I got a dehumidifier today since I could not take any more of the damp, humid heat and I don't want to get an air conditioner.
At least not yet.
The dehumidifier resembles an 'R2 unit' from STAR WARS (this is my friend Jean Pilotte's description, not mine, and it is a good one.) Instead of beeps and meeps, it makes a low drone. So I put it in the living room not the bedroom. The humidity level in the apartment is already appreciably lower, though I don't know if it is the machine or the cooling off at the end of the day that is responsible.
So I didn't get jack else done today. I am not a hot weather person. It remains to be seen whether I am a cold weather person this winter, but from past experience I'd have to say Yes. You can always put on another coat. There is a limit to how much clothing the law allows you to take off.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
Ellen Woodbury's Second Life
Disney animator Ellen Woodbury has joined the blogger ranks with this wonderful chronicle of her new 'second life' as a sculptor in stone.
Ellen was the lead animator and designer of Zazu the hornbill in THE LION KING, and Pegasus in HERCULES. She left Disneys two years ago, moved to Colorado, and began seriously working on her new career as a fine artist in stone. Ellen has landed some important commissions and exhibited in shows in the area and her work features stones and techniques I've never heard of. I literally read her blog with my jaw dropping. Who knew there were such things as honeycomb calcite and red travertine in the world?
Well, all right then. So I didn't know. Now, I do. Read Ellen Woodbury's blog to see how she brings an animator's sensibility to stone--her work has a tactile, organic quality that is a joy to behold.
Tonight I'm attending a film festival in Toronto that features 2008 Sheridan BAA graduate Ellie Ventura's senior Sheridan animation project, Crema Suprema. Ellie was one of the first Sheridan students to work in the new stop motion studio at the college, and Crema Suprema has been accepted into several film festivals already. I'll report back on the festival after I attend!
And last night was my first dinner party at the new apartment. Jean and Melinda Pilotte, old friends and new neighbours here in Oakville, attended along with two new friends I met in the past few weeks. Gizmo the cat actually sat on my chair and attempted to join us at the table, but otherwise was very well behaved and seemed completely over her recent indisposition.
The weather continues erratic; just before the dinner, I heard a tremendous clap of thunder. Then another. But the sky was clear, even sunny; not a drop of rain was falling. The storm was three miles to the north, drenching the Pilotte's house and flickering their lights.
Weird, weird weird weather but it's at least not baking.
Speaking of baking, I used my new induction cooker to cook some very nice bean soup. The kitchen didn't heat up, the heater 'turned on a dime' to exactly the temperature I needed, and the pressure cooker stayed pressurized without constant adjustments to the 'flame'. I'm sold on this, and I plan to use it for most things other than stirfries. I'm also a convert to electric kettles; they really do boil the water faster than an old fashioned tea kettle.
Ellen was the lead animator and designer of Zazu the hornbill in THE LION KING, and Pegasus in HERCULES. She left Disneys two years ago, moved to Colorado, and began seriously working on her new career as a fine artist in stone. Ellen has landed some important commissions and exhibited in shows in the area and her work features stones and techniques I've never heard of. I literally read her blog with my jaw dropping. Who knew there were such things as honeycomb calcite and red travertine in the world?
Well, all right then. So I didn't know. Now, I do. Read Ellen Woodbury's blog to see how she brings an animator's sensibility to stone--her work has a tactile, organic quality that is a joy to behold.
Tonight I'm attending a film festival in Toronto that features 2008 Sheridan BAA graduate Ellie Ventura's senior Sheridan animation project, Crema Suprema. Ellie was one of the first Sheridan students to work in the new stop motion studio at the college, and Crema Suprema has been accepted into several film festivals already. I'll report back on the festival after I attend!
And last night was my first dinner party at the new apartment. Jean and Melinda Pilotte, old friends and new neighbours here in Oakville, attended along with two new friends I met in the past few weeks. Gizmo the cat actually sat on my chair and attempted to join us at the table, but otherwise was very well behaved and seemed completely over her recent indisposition.
The weather continues erratic; just before the dinner, I heard a tremendous clap of thunder. Then another. But the sky was clear, even sunny; not a drop of rain was falling. The storm was three miles to the north, drenching the Pilotte's house and flickering their lights.
Weird, weird weird weather but it's at least not baking.
Speaking of baking, I used my new induction cooker to cook some very nice bean soup. The kitchen didn't heat up, the heater 'turned on a dime' to exactly the temperature I needed, and the pressure cooker stayed pressurized without constant adjustments to the 'flame'. I'm sold on this, and I plan to use it for most things other than stirfries. I'm also a convert to electric kettles; they really do boil the water faster than an old fashioned tea kettle.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Updates and Downpours
The weather has been crazy here; a slow-revolving 'pinwheel' has kept the rains and storms alternating with patches of bright (and high UV level) sunshine. But at least it has not been broiling the way it was two weeks ago, when the humidity and heat reached Savannah levels. I almost broke down and got an air conditioner, and will do so if the humidity level returns. Although I may try a dehumidifier first.
The three ceiling fans are doing an excellent job keeping the place livable, and I recommend this type of cooling to everyone, even if you also use an AC. The fans are more efficient at moving the cool air around where it's needed and they won't give you chills or breed Legionaire's disease.
Gizmo the cat is also much better after her four day illness. I don't know if she picked something up at the vet's or was traumatized by the large and bouncy puppies that shared the waiting room for her when we were there last Thursday but she was sick as a --dog--from Friday until Monday. I tried cooking rice in chicken soup for her as per vet's instructions. She did not eat it. She's back to her rabbit dinner food, which contains probiotics that will help settle her tummy, and I've not noticed anything untoward in the litterbox or on the floor this morning. So fingers crossed, she's better.
July 1 is Canada Day and I have decided to stay in the Oakville area simply because large crowds do not send me. The "Erchless Estate", home of Oakville's founder William Chisolm, actually consists of four historic buildings on the lake. They are holding a strawberry social on the holiday and there are fireworks at lovely Bronte Harbour in the evening that may be just as much fun than the ones in Toronto and possibly less crowded; they are certainly closer to home. I have posted an event on something called Linkup. One person has subscribed. It's better doing this with someone than traveling alone, and most Canadians made other plans long in advance of the holiday. I'm also going to try to take a trip to the Toronto Islands on Saturday via ferryboat if it doesn't storm. If it does, there are plenty of great things to do in downtown Toronto, even on Queen's Quay.
As in New York, there's no excuse to be bored in Toronto.
The three ceiling fans are doing an excellent job keeping the place livable, and I recommend this type of cooling to everyone, even if you also use an AC. The fans are more efficient at moving the cool air around where it's needed and they won't give you chills or breed Legionaire's disease.
Gizmo the cat is also much better after her four day illness. I don't know if she picked something up at the vet's or was traumatized by the large and bouncy puppies that shared the waiting room for her when we were there last Thursday but she was sick as a --dog--from Friday until Monday. I tried cooking rice in chicken soup for her as per vet's instructions. She did not eat it. She's back to her rabbit dinner food, which contains probiotics that will help settle her tummy, and I've not noticed anything untoward in the litterbox or on the floor this morning. So fingers crossed, she's better.
July 1 is Canada Day and I have decided to stay in the Oakville area simply because large crowds do not send me. The "Erchless Estate", home of Oakville's founder William Chisolm, actually consists of four historic buildings on the lake. They are holding a strawberry social on the holiday and there are fireworks at lovely Bronte Harbour in the evening that may be just as much fun than the ones in Toronto and possibly less crowded; they are certainly closer to home. I have posted an event on something called Linkup. One person has subscribed. It's better doing this with someone than traveling alone, and most Canadians made other plans long in advance of the holiday. I'm also going to try to take a trip to the Toronto Islands on Saturday via ferryboat if it doesn't storm. If it does, there are plenty of great things to do in downtown Toronto, even on Queen's Quay.
As in New York, there's no excuse to be bored in Toronto.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
A Day in Toronto
"It's called 'Novy with a schmeer on a bagel!'"
"I've never heard it called that before."
I was describing one of the delicacies of New York --in a strong Brooklyn accent--to a polite, if slightly shocked, native of Nova Scotia at the Waterfront Festival in Toronto. Queen's Quay was sprinkled with tall ships and tall people wearing bright blue kilts striped with black, the colors of Nova Scotia. People were handing out flyers advertising the beauties of the region, which appeared to be considerable. And they were giving away foam lobsters on metal leashes, very Daliesque. I got one.
"I've never been to your province but I've had your lox."
Then I had to explain what lox is. This is not surprising since the word is a variation on the German/Danish word lachs, not English at all. Nova Scotia Lox, or novy, as it's known in New York, is considered the finest smoked salmon in the world. The man in the kilt smiled proudly. "I will have to remember that."
Queen's Quay and the Toronto waterfront is very desirable living space with a great many amenities that I did not have time to properly explore. I had a date, a theatre date. The theatre in question was the last remaining functional double decker theatre in the world, the Elgin and the Winter Garden on nearby Yonge street. I took the streetcar which literally burrowed under Union Station, then switched to a subway. Toronto is the only city where I've seen streetcars going under ground. It makes sense, and it's an easy and free transfer to the subway.
