thinking stop-motion, others 3D. I geeked out when I heard the word 'cinetrope' mentioned followed by 'what's that?' and realized I knew exactly how he dunnit.

The Black Dog's Progress


Wonderfully thoughtout film using nice stark black and white imagery and a flipbook-like set-up that boggled a few audience members enough to ask the 'how-did-you' question the following morning. Great sound work too.

Dog In a Burning Building


Made by the very talented Krause brothers, this film oozes fun from the music to the torn textured paper to the 3D to the hand-puppets. And what better way to end it than with a omage to the Muppets? The great thing about this film is that it's obvious Fran and Will had a blast making it and it's nice (especially when working the 9-5 grind) to remember why we all decided to do this for a living.

Please Say Something


When the film first started up I was immediately concerned. I had seen a film once before staring a cat and mouse rendered simply in 3D and trust me, it didn't end well. After a few seconds it was obvious this was one of the strongest, emotionally driven films in competition and the crude-looking digital characters were only driving the message home more. In fact, for all the folks out there that think animators could take a tip or two from live-action films, here's one a few live-action should look to.

That's a Wrap!

Been one of those weeks again (aka - another G-dcast due by end of day)... In an attempt to run off one more blog before the week's end, here it is! My week in photos-



Some crew has been shooting a film up and down Lewis Ave. all week. While I'm sure Mr. Cage is not involved (his latest local film most likely wrapping up in post-production), it's still nice to see all that fancy equipment.



And a little further down, a different sort of roadblock.



This is a new area that just been renovated in the building I work at. The door's locked, by the way. I guess we know where the next Ghostbusters is being shot. "There is no Dana..."


Douglas reminds me that with the end of every week comes recycling!

No CGI here!

About a month ago, I was doing this to books.


It looks like I'm killing them, when, in fact, I was giving them life! Proof? You want proof? Well, unfortunately, due to a looming deadline and lack of sleep, I neglected to take any pictures after this point. Oops...

But I do have this to show for it!



If I remember correctly, 5-6 books were rigged with fishing line to 'jump off the shelves'. One of those books had a 'flying double' who was rigged with a rod and 'marionette strings' to give it's 'wings' the flapping motion. About 4-5 other books were also rigged for flying, but these were 'stiff' (no strings), the 'wings' locked with metal struts stuck through the pages.


Hence the knife, which more then once, ended up nailing the book to the floor. However, I can't take any credit for the amazing work in post; Alex de Campi is the wizard responsible for that magic.

Survival Tips

In case you ever find yourself in a situation like this -



Try doing this.

Short Fuse

WARNING: This blog has nothing to do with being short tempered or that film starring Art Garfunkel (more about that in future posts).

It does have to do with my good friend Stephanie Yuhas' film screening, Show Us Your Shorts, held at the Pour House last night. The size of the crowd below is deceiving, taken well before the screenings actually started. An hour into screening, the place was completely packed.


Honestly, I don't like going to these things. I don't really like straining to hear or be heard especially when I'm trying to hold a conversation with someone I may potentially work with in the future. But, it's a necessary evil. What got me there? The fact that Stephanie is, hands down, one of the most incredible folks that I know and she supports me, so I in turn...


All in all, though, it was a good time. Got to meet some new people, chat with a few people I knew but didn't really feel like I 'knew', and of course, run into some weird folks that will do nothing but add to my collection of "I met this dude once..." stories. And what art gathering would be complete without the typical doodle in the sketchbook?


I've been contemplating sending my cat out to work in one of the local delis.

As far as the films go, it was a mixed bag. Some angst-ridden student films, some surprisingly professional-looking shorts, a fair amount of fun animation and a few shorts where the audience's reaction was more entertaining than what was actually onscreen.


This one involved a dog eating a baby I believe. Best part of the evening?


My outfit.


Seriously. I won a rubber chicken as one of only two folks who actually wore shorts to the event despite the fact that it stated it on the poster.

Who you gonna call?

One of the main reasons I prefer doing stop-motion is that I like working with my hands. I'm pretty sure I get that from my father. I like building things, fixing things, taking things apart, putting them back together… the whole she-bang.

A long time ago I was hanging out at a friend’s house. How long ago? Let me put it in perspective for you: we all rented a VHS and had just popped it in when the VCR preceded to eat the tape. Typical. Well, for any number of reasons (none of which actually matter), I sat down and decided to fix the tape.

Now, for those of you who don’t remember the joy of VHS, you can’t just wind the tape back up like a cassette. You have to crack open the casing. Last night, I popped a tape into the VCR and heard the familiar sound of crinkling plastic. It actually kind of excited me.


If you ever find yourself in this kind of predicament, relax.