The Elgin and Winter Garden are two theatres that literally sit one on top of the other. Built as a 'high class vaudeville house' in 1913 by American theatre owner Marcus Loew, the lower half was originally called Loew's Yonge Street theatre. The name was changed to the Elgin when it was restored. "Why?" I asked. "And who was this Elgin?"
"There is no historical significance to this whatever," the giude replied. "When they were remodeling the theatre, they were changing the sign and found they had the E, the G, the N, and the L. So all they needed to buy was the "I". it was done solely for cost."
The cost of restoring the two theatres was considerable. The downstairs Yonge Street changed from live entertainment to sound movies in 1928. The upper theatre was closed. Everything in it stayed where it was for nearly sixty years.
When it was inspected in 1981, it was a time capsule of the vaudeville age. Remarkably, over 100 pieces of scenery were still in storage, though heavily deteriorated. The ceiling of the Winter Garden was still hung with the thousands of beech leaves and lanterns that gave the illusion of an actual garden. Everything was intact, but the leaves crumbled to powder upon being touched, and the huge central stairway acted as a funnel for soot and pollution, so all was black and fragile.
The two theatres were restored, complete with new beech leaves, thanks to the Ontario government that now owns the theatres. And what a treasure they are. The Winter Garden is breathtakingly beautiful, with the colored lamps once again twinkling in a leafy rooftop, and the pillars that support the building camouflaged as tree trunks. The original drop front with a country scene is still used as the main curtain. I expected to see Buster Keaton run out from the wings and do a little soft shoe with his double on the stage. And yes, he and his family vaudeville act had played this theatre when it was new.
The Elgin's decor is more conventional, but it too was lovingly restored to its original 1913 appearance, including the misspelled name 'LIZT' on one of the entranceway's commemorative cartouches. (These also commemorate 'Tableaux' and 'Vaudeville'. I don't know what the former is, but would like to see the latter make a comeback.) The Winter Garden has the same fairyland quality as the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York, which was ten years older and considerably larger and restored from a similar state of decrepitude to its original glory. How much nicer both these theatres are than the nasty plastic boxes of your average 'multiplex'. Even if the show was mediocre, you could enjoy the theatre. This was in fact the original idea. The entertainment at the Yonge Street (lower theatre) was continuous, and patrons came and went as they pleased. Performers did two-a-day downstairs, with the Winter Garden reserved for one performance per day for the 'class acts'
Over one hundred pieces of scenery were found intact in the theatre. Most of them are in storage still awaiting restoration. Three vaudeville flats, "The Peacock Flat", "The Butterfly Flat" and "The Lane" were restored and hung on the walls of the now much enlarged building. Old retail spaces were converted to modern lounges and additional bathrooms during the renovation. One of the original dressing rooms was restored, complete with old makeup pots and some donated costumes.
As a special treat we were allowed to see the original 1913 men's room, which was clean and contained original fixtures, but was no longer in use. Our guide actually knocked on the door before unlocking and entering the room. "I'm notifying the ghosts that we're coming," he said, with a perfectly straight face.
"Have you seen any ghosts?" I asked him.
"I had someone or something tap my shoulder one day, and when I turned around nothing was there. It was a very firm tap," the man continued, "I definitely did not imagine it. And sometimes the elevators--which must be manually operated with a control--someone must bring it to you when you want to go somewhere, you can't move them by pushing a button--move by themselves when I'm the only one here."
Sometimes the elevator also stops by itself on the third floor of the seven story building. There is no door opening on that floor. "Was there one there historically?" I asked. "I don't know," the man replied.
I ended the day by going to the Toronto Powwow in honor of Aboriginal Nations Day. The weather tried to rain, thought better of it, and the day ended warm and beautifully.
Today I have to work to get more stuff out of boxes and get ready for a meeting on Monday.
And I must look after Gizmo, who had some health issues this weekend, but appears to be doing better now. I think she was annoyed at being dragged to the vets twice in a month and wanted to give the lie to his pronouncement that she was just fine. Maybe she wanted to teach me a lesson about going out all day and leaving her alone, who knows.
"I've never heard it called that before."
I was describing one of the delicacies of New York --in a strong Brooklyn accent--to a polite, if slightly shocked, native of Nova Scotia at the Waterfront Festival in Toronto. Queen's Quay was sprinkled with tall ships and tall people wearing bright blue kilts striped with black, the colors of Nova Scotia. People were handing out flyers advertising the beauties of the region, which appeared to be considerable. And they were giving away foam lobsters on metal leashes, very Daliesque. I got one.
"I've never been to your province but I've had your lox."
Then I had to explain what lox is. This is not surprising since the word is a variation on the German/Danish word lachs, not English at all. Nova Scotia Lox, or novy, as it's known in New York, is considered the finest smoked salmon in the world. The man in the kilt smiled proudly. "I will have to remember that."
Queen's Quay and the Toronto waterfront is very desirable living space with a great many amenities that I did not have time to properly explore. I had a date, a theatre date. The theatre in question was the last remaining functional double decker theatre in the world, the Elgin and the Winter Garden on nearby Yonge street. I took the streetcar which literally burrowed under Union Station, then switched to a subway. Toronto is the only city where I've seen streetcars going under ground. It makes sense, and it's an easy and free transfer to the subway.
The Elgin and Winter Garden are two theatres that literally sit one on top of the other. Built as a 'high class vaudeville house' in 1913 by American theatre owner Marcus Loew, the lower half was originally called Loew's Yonge Street theatre. The name was changed to the Elgin when it was restored. "Why?" I asked. "And who was this Elgin?"
"There is no historical significance to this whatever," the giude replied. "When they were remodeling the theatre, they were changing the sign and found they had the E, the G, the N, and the L. So all they needed to buy was the "I". it was done solely for cost."
The cost of restoring the two theatres was considerable. The downstairs Yonge Street changed from live entertainment to sound movies in 1928. The upper theatre was closed. Everything in it stayed where it was for nearly sixty years.
When it was inspected in 1981, it was a time capsule of the vaudeville age. Remarkably, over 100 pieces of scenery were still in storage, though heavily deteriorated. The ceiling of the Winter Garden was still hung with the thousands of beech leaves and lanterns that gave the illusion of an actual garden. Everything was intact, but the leaves crumbled to powder upon being touched, and the huge central stairway acted as a funnel for soot and pollution, so all was black and fragile.
The two theatres were restored, complete with new beech leaves, thanks to the Ontario government that now owns the theatres. And what a treasure they are. The Winter Garden is breathtakingly beautiful, with the colored lamps once again twinkling in a leafy rooftop, and the pillars that support the building camouflaged as tree trunks. The original drop front with a country scene is still used as the main curtain. I expected to see Buster Keaton run out from the wings and do a little soft shoe with his double on the stage. And yes, he and his family vaudeville act had played this theatre when it was new.
The Elgin's decor is more conventional, but it too was lovingly restored to its original 1913 appearance, including the misspelled name 'LIZT' on one of the entranceway's commemorative cartouches. (These also commemorate 'Tableaux' and 'Vaudeville'. I don't know what the former is, but would like to see the latter make a comeback.) The Winter Garden has the same fairyland quality as the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York, which was ten years older and considerably larger and restored from a similar state of decrepitude to its original glory. How much nicer both these theatres are than the nasty plastic boxes of your average 'multiplex'. Even if the show was mediocre, you could enjoy the theatre. This was in fact the original idea. The entertainment at the Yonge Street (lower theatre) was continuous, and patrons came and went as they pleased. Performers did two-a-day downstairs, with the Winter Garden reserved for one performance per day for the 'class acts'
Over one hundred pieces of scenery were found intact in the theatre. Most of them are in storage still awaiting restoration. Three vaudeville flats, "The Peacock Flat", "The Butterfly Flat" and "The Lane" were restored and hung on the walls of the now much enlarged building. Old retail spaces were converted to modern lounges and additional bathrooms during the renovation. One of the original dressing rooms was restored, complete with old makeup pots and some donated costumes.
As a special treat we were allowed to see the original 1913 men's room, which was clean and contained original fixtures, but was no longer in use. Our guide actually knocked on the door before unlocking and entering the room. "I'm notifying the ghosts that we're coming," he said, with a perfectly straight face.
"Have you seen any ghosts?" I asked him.
"I had someone or something tap my shoulder one day, and when I turned around nothing was there. It was a very firm tap," the man continued, "I definitely did not imagine it. And sometimes the elevators--which must be manually operated with a control--someone must bring it to you when you want to go somewhere, you can't move them by pushing a button--move by themselves when I'm the only one here."
Sometimes the elevator also stops by itself on the third floor of the seven story building. There is no door opening on that floor. "Was there one there historically?" I asked. "I don't know," the man replied.
I ended the day by going to the Toronto Powwow in honor of Aboriginal Nations Day. The weather tried to rain, thought better of it, and the day ended warm and beautifully.
Today I have to work to get more stuff out of boxes and get ready for a meeting on Monday.
And I must look after Gizmo, who had some health issues this weekend, but appears to be doing better now. I think she was annoyed at being dragged to the vets twice in a month and wanted to give the lie to his pronouncement that she was just fine. Maybe she wanted to teach me a lesson about going out all day and leaving her alone, who knows.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Ten Days that Moved the World (it seems like that sometimes)
Ten days after the furniture arrived, about sixty per cent of it is unpacked. It's a lot easier to take things OUT than put them IN.
I replaced my long lost Savannah sideboard with my first piece of Canadiana. It's a small, Mennonite-built sideboard of some dark stained pine that matches surprisingly well with my existing furniture and fits perfectly into the space near the kitchen. It doesn't overpower the room and provides a suitable storage space for the silverware (which is too large to fit in the minute silverware drawers in the kitchen and so resides in a box on top of the cabinet) and the very lovely place mats.
A local household store is going out of business so I got a lot of material for half price. Not bad timing at all.
And there is so much to do here I am seriously considering taking a day off from unpacking today and going into Toronto to see the Nautical Festival while it's not thunderstorming. Some Newfoundland and Labrador ships sailed into Queen's Quay yesterday and I may just go there today since I love tall ships so much.
Solstice Weekend also features the Aboriginal Day and the largest outdoor Powwow in Toronto and I do not intend to miss that. It's going to be held come rain or shine, probably rain, and I'll be there just after I finish my tour of the splendid Winter Garden and Elgin Theatres on Yonge Street. These are the last surviving 'double decker' theatres in Canada. The Winter Garden is upstairs from the Elgin and is so small that it is best for intimate standup. It was originally a 'high class' vaudeville house. The only other survivor in the world is (no surprise here) the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York, which was splendidly restored a few years after the Elgin. But the New Amsterdam's roof garden theatre was apparently portable and only operational at certain times of the year. Toronto's Winter Garden was solidly built indoors, literally upstairs from the Elgin (originally called Loew's Yonge Street Theatre). It was and is designed to look like an outdoor garden, complete with actual beech leaves hanging from the ceiling. It originally had fans in the back of the theatre to rustle the leaves as if you really were outdoors. Fairy lanterns hang among the leaves and tree branches are painted on the walls. The theatre was closed in 1930 due to its small size and the bankruptcy of its owners and miraculously all the leaves were still attached, though blackened with soot, 60 years later. It looks like a magical place and I cannot wait to see it.
What a change from dull, uninteresting Rochester.
Gizmo went to the vet yesterday and was given a good bill of health. She got her Revolution, which is necessary since there are a lot of mosquitoes here. Pesticide spraying was made illegal here six months ago, and there is a price to pay. I'll bear the bites, but won't take the risk with Gizmo.
She was very sick this morning, probably throwing a hairball, but she's taking it easy now and I will keep an eye out for her to see if the vet was right about her good health.
I replaced my long lost Savannah sideboard with my first piece of Canadiana. It's a small, Mennonite-built sideboard of some dark stained pine that matches surprisingly well with my existing furniture and fits perfectly into the space near the kitchen. It doesn't overpower the room and provides a suitable storage space for the silverware (which is too large to fit in the minute silverware drawers in the kitchen and so resides in a box on top of the cabinet) and the very lovely place mats.
A local household store is going out of business so I got a lot of material for half price. Not bad timing at all.
And there is so much to do here I am seriously considering taking a day off from unpacking today and going into Toronto to see the Nautical Festival while it's not thunderstorming. Some Newfoundland and Labrador ships sailed into Queen's Quay yesterday and I may just go there today since I love tall ships so much.
Solstice Weekend also features the Aboriginal Day and the largest outdoor Powwow in Toronto and I do not intend to miss that. It's going to be held come rain or shine, probably rain, and I'll be there just after I finish my tour of the splendid Winter Garden and Elgin Theatres on Yonge Street. These are the last surviving 'double decker' theatres in Canada. The Winter Garden is upstairs from the Elgin and is so small that it is best for intimate standup. It was originally a 'high class' vaudeville house. The only other survivor in the world is (no surprise here) the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York, which was splendidly restored a few years after the Elgin. But the New Amsterdam's roof garden theatre was apparently portable and only operational at certain times of the year. Toronto's Winter Garden was solidly built indoors, literally upstairs from the Elgin (originally called Loew's Yonge Street Theatre). It was and is designed to look like an outdoor garden, complete with actual beech leaves hanging from the ceiling. It originally had fans in the back of the theatre to rustle the leaves as if you really were outdoors. Fairy lanterns hang among the leaves and tree branches are painted on the walls. The theatre was closed in 1930 due to its small size and the bankruptcy of its owners and miraculously all the leaves were still attached, though blackened with soot, 60 years later. It looks like a magical place and I cannot wait to see it.
What a change from dull, uninteresting Rochester.
Gizmo went to the vet yesterday and was given a good bill of health. She got her Revolution, which is necessary since there are a lot of mosquitoes here. Pesticide spraying was made illegal here six months ago, and there is a price to pay. I'll bear the bites, but won't take the risk with Gizmo.
She was very sick this morning, probably throwing a hairball, but she's taking it easy now and I will keep an eye out for her to see if the vet was right about her good health.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Monty Python's Moving Circus
Put your life in a box. Better yet, put your life into 147 boxes with another hundred or so smaller ones packed inside most of them. Then take it out again. Moving is sort of like pushing a larger than usual pig that's been broken up into pieces--call it a pigsaw puzzle-- through a dyspeptic python while reassembling the pig as you go. What comes out at the end is supposed to be a furnished apartment with your belongings more or less intact and sort of where they are supposed to be. Moves actually take longer than this; I will be rearranging books and filing stuff and moving furniture and replacing the long lost Savannah sideboard well after the last cardboard box has gone.
I placed an ad in the local Freecycle advertising free moving boxes and three ladies have come, so far, to pick some of them up. This saves the boxes from the recycler and gives the ladies a welcome assist on their own moves. The price of boxes has tripled since I got these (and about sixty per cent of my boxes were actually found at the college or in the recycling bin in the basement--my Christmas presents last year were mostly made of cardboard.)
And shipping the boxes will add 100 per cent to the bill, due to the increased cost of gasoline. So everyone wins.
Most women in Oakville are either retirees or very young women with small children. The ladies who got the boxes all had kids, and two of them brought the children with them. I learned something new about Gizmo today--she is very, very good with very small children. The kids, age 2 1/2 and 6, were fascinated with her and she actually went over to be with them, only meowing when they insisted on petting her while she was eating. She wasn't afraid, never showed signs of anger, and the kids were pleased to be told that 'she likes you'.
Gizmo is a truly Great Cat.
I placed an ad in the local Freecycle advertising free moving boxes and three ladies have come, so far, to pick some of them up. This saves the boxes from the recycler and gives the ladies a welcome assist on their own moves. The price of boxes has tripled since I got these (and about sixty per cent of my boxes were actually found at the college or in the recycling bin in the basement--my Christmas presents last year were mostly made of cardboard.)
And shipping the boxes will add 100 per cent to the bill, due to the increased cost of gasoline. So everyone wins.
Most women in Oakville are either retirees or very young women with small children. The ladies who got the boxes all had kids, and two of them brought the children with them. I learned something new about Gizmo today--she is very, very good with very small children. The kids, age 2 1/2 and 6, were fascinated with her and she actually went over to be with them, only meowing when they insisted on petting her while she was eating. She wasn't afraid, never showed signs of anger, and the kids were pleased to be told that 'she likes you'.
Gizmo is a truly Great Cat.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The Best Bad Idea
Do you ever wonder why no one makes animation desks out of those cool metal mesh shelves? You need only put them together according to your own pattern and put a wooden desktop on it. You can add or rearrange shelves when you need them.
I thought it was a great idea. Then I started the project.
The first thing to remember when trying to do this, if anyone else is mad enough to do so: Never buy the metal shelves on Ebay. There is something wrong with them if you do. My shelves were subtly warped. This may be symbolic of animation, or of the owner of the desk, but the upshot of warped shelves were: sometimes the posts wouldn't go together, and the shelves had interesting tilts when they were assembled.The little black sleevey things that are supposed to keep the shelves tight to the posts kept popping off. I swear that once one of them jumped about six feet, projectile style.
The next thing to remember is to put a shelf at the bottom. I did not do so, and my spavined shelves threatened to collapse like something out of a Laurel and Hardy movie until I slipped a shelf up the legs like a pair of pants, held it where I wanted by placing it on a pile of books, and attaching the sleevey things, then kicking the books out. The result was about as pleasant as a public hanging; after retrieving the sleevey things, I managed to stabilize the bottom of the shelf.