Find yourself a small screwdriver and, depending on the tape, some kind of edge you can cut with. Next comes the hardest part: fighting with the VCR to remove the video. Here’s where it can all go wrong: if you rip the tape, it’s all over.


Luckily, I was able to separate the VHS from my TV. Then I sat down to work on fixing what very well maybe one of the few surviving copies of The Real Ghostbusters: Showdown at the O.K. Corral on VHS (and yes, I paid for it).



Remove all the screws and try to keep in mind which holes they came from. Gently pry open the case. You may not be able to open it all the way. Some old tapes have labels and unless you absolutely need to, you probably want to refrain from removing them.


Wind the tape back in and screw the casing back together.


Ta-da! And for those wondering, I did manage to fix the tape my friends and I rented. I have no recollection as to what it was, though. Apparently, my joy at resurrecting the VHS overshadowed the feature.

T n' T

While searching online for pictures of yokai in regard to a recent post, I kept coming across images like this:


The film was completely unfamiliar to me, so I followed the links and found that I was, in fact, aware of the film, Pom Poko, but I had never realized what it was actually about:


Raccoons!

Well, actually they’re tanukis. The movie just incorrectly (and rather annoyingly) refers to them in both the subtitles and dub as raccoons. Now, I understand why they’ve done this: American families, more likely than not, have no idea what a tanuki is. I do, but that’s only because I had to swerve several times while driving in Miyagi-ken to avoid hitting them.


They aren’t raccoons. They’re a separate species called raccoon-dogs and are more closely related to the canine half of their namesake.

Why am I so up in arms about the fact that the American version of Pom Poko doesn’t take the time out to explain that they’re tanukis? Because the entire movie revolves around the simple fact that tanukis are considered magical creatures in Japan (much like foxes and (older) cats). Tanukis, not raccoons. All over Japan you can find statues of these creatures with their one, rather large, distinguishing feature:


Their huge testicles. This is actually where the tanukis store most of their power. Their testicles can even grow to enormous sizes, big enough for them to play like drums or sit on. And, they are said to be extremely good luck. See, there’s a reason why a Google search for ‘yokai’ kept turning up this movie: Tanukis are considered yokai of a sort.


So, when I first saw the cover for Pom Poko, I actually assumed they were raccoons specifically because A.) they were advertised as such and B.) none of the creatures featured on the cover had visible testicles.


But within the first few minutes of the movie, BAM! There they were and believe me: tanuki testicles played a HUGE (literally at times) part in the story.


All I could think of was 'how?' How did this movie get distributed in America? And by Disney, no less? They play with their balls, they sing about their balls, they fight with their balls. They even form ships out of their balls!

For my first viewing, I watched it with the original Japanese audio. The words ‘balls’ and ‘testicles’ abounded in the English subtitles. I'm certain there's a drinking game somewhere that involves downing a shot every time either pops up. Makes me mighty curious what the Disney dubbing did about all that…

Sugoi! Mubi desu!

As well as writing about my two years living abroad, my day-to-day life since being back, my work and anything else that pops into my mind, I’ve decided to throw one more topic in to the mix: films. Specifically, films I’ve seen threw the years that more likely than not, you, dear reader, have not. To begin…

Yokai Daisenso

Or in English: The Great Yokai War. This film, directed by Takashi Miike, is technically a children’s movie which, to anyone out there that knows Miike, might seem surprising. I’m sure I’ll write about a few of his other films in the future.

The Great Yokai War is a remake of an older Japanese film made in 1968 called Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare*. In both films, good yokai (Japanese spirits) band together to overcome the big, bad yokai. It’s that simple. Why do I love them both? Cause I love yokai. They’re bizarre and I promise to elaborate further in future blogs.

But, there are several reasons to love Miike’s remake apart from “Yokai are cool”. For starters, just take in to account that this IS a children’s’ film. Keep this in mind as you scroll through the following images:

Bloody mutant cow fetuses?

Melting monsters in vats of red goo?

Small children being murdered by giant Optimus Primes from Hell on their way to the bathroom?

Kill Bill/Battle Royale's Chiaki Kuriyama’s numerous panty shots?

And my personal favorite:

The message to Japanese children everywhere that if you want the ability to see all these really awesome yokai all you have to do is drink A LOT of Kirin ‘biru’.

Other great things this flick’s got? Well, loads of fun special effects which, although nothing to compare to most of the CGI-extravaganzas out right now, celebrate the typically not-so-great-looking special effects we expect from any over-the-top Japanese monster movie. And for the hippies out there, some feel-good, peace-and-love messages: “Those who discard their past have no future” and “Wars don’t bring any good. They only make you a fool.” Right on, dude…

Oh, yeah… and yokais are just freaking cool.

*Sadly, I can’t remember for the life of me what the title is in Japanese and, even sadder still, the internet has failed me as well.