My old animation desk top needed to be attached with O rings and S hooks. Trouble is O rings don't self-thread. They would not drill into the desktop, no matter how hard I tried, and since they were designed for metal they wouldn't have held anyway. I wound up using the S hooks and some cup holders. That's right. They're the ones you see hanging down in old kitchen cupboards, except that these had a spring closure designed for California earthquakes. (My tool box has a lot of earthquake picture mounts, etc. left over from my time in LA.) I then tied the whole mess together with aluminum wire. (Update: I changed the cup holders to self threading O rings today and removed the wire, also lowered the desktop by five inches. It's now a really good, functional, desk with a lot of storage space.)
A surprising thing happened. The mess of warped metal actually seemed to straighten up and turn into an--animation desk! and not a bad one either.
And I discovered that the little sleevey things could be forced up from the bottom to make the warped shelves seat more or less tightly. It felt really, really good to use the hammer on them. I hit them very, very hard.
Gizmo managed to get up on the top shelf and peer down at me sweating below. Her fur bulged out between the wire frames for all the world like an old fashioned egg slicer.
I had constructed the thing in the living room and now had to push it down the hallway to the studio. In an act of sheer genius, I had dumped the expensive (and functional) wheels that came with the Ebay find. There were little plastic feet that would, I thought, protect the floor. What I didn't figure on was that they would grip the floor like a limpet and fight to stay where they were.
At this point, the shelves seemed to morph into a living creature with a mind of its own, and that mind was distinctly unfriendly.
I started pushing the desk toward the studio, the feet advancing by a series of shuddering jumps. As it reluctantly slid down the short hall, making a sound like a Wookiee mating call, I saw my idiotic cat sitting directly in front of the oncoming metal train.
"Get the *&@# out of the way!" I screamed. Gizmo did--and went into the studio, and sat directly in front of the thing, which had somehow turned the corner and was pushing a wheeled shelf ahead of it. My next remarks to Gizmo were even less printable, and I backed the shelves out before I ran over her.
Eventually I got the desk where it was supposed to be. It's behind me right now. I'll try to post a picture. It does not look at all bad, and there is plenty of storage space on the shelves. And here's an extra special Martha Stewed hint: To keep the books from falling out of the side of the shelves, I used aluminum wire threaded between the posts in a pattern that I have dubbed "The Drunken Spider". It looks really, really good. If I had the energy, I could thread little pink ribbons or something through it. It worked a lot better than the expensive metal 'side shelves' I purchased--in the wrong size! So yes, it is possible to build a functioning animation desk from wire metal shelves.
But next time, if there is a next time, I won't do this next time.
I thought it was a great idea. Then I started the project.
The first thing to remember when trying to do this, if anyone else is mad enough to do so: Never buy the metal shelves on Ebay. There is something wrong with them if you do. My shelves were subtly warped. This may be symbolic of animation, or of the owner of the desk, but the upshot of warped shelves were: sometimes the posts wouldn't go together, and the shelves had interesting tilts when they were assembled.The little black sleevey things that are supposed to keep the shelves tight to the posts kept popping off. I swear that once one of them jumped about six feet, projectile style.
The next thing to remember is to put a shelf at the bottom. I did not do so, and my spavined shelves threatened to collapse like something out of a Laurel and Hardy movie until I slipped a shelf up the legs like a pair of pants, held it where I wanted by placing it on a pile of books, and attaching the sleevey things, then kicking the books out. The result was about as pleasant as a public hanging; after retrieving the sleevey things, I managed to stabilize the bottom of the shelf.
My old animation desk top needed to be attached with O rings and S hooks. Trouble is O rings don't self-thread. They would not drill into the desktop, no matter how hard I tried, and since they were designed for metal they wouldn't have held anyway. I wound up using the S hooks and some cup holders. That's right. They're the ones you see hanging down in old kitchen cupboards, except that these had a spring closure designed for California earthquakes. (My tool box has a lot of earthquake picture mounts, etc. left over from my time in LA.) I then tied the whole mess together with aluminum wire. (Update: I changed the cup holders to self threading O rings today and removed the wire, also lowered the desktop by five inches. It's now a really good, functional, desk with a lot of storage space.)
A surprising thing happened. The mess of warped metal actually seemed to straighten up and turn into an--animation desk! and not a bad one either.
And I discovered that the little sleevey things could be forced up from the bottom to make the warped shelves seat more or less tightly. It felt really, really good to use the hammer on them. I hit them very, very hard.
Gizmo managed to get up on the top shelf and peer down at me sweating below. Her fur bulged out between the wire frames for all the world like an old fashioned egg slicer.
I had constructed the thing in the living room and now had to push it down the hallway to the studio. In an act of sheer genius, I had dumped the expensive (and functional) wheels that came with the Ebay find. There were little plastic feet that would, I thought, protect the floor. What I didn't figure on was that they would grip the floor like a limpet and fight to stay where they were.
At this point, the shelves seemed to morph into a living creature with a mind of its own, and that mind was distinctly unfriendly.
I started pushing the desk toward the studio, the feet advancing by a series of shuddering jumps. As it reluctantly slid down the short hall, making a sound like a Wookiee mating call, I saw my idiotic cat sitting directly in front of the oncoming metal train.
"Get the *&@# out of the way!" I screamed. Gizmo did--and went into the studio, and sat directly in front of the thing, which had somehow turned the corner and was pushing a wheeled shelf ahead of it. My next remarks to Gizmo were even less printable, and I backed the shelves out before I ran over her.
Eventually I got the desk where it was supposed to be. It's behind me right now. I'll try to post a picture. It does not look at all bad, and there is plenty of storage space on the shelves. And here's an extra special Martha Stewed hint: To keep the books from falling out of the side of the shelves, I used aluminum wire threaded between the posts in a pattern that I have dubbed "The Drunken Spider". It looks really, really good. If I had the energy, I could thread little pink ribbons or something through it. It worked a lot better than the expensive metal 'side shelves' I purchased--in the wrong size! So yes, it is possible to build a functioning animation desk from wire metal shelves.
But next time, if there is a next time, I won't do this next time.
Canadian Capers
"What are you doing in the elevator?"
The questioner was one of two arrogant-looking twentysomethings standing in the hallway of a 1924 Rochester apartment building. I had loaded my 'accompanying' goods into the ancient machine while waiting for my neighbour who was to drive me and Gizmo to Canada. He was late. Yoga session. Which would not have been a problem if it weren't for the pair trying to get me out of the cab.
"I don't see what gives YOU the right to use it," the blond whined.
"I'm moving and I announced this move several months ago."
"Well, I'm moving!"
"Well, I'm NOT moving until my neighbour gets here," I said, privately imagining a scenario that began with them trying to forcibly remove me and my things, and ended with my landing a punch on a snub nose. The blonds left.
The neighbours arrived. We manhandled the huge computer box, cat box, document box, spare pots, small suitcase, cat and me into the rented "time share car", a Honda Element SUV, if that is not an oxymoron. Its name was actually Eastman. This was somehow significant. One of the seats had to be removed to accomodate Mr. Computer and Mrs. Monitor. Damn computers anyway.
Somehow everything fit, just. Gizmo, dumped unceremoniously into her cat carrier, howled as I shoehorned her and me into the remaining back seat. The howls were repeated at hourly intervals on the way to Lewiston. Since there was nothing else I could do, I picked her up and held her so that she could see the drivers (her old friends) and some of the outdoors. She quieted for a while after each session.
"Don't you want to even see the cat's rabies certificate?" I asked the customs agents at Lewiston.
"No."
They showed no interest in any of my documents other than the work permit. They were surprised that I already had it. I'd gone to Buffalo to get it a few days earlier, to prevent standing in line with Gizmo at a border post and minimize the stress for her.
There was no line in Lewiston. In fact, there was only one other person asking for border clearance.
"Do you need to see my contract or lease or degrees?"
"No. You already have the work permit. Do you have a car following, or plan to bring one in the future?"
"No."
"Then get out. Welcome to Canada."
The moving truck with three tons of stuff cleared Customs in about five minutes a week later. The clerk said my papers were so well put together, she could find nothing to change.
The truck driver informed me that he deliberately chose that particular office since the clerks were generally pleasant. "Nine times out of ten you will get someone like that clerk. The tenth time will be a dragon. If I'd taken you to one of the other posts, there is a 90 per cent chance that your goods would have been impounded and gone over with a fine toothed comb."
The new apartment at Queen Mary Drive was a real change from the Rochester apartment in more ways than one. I formerly thought the closets were ill planned and located. They swallowed the books easily and will take the shelves that I have yet to build (once I get them out of their boxes.) The super and his wife and their grandson have been extremely helpful, even cat sitting for Gizmo when the movers came. They wanted to keep her too, but they had just bought a small Siamese kitten and Gizmo promptly slapped it upside the head. Once the two were kept separately, Gizmo was a neat and considerate house guest.
"She's part Siamese," they told me. And when the kitten mewed at me in Gizmo's voice, I believed them. This explains her 'talkativeness', her gutteral growls and occasional babylike wails, her high intelligence and slim figure (no pet owners are NOT all like our pets! I only wish I had Gizmo's build and turnout.)
Things are starting to change, though. I got a medical exam before leaving and the incredulous doctor told me that I'd lost ten pounds. "Get out of a job, get a new job, leave the country, pack up three tons of stuff," I suggested. I guess packing is sort of weightlifting with a reward.
The welcome has been great across the board. On June 7 I attended a party at the home of WE MOVE TO CANADA'S blogger and author Laura Kaminker and Allan Wood in Port Credit. The Oakville resident's association can count me as a member and I'll attend their picnic next weekend at Foster Park. I have been to Friends Meeting in Toronto and took in the "Woofstock" dog show afterward near the St. Lawrence Market, copping enough free food for Gizmo to keep her in cat chow til September.
The studio and printer will be set up today, and I have a little work to do with hooks and so on before the animation desk top can be attached to the metal shelving. The Mighty Wurlitzer will make an admirable control center for teaching materials.
And my boss has asked if I could do some extra work this July, so there may even be a little money coming in.
The three ceiling fans are working hard, but the heat hit 100 for two days (40 C) and I was actually about to knuckle under and get an AC when the most violent lightning storm I've seen in years broke and washed most of the yuck away. The humidity level rivaled Savannah's for a day or so.
Now that I have the bicycle (which fits neatly into the storeroom along with the shelves!) I plan to do some exploring. Watch this space.
Canada is a lovely country and I'm happy to be here. I was surprised to hear that some Americans do not like living here and go home after a while. Whatever for?
The most obvious difference I've noted is that people here are a lot more polite. Strangers say Hello to you in the street just the way they do in the American South. This is a custom that I enjoy.
And there is, how do I say it...less tension here. As if I crossed through a curtain of it when crossing the border, and now I'm on the other side. It's not Heaven, but it's what used to pass for normal.
Maybe I'm just reacting to not having to plan for the move. It's done. The unpacking will take most of the rest of June, but at least everything is here.
I'll try to post when things happen. Lots more will be happening here than in Rochester, that's for sure.
The questioner was one of two arrogant-looking twentysomethings standing in the hallway of a 1924 Rochester apartment building. I had loaded my 'accompanying' goods into the ancient machine while waiting for my neighbour who was to drive me and Gizmo to Canada. He was late. Yoga session. Which would not have been a problem if it weren't for the pair trying to get me out of the cab.
"I don't see what gives YOU the right to use it," the blond whined.
"I'm moving and I announced this move several months ago."
"Well, I'm moving!"
"Well, I'm NOT moving until my neighbour gets here," I said, privately imagining a scenario that began with them trying to forcibly remove me and my things, and ended with my landing a punch on a snub nose. The blonds left.
The neighbours arrived. We manhandled the huge computer box, cat box, document box, spare pots, small suitcase, cat and me into the rented "time share car", a Honda Element SUV, if that is not an oxymoron. Its name was actually Eastman. This was somehow significant. One of the seats had to be removed to accomodate Mr. Computer and Mrs. Monitor. Damn computers anyway.
Somehow everything fit, just. Gizmo, dumped unceremoniously into her cat carrier, howled as I shoehorned her and me into the remaining back seat. The howls were repeated at hourly intervals on the way to Lewiston. Since there was nothing else I could do, I picked her up and held her so that she could see the drivers (her old friends) and some of the outdoors. She quieted for a while after each session.
"Don't you want to even see the cat's rabies certificate?" I asked the customs agents at Lewiston.
"No."
They showed no interest in any of my documents other than the work permit. They were surprised that I already had it. I'd gone to Buffalo to get it a few days earlier, to prevent standing in line with Gizmo at a border post and minimize the stress for her.
There was no line in Lewiston. In fact, there was only one other person asking for border clearance.
"Do you need to see my contract or lease or degrees?"
"No. You already have the work permit. Do you have a car following, or plan to bring one in the future?"
"No."
"Then get out. Welcome to Canada."
The moving truck with three tons of stuff cleared Customs in about five minutes a week later. The clerk said my papers were so well put together, she could find nothing to change.
The truck driver informed me that he deliberately chose that particular office since the clerks were generally pleasant. "Nine times out of ten you will get someone like that clerk. The tenth time will be a dragon. If I'd taken you to one of the other posts, there is a 90 per cent chance that your goods would have been impounded and gone over with a fine toothed comb."
The new apartment at Queen Mary Drive was a real change from the Rochester apartment in more ways than one. I formerly thought the closets were ill planned and located. They swallowed the books easily and will take the shelves that I have yet to build (once I get them out of their boxes.) The super and his wife and their grandson have been extremely helpful, even cat sitting for Gizmo when the movers came. They wanted to keep her too, but they had just bought a small Siamese kitten and Gizmo promptly slapped it upside the head. Once the two were kept separately, Gizmo was a neat and considerate house guest.
"She's part Siamese," they told me. And when the kitten mewed at me in Gizmo's voice, I believed them. This explains her 'talkativeness', her gutteral growls and occasional babylike wails, her high intelligence and slim figure (no pet owners are NOT all like our pets! I only wish I had Gizmo's build and turnout.)
Things are starting to change, though. I got a medical exam before leaving and the incredulous doctor told me that I'd lost ten pounds. "Get out of a job, get a new job, leave the country, pack up three tons of stuff," I suggested. I guess packing is sort of weightlifting with a reward.
The welcome has been great across the board. On June 7 I attended a party at the home of WE MOVE TO CANADA'S blogger and author Laura Kaminker and Allan Wood in Port Credit. The Oakville resident's association can count me as a member and I'll attend their picnic next weekend at Foster Park. I have been to Friends Meeting in Toronto and took in the "Woofstock" dog show afterward near the St. Lawrence Market, copping enough free food for Gizmo to keep her in cat chow til September.
The studio and printer will be set up today, and I have a little work to do with hooks and so on before the animation desk top can be attached to the metal shelving. The Mighty Wurlitzer will make an admirable control center for teaching materials.
And my boss has asked if I could do some extra work this July, so there may even be a little money coming in.
The three ceiling fans are working hard, but the heat hit 100 for two days (40 C) and I was actually about to knuckle under and get an AC when the most violent lightning storm I've seen in years broke and washed most of the yuck away. The humidity level rivaled Savannah's for a day or so.
Now that I have the bicycle (which fits neatly into the storeroom along with the shelves!) I plan to do some exploring. Watch this space.
Canada is a lovely country and I'm happy to be here. I was surprised to hear that some Americans do not like living here and go home after a while. Whatever for?
The most obvious difference I've noted is that people here are a lot more polite. Strangers say Hello to you in the street just the way they do in the American South. This is a custom that I enjoy.
And there is, how do I say it...less tension here. As if I crossed through a curtain of it when crossing the border, and now I'm on the other side. It's not Heaven, but it's what used to pass for normal.
Maybe I'm just reacting to not having to plan for the move. It's done. The unpacking will take most of the rest of June, but at least everything is here.
I'll try to post when things happen. Lots more will be happening here than in Rochester, that's for sure.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
The Reuben Awards
Well, the Reubens, the cartoon Oscars, took place last night in New Orleans. The National Cartoonists Society awarded the Illustrated Book category award to Sandra Boynton for Blue Moo.
It's a fine book. Sandra Boynton was also awarded the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award. I thought that I might have a chance when I heard of this special award...but apparently the NCS doesn't have a problem giving two awards to the same person in the same event.
Al Jaffee, the MAD cartoonist who created and still draws the famous MAD FOLD-INS, won a well deserved and long overdue Reuben. Dave Silverman won the Feature Animation award for THE SIMPSONS MOVIE, and Steve Silver won in television for KIM POSSIBLE. Here is a list of the other winners:
http://dailycartoonist.com/index.php/the-2008-ncs-reuben-weekend-coverage/
The NCS tried to make their awards system a little fairer by having individual chapters vote on the entries for one category each, rather than have the entire membership vote 'cold'. For example, I don't know anyone working in comics or sports cartooning. I would tend to pick a name that sounded familiar, which wouldn't be an accurate vote and might skew the award. If the individual chapters view the submissions, they can do so at meetings and discuss the candidates while actually looking at the artwork.
One drawback is that the awards are essentially determined by a small 'focus group' and not the general membership. The NCS used to be a New York based organization where everyone worked with and saw one another on a fairly regular basis. It is now a truly national organization, really a worldwide one. I don't know how to really solve the problem of determining Reuben winners. It's going in the right direction, but still not there yet.
The weakness in this system is that the category awards demarcations are too general. For example, of the three nominees in the Illustrated Book category, two (mine and Jay Stephens' ROBOTS) were a textbook and a how-to, respectively, 'books with illustrations' and not really illustrated books in the traditional sense.
I would like to see a new category for CARTOON INSTRUCTION or CARTOON RESEARCH added to the awards, since there are so many of these books to choose from. Hans Bacher's DREAM WORLDS, the ART OF animation series from Pixar and Disney, would all be eligible for this new award.
Animation also needs another category: Online, or Web Animation. This is where animation is headed, like it or not. Perhaps the Television division will eventually change into a new Home Animation category.
Of course there are more important things in the world to worry about. And it will be one less thing to pack.
One good side effect is that PREPARE TO BOARD! has gone below 10,000 on the amazon.com sales chart, making it an official best seller. Thanks, everyone who bought it as a result of the REUBEN publicity.
It's a fine book. Sandra Boynton was also awarded the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award. I thought that I might have a chance when I heard of this special award...but apparently the NCS doesn't have a problem giving two awards to the same person in the same event.
Al Jaffee, the MAD cartoonist who created and still draws the famous MAD FOLD-INS, won a well deserved and long overdue Reuben. Dave Silverman won the Feature Animation award for THE SIMPSONS MOVIE, and Steve Silver won in television for KIM POSSIBLE. Here is a list of the other winners:
http://dailycartoonist.com/index.php/the-2008-ncs-reuben-weekend-coverage/
The NCS tried to make their awards system a little fairer by having individual chapters vote on the entries for one category each, rather than have the entire membership vote 'cold'. For example, I don't know anyone working in comics or sports cartooning. I would tend to pick a name that sounded familiar, which wouldn't be an accurate vote and might skew the award. If the individual chapters view the submissions, they can do so at meetings and discuss the candidates while actually looking at the artwork.
One drawback is that the awards are essentially determined by a small 'focus group' and not the general membership. The NCS used to be a New York based organization where everyone worked with and saw one another on a fairly regular basis. It is now a truly national organization, really a worldwide one. I don't know how to really solve the problem of determining Reuben winners. It's going in the right direction, but still not there yet.
The weakness in this system is that the category awards demarcations are too general. For example, of the three nominees in the Illustrated Book category, two (mine and Jay Stephens' ROBOTS) were a textbook and a how-to, respectively, 'books with illustrations' and not really illustrated books in the traditional sense.
I would like to see a new category for CARTOON INSTRUCTION or CARTOON RESEARCH added to the awards, since there are so many of these books to choose from. Hans Bacher's DREAM WORLDS, the ART OF animation series from Pixar and Disney, would all be eligible for this new award.
Animation also needs another category: Online, or Web Animation. This is where animation is headed, like it or not. Perhaps the Television division will eventually change into a new Home Animation category.
Of course there are more important things in the world to worry about. And it will be one less thing to pack.
One good side effect is that PREPARE TO BOARD! has gone below 10,000 on the amazon.com sales chart, making it an official best seller. Thanks, everyone who bought it as a result of the REUBEN publicity.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Countdown to the Canada move!
It's hard to believe that M-day is almost here. Things are proceeding at the same pace--methodical, with just a hint of panic at the start. Actually I did all the panicking back in December when I contemplated the sheer amount of stuff I had to pack up and move.
Well most of it is packed; the remainder (day to day stuff, including this computer) will be packed up just after Memorial Day. My neighbours purchased a cake (red with white frosting, like the Canadian flag...wait that didn't sound right--the Canadian flag doesn't have frosting...anyway, it's a red velvet cake with white frosting. I am going to make a Vegan quiche and provide wine and some bourbon and so on. If the weather continues cold and nasty, as it is at present, we'll have the function in the splendid lobby of this former hotel. (most of the furnishings are the 1924 originals...I'm going to miss them.)
Gizmo the cat managed to get herself jammed behind the upended animation desk today. The first sign of something wrong was a mad scrabbling sound just behind me. I looked back to see a cat's rear end, from the knees back, pointing straight up in the air; the rest of the cat was stuck behind the desk. The rear end was quite animated however. When I tried to rescue her she kept wildly scrabbling with the rear and unseen front legs; and managed to eventually right herself in a sitting position on top of the desk.
It's funny now, but there is a real danger of the cat hurting herself during this move. I will keep an eagle eye on her when I go onto the new place's balcony; and the first thing I 'm going to do when I get there, after she's unpacked--is put the netting on the railing and tie it on tight. Eventually, she will get out on the balcony no matter what i do. I hope that the concrete surface will prove uninviting to her feet.
So anyway, tomorrow I am going to Roycroft. I want to see the place again since it is not likely that I'll be heading that way again any time soon. It's the only time I can go.
I'll write more about it after I've been. There are earlier articles about it on this blog, if anyone is interested in the place. It's one of the nicest things about Western New York and it should be much better known.
Anyway, that's that...then the final packing starts after the party.
Well most of it is packed; the remainder (day to day stuff, including this computer) will be packed up just after Memorial Day. My neighbours purchased a cake (red with white frosting, like the Canadian flag...wait that didn't sound right--the Canadian flag doesn't have frosting...anyway, it's a red velvet cake with white frosting. I am going to make a Vegan quiche and provide wine and some bourbon and so on. If the weather continues cold and nasty, as it is at present, we'll have the function in the splendid lobby of this former hotel. (most of the furnishings are the 1924 originals...I'm going to miss them.)
Gizmo the cat managed to get herself jammed behind the upended animation desk today. The first sign of something wrong was a mad scrabbling sound just behind me. I looked back to see a cat's rear end, from the knees back, pointing straight up in the air; the rest of the cat was stuck behind the desk. The rear end was quite animated however. When I tried to rescue her she kept wildly scrabbling with the rear and unseen front legs; and managed to eventually right herself in a sitting position on top of the desk.
It's funny now, but there is a real danger of the cat hurting herself during this move. I will keep an eagle eye on her when I go onto the new place's balcony; and the first thing I 'm going to do when I get there, after she's unpacked--is put the netting on the railing and tie it on tight. Eventually, she will get out on the balcony no matter what i do. I hope that the concrete surface will prove uninviting to her feet.
So anyway, tomorrow I am going to Roycroft. I want to see the place again since it is not likely that I'll be heading that way again any time soon. It's the only time I can go.
I'll write more about it after I've been. There are earlier articles about it on this blog, if anyone is interested in the place. It's one of the nicest things about Western New York and it should be much better known.
Anyway, that's that...then the final packing starts after the party.
Friday, May 16, 2008
The New Apartment: Back to 1967
I've rented an apartment in Oakville that was built in 1967, on the cusp of the Decade that Taste Forgot, also known as the 1970s. First the good news. The building was better made than many of the others in the area; it has radiant heating in the floor, it's meticulously clean and well maintained, and it is in a terrific location.
As for the apartment itself. It was designed by people who decided that no one, ever, would EVER want to configure a room differently, or redecorate, ever ever again. It has an 18 foot long picture window. But it is not SYMMETRICAL and doesn't come in a STANDARD SIZE. That would be too square, DaddyO! In addition, ALL the windows slam into the walls. I've never, ever seen this before, not even in East Berlin. What were they THINKING? Who can put window treatments on windows that run directly into the corners of a room? It's completely impossible to use anything but the old fashioned curtain hooks and traverse rods, which I remember my parents swearing over in the Sixties. You can't use the tab curtains since there's nowhere to attach some of the brackets. In addition the 18 foot long balcony looks out on nothing more than the building across the way, which is lit up like a Christmas tree at night. So I ordered SIX different blackout drapes from online stores and a friend in my current place kindly took them up (since NONE were standard lengths--once again, I Gotta Be Me---who needs standard windows, man?) I got into the spirit of things by not having the center panels match. It'll match the furniture and the side windows will have pictures hanging in front of them, so I've created more wall space in this fashion. I purchased netting for the strange balcony to keep the cat from falling through the railings, which have iron rails that are spaced exactly as wide as a cat's head. How thoughtful. And there are huge spikes on the iron part of the balcony that were probably intended to guard the place from marauding dragons since it looks like an upside down portcullis. That'll get the cat's attention if she tries to jump over it--and she'd continue seven stories down, straight to the concrete. Gizmo is forbidden to go onto the balcony but I know she'll sneak out once or twice. The netting will eliminate most of the hazard anyway. There are no ledges or windowsills for her to sun herself on, so I'll put furniture in strategic locations or get some more cat trees.
The cheapness and lack of character in postwar construction never ceases to amaze me. The architects of that time were absolutely convinced that they had perfected interior design and that no one would ever want to use any style other than Swedish Modern Minimalist in any of their rooms or actually hang simple curtains instead of drapes.
So while it's not as bad as the horrors in James Lileks' INTERIOR DESECRATORS, (after all, I can cover up the windows) it has a few other design hiccups that are worthy of note.
The bathroom has one of those ghastly 'vanities' with fake marble. It's much too small and although it has some storage, it's pretty meager. And you would not believe the hall lights. These are the kind that do nothing but catch dust. Early Jetsons design style.
And believe it or not, there are plastic panels in the bedrooms. They are set into the walls, under the windows. They have no function whatever. It's 1967, Plastic is In, Baby. Which is why I will put the longest, heaviest drapes in the bedroom. The traverse rod there is ten feet wide. The window is 24" wide. I guess the drama queens of 1967 could make a splendid entrance from behind the extra wide drapes. The bedroom curtains are a pleasant floral pattern that will suggest wallpaper and deaden the sound and light from the street. I plan to put a large oak dresser in front of the hideous inset (which is at least a neutral colour.) The studio will have to look after itself with a simple Roman shade the last tenant left. I mean really...Canada was just as cold in the Sixties. Did they never hear of something called insulation?
Now, my furniture is Mission style, and I am bored by most buildings constructed after 1950, though I've spent some very happy times in one (many years ago in New York.) And to be fair, the new place is cheery and very well lit. This is not going to be the last stop, but it's a good stopgap til I get my legs under me at Sheridan and, more importantly, give them most of the artwork and books I've assembled over the years.
Sheridan has an archive and I have stuff that needs to be archived. It's a great match. But if I give them the materials before residing in Canada for twelve months, I must pay duty on it. So I hang onto the things for a year and give them as gifts once I have my first anniversary on the job. I hope that this can form a nucleus for a real animation collection similar to the Cartoon Research Library at Ohio State University which was developed from a donation of original art by the late Milton Caniff. (Hey, there's something about guys named Milt and cartoons...they all drawr real good!)
Meanwhile, I've spoken to the super about replacing the ceiling lights with my old fans. I'll get a new floor lamp for the living room since NO ONE was ever going to need a ceiling light there after 1967!
What struck me about this building is that it perfectly summed up the tenor of the times. They knew they had achieved plastic perfection, and nothing would ever change.
For me, it's not so much Back to the Future as Back to the Past. Give me a well kept 1920 or 30s building every time...the rooms can be configured the way YOU want, since they were designed in a less 'perfect' era.
As for the apartment itself. It was designed by people who decided that no one, ever, would EVER want to configure a room differently, or redecorate, ever ever again. It has an 18 foot long picture window. But it is not SYMMETRICAL and doesn't come in a STANDARD SIZE. That would be too square, DaddyO! In addition, ALL the windows slam into the walls. I've never, ever seen this before, not even in East Berlin. What were they THINKING? Who can put window treatments on windows that run directly into the corners of a room? It's completely impossible to use anything but the old fashioned curtain hooks and traverse rods, which I remember my parents swearing over in the Sixties. You can't use the tab curtains since there's nowhere to attach some of the brackets. In addition the 18 foot long balcony looks out on nothing more than the building across the way, which is lit up like a Christmas tree at night. So I ordered SIX different blackout drapes from online stores and a friend in my current place kindly took them up (since NONE were standard lengths--once again, I Gotta Be Me---who needs standard windows, man?) I got into the spirit of things by not having the center panels match. It'll match the furniture and the side windows will have pictures hanging in front of them, so I've created more wall space in this fashion. I purchased netting for the strange balcony to keep the cat from falling through the railings, which have iron rails that are spaced exactly as wide as a cat's head. How thoughtful. And there are huge spikes on the iron part of the balcony that were probably intended to guard the place from marauding dragons since it looks like an upside down portcullis. That'll get the cat's attention if she tries to jump over it--and she'd continue seven stories down, straight to the concrete. Gizmo is forbidden to go onto the balcony but I know she'll sneak out once or twice. The netting will eliminate most of the hazard anyway. There are no ledges or windowsills for her to sun herself on, so I'll put furniture in strategic locations or get some more cat trees.
The cheapness and lack of character in postwar construction never ceases to amaze me. The architects of that time were absolutely convinced that they had perfected interior design and that no one would ever want to use any style other than Swedish Modern Minimalist in any of their rooms or actually hang simple curtains instead of drapes.
So while it's not as bad as the horrors in James Lileks' INTERIOR DESECRATORS, (after all, I can cover up the windows) it has a few other design hiccups that are worthy of note.
The bathroom has one of those ghastly 'vanities' with fake marble. It's much too small and although it has some storage, it's pretty meager. And you would not believe the hall lights. These are the kind that do nothing but catch dust. Early Jetsons design style.
And believe it or not, there are plastic panels in the bedrooms. They are set into the walls, under the windows. They have no function whatever. It's 1967, Plastic is In, Baby. Which is why I will put the longest, heaviest drapes in the bedroom. The traverse rod there is ten feet wide. The window is 24" wide. I guess the drama queens of 1967 could make a splendid entrance from behind the extra wide drapes. The bedroom curtains are a pleasant floral pattern that will suggest wallpaper and deaden the sound and light from the street. I plan to put a large oak dresser in front of the hideous inset (which is at least a neutral colour.) The studio will have to look after itself with a simple Roman shade the last tenant left. I mean really...Canada was just as cold in the Sixties. Did they never hear of something called insulation?
Now, my furniture is Mission style, and I am bored by most buildings constructed after 1950, though I've spent some very happy times in one (many years ago in New York.) And to be fair, the new place is cheery and very well lit. This is not going to be the last stop, but it's a good stopgap til I get my legs under me at Sheridan and, more importantly, give them most of the artwork and books I've assembled over the years.
Sheridan has an archive and I have stuff that needs to be archived. It's a great match. But if I give them the materials before residing in Canada for twelve months, I must pay duty on it. So I hang onto the things for a year and give them as gifts once I have my first anniversary on the job. I hope that this can form a nucleus for a real animation collection similar to the Cartoon Research Library at Ohio State University which was developed from a donation of original art by the late Milton Caniff. (Hey, there's something about guys named Milt and cartoons...they all drawr real good!)
Meanwhile, I've spoken to the super about replacing the ceiling lights with my old fans. I'll get a new floor lamp for the living room since NO ONE was ever going to need a ceiling light there after 1967!
What struck me about this building is that it perfectly summed up the tenor of the times. They knew they had achieved plastic perfection, and nothing would ever change.
For me, it's not so much Back to the Future as Back to the Past. Give me a well kept 1920 or 30s building every time...the rooms can be configured the way YOU want, since they were designed in a less 'perfect' era.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Animation Books and Book Shows
Tina Price of Creative Talent Network sent a notice about the new animation book look in L.A. I can't make it this year. All my energies for the past year have been taken up with searching for a better job and now with the move. Once the move is over, I will see what I will see.
Here is Tina's announcement:
Anyone who is in Los Angeles should visit this show and look at the smorgasbord of books on display. If it is anything like last year's show, it should be a lot of fun. And speaking of books, I have just received the incredible book of animation caricatures assembled from the yearly show at the Walt Disney Studio. This book, which was appropriately published on April 1, was intended to showcase the resurgence of drawn animation at that studio. It was published in-house and only distributed to employees.
It really should have been called the John Musker collection since his outstanding work is on nearly every page. The rest of us were just playing along. (Actually many other artists have remarkable work here, but John was so prolific an illustrator, his work makes up about eighty per cent of the book.)
I remember some of the drawings and people like it was yesterday and the drawings bring back pleasant memories of my time at Disney. Less pleasant memories are immortalized as well; Musker, in particular, got into some political material toward the end of his first stay at the studio.
The quality of the work (other than John's) deteriorates after management lays off most of the artistic staff. The layoffs and other developments are deliniated in a timeline inside the front and back covers.
And sadly the first ten years of the caricature show is unrepresented because the artwork from this show was not digitized. But it's a stunning book, and it will be one of my treasures.
How did I happen to get a copy if it was only distributed to employees? There are two reasons.
Along about last November I was contacted by Lella Smith of the Animation Research Library on the lot. She asked if they could have my permission to use some of my caricatures (including the ones of Frank and Ollie that became the 'official' caricatures of these legendary animators) in the book. Of course, I said, but don't you already own them? No, it turns out they didn't. I was promised a book in exchange for the use of the drawings, which was overpaying me by a lot.
Oddly enough five of the six drawings I did for the show are included here. I rarely participated since I was too busy working...I once asked John Musker how he could do up to seventy five drawings per show. It turns out he would sketch during lengthy meetings. Other, fancier pieces by John show up later in the book when he and Ron Clements were sitting idle in their offices awaiting their 'fate' as the management continued to play up the computer wing and destroy the cartoonists. John's drawings from 2004 to 2006 are a chronicle of an artistic massacre. There is one that has a computer evilly grinning and holding a card marked '2D' as the last "Survivor" at Disney's. But help is on the way.
2006's pages feature a very funny drawing of John Lasseter about to land on top of David Stainton like the Sumo wrestler in Bill Plympton's 25 WAYS TO QUIT SMOKING. (Stainton was the former head of Feature Animation, and a chainsaw manager par excellence.)
So what is my second reason for receiving this book?
You never really leave Disney. It's more of a living entity than a studio. Sooner or later, everyone comes back. I don't know if the reach will extend to Canada, but spiritually a part of me will always be there, I guess.
Here is Tina's announcement:
The Animation Book Look is a gathering of authors and artists from the
animation industry. Co-hosted by Van Eaton Galleries and The Creative Talent
Network, this year’s event will be held in Sherman Oaks, California, on May 17
from 1pm - 6pm. This free festival of book signings and artist sightings is the
only event of its kind in the country.The Book Look will bring amazing artists
and authors to the signing table. More than 75 books will be featured, including
children’s books, Artist’s Sketchbooks, and How-To’s and History-Of’s from
illustration to fine art.The Who’s Who of artists and authors include Jerry
Beck, Toby Bluth, Tee Bosustow, Stefan Bucher, Dave Colman, Craig Elliott, Gris
Grimly, Ryan Hungerford, Mike Kunkel, Jason Lethcoe, Rik Maki, Patrick Morgan,
Steve Niles, Brian and Phil Phillipson, Don Peri, Eric Pigors, Ragnar, Martha
Sigall, Stephen Silver, Bob Singer, Jim Smith, Tom Sito, Amanda Visell, Tony
White, Shigeru Yabu, and Willie Ito.The Animation Book Look signing and sales
event will be held at Van Eaton Galleries, 13613 Ventura Blvd. Sherman Oaks, CA,
on Saturday, May 17, from 1:00 pm-6:00 pm. The event is free, but RSVP’s are
suggested by contacting Van Eaton Galleries at (818) 788-2357. Visit AnimationBookLook.com for more details.And be sure and stop by
the CTN Table and say hi!!
Anyone who is in Los Angeles should visit this show and look at the smorgasbord of books on display. If it is anything like last year's show, it should be a lot of fun. And speaking of books, I have just received the incredible book of animation caricatures assembled from the yearly show at the Walt Disney Studio. This book, which was appropriately published on April 1, was intended to showcase the resurgence of drawn animation at that studio. It was published in-house and only distributed to employees.
It really should have been called the John Musker collection since his outstanding work is on nearly every page. The rest of us were just playing along. (Actually many other artists have remarkable work here, but John was so prolific an illustrator, his work makes up about eighty per cent of the book.)
I remember some of the drawings and people like it was yesterday and the drawings bring back pleasant memories of my time at Disney. Less pleasant memories are immortalized as well; Musker, in particular, got into some political material toward the end of his first stay at the studio.
The quality of the work (other than John's) deteriorates after management lays off most of the artistic staff. The layoffs and other developments are deliniated in a timeline inside the front and back covers.
And sadly the first ten years of the caricature show is unrepresented because the artwork from this show was not digitized. But it's a stunning book, and it will be one of my treasures.
How did I happen to get a copy if it was only distributed to employees? There are two reasons.
Along about last November I was contacted by Lella Smith of the Animation Research Library on the lot. She asked if they could have my permission to use some of my caricatures (including the ones of Frank and Ollie that became the 'official' caricatures of these legendary animators) in the book. Of course, I said, but don't you already own them? No, it turns out they didn't. I was promised a book in exchange for the use of the drawings, which was overpaying me by a lot.
Oddly enough five of the six drawings I did for the show are included here. I rarely participated since I was too busy working...I once asked John Musker how he could do up to seventy five drawings per show. It turns out he would sketch during lengthy meetings. Other, fancier pieces by John show up later in the book when he and Ron Clements were sitting idle in their offices awaiting their 'fate' as the management continued to play up the computer wing and destroy the cartoonists. John's drawings from 2004 to 2006 are a chronicle of an artistic massacre. There is one that has a computer evilly grinning and holding a card marked '2D' as the last "Survivor" at Disney's. But help is on the way.
2006's pages feature a very funny drawing of John Lasseter about to land on top of David Stainton like the Sumo wrestler in Bill Plympton's 25 WAYS TO QUIT SMOKING. (Stainton was the former head of Feature Animation, and a chainsaw manager par excellence.)
So what is my second reason for receiving this book?
You never really leave Disney. It's more of a living entity than a studio. Sooner or later, everyone comes back. I don't know if the reach will extend to Canada, but spiritually a part of me will always be there, I guess.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
SITA SINGS THE BLUES: Animation as Expiation
Some animators can detach themselves emotionally from the scene at the end of the work day. Others pour their souls into a performance so that they actually identify with the character. They live, eat, sleep, breathe the character until the project is done--and sometimes long after it's done!
And still others use their art as a sort of therapy. I'm in the last category and I suspect a sizable amount of our adult viewers might be, too. (By the way--It's okay to like animation after you reach adulthood--the USA is the only country that sees this powerful medium as 'kid stuff' anyway.)
Are things not going your way in your life? Frustrated relationship? Animators can make their own world where Everything is Fine, or get back at the person place or thing that annoys them through the magic of animated art.
Nina Paley, "America's Best-Loved Unknown Cartoonist" has achieved expiation (definition: "compensation for a wrong") through animation in her new feature SITA SINGS THE BLUES, which screened at the Rochester High Falls Film Festival last night. All artwork, eding, directing, and visuals were done by Nina Paley; she's one of a very small group of animators who create feature films singlehanded.
SITA SINGS THE BLUES would not exist without the computer. Ironically enough, Nina Paley had her life literally changed by a computer; she got the idea of making a feature film about the trials and tribulations of Sita, wife of Rama (the principals in Valmiki's Sanskrit epic of The Ramayana) after her ex 'dumped' her in one short, brutal email sent from India.
Yet this is anything but a computer-generated picture. The first sections to be completed were amusing Flash-animated shorts set to the 1920s recordings of singer Annette Hanshaw. Nina's cartoon style is breathtaking, and her art direction absolutely sublime. She graciously gave me permission to use some examples from this film in my art direction chapters of PREPARE TO BOARD! and that publication doesn't do justice to the color.
A viewer in the Rochester audience asked what connection Miss Hanshaw's recordings had to a 3,000+ year old legend. Well, after Nina was dumped she crashed with friends in New York City, one of whom played a Hanshaw '78 for her, and Nina was hooked. Many of Hanshaw's songs are about suffering women, Twenties style, but some depict the sexually liberated Flapper of the period. Paley used both types of song for soundtracks, complete with scratchy 78 sounds and needle drops. The music is part of the expiatory process.
The Sita films, which originally appeared on Nina's blog and in film festivals, illustrate important moments in the Ramayana but they had to be stitched into the fabric of a feature film along with the hand-drawn Flash animation that tells a barebones version of Nina's breakup with her 'ex', Dave. This animation is handled completely differently from Sita's tribulations: Sita and Rama appear as animated cutouts, paintings done in classical Indian style, and as beautifully designed Flash characters, caricatured with respect; the modern sequences are sketchy, boiling (mad) and extremely direct. The story point is quickly made. Dave rejects Nina in a brutal email sent from India when she is on the other side of the world. Dave has no character, even his voice is flat. He's the McGuffin that gets Nina thinking about Sita--and while there is no overt identification with the goddess, the theme of the 'woman wronged by her man' does carry through both stories.
The glue that holds the picture together is the extremely entertaining commentary provided by shadow puppets voiced by Bhavana Nagulapally, Aseem Chhabra, and Manish Acharya.
Their analysis of the Ramayana clarifies complicated character relationships and actions and keeps us motivated and interested in Sita's story, which is a lot less direct than Nina's.
Nina Paley has received some criticism (and hate mail) from people who could not possibly have seen the entire film. You can read about this on her blog.
It's difficult to know how people will react to art that involves religious figures. There are many examples of this sort of thing in the Christian canon, which has been prime Hollywood material ever since there was a Hollywood. But the subtext is not religion: it's the rebellion and redemption of the woman, not the Goddess. In fact, the last shot of the film shows Sita and Rama together back in Sward (the Hindu Olympus)--with a twist that I won't give away here.
I think that SITA SINGS THE BLUES is a very original movie and quite an achievement for the artist. It may be problematic getting major distribution for it; it's already on the indie and festival circuit.
I also think that this is a film that will be best viewed more than once.
You can visit the film's site here. See SITA, and judge this film for yourself.
And I'll be visiting the store for a SITA mug!
And still others use their art as a sort of therapy. I'm in the last category and I suspect a sizable amount of our adult viewers might be, too. (By the way--It's okay to like animation after you reach adulthood--the USA is the only country that sees this powerful medium as 'kid stuff' anyway.)
Are things not going your way in your life? Frustrated relationship? Animators can make their own world where Everything is Fine, or get back at the person place or thing that annoys them through the magic of animated art.
Nina Paley, "America's Best-Loved Unknown Cartoonist" has achieved expiation (definition: "compensation for a wrong") through animation in her new feature SITA SINGS THE BLUES, which screened at the Rochester High Falls Film Festival last night. All artwork, eding, directing, and visuals were done by Nina Paley; she's one of a very small group of animators who create feature films singlehanded.
SITA SINGS THE BLUES would not exist without the computer. Ironically enough, Nina Paley had her life literally changed by a computer; she got the idea of making a feature film about the trials and tribulations of Sita, wife of Rama (the principals in Valmiki's Sanskrit epic of The Ramayana) after her ex 'dumped' her in one short, brutal email sent from India.
Yet this is anything but a computer-generated picture. The first sections to be completed were amusing Flash-animated shorts set to the 1920s recordings of singer Annette Hanshaw. Nina's cartoon style is breathtaking, and her art direction absolutely sublime. She graciously gave me permission to use some examples from this film in my art direction chapters of PREPARE TO BOARD! and that publication doesn't do justice to the color.
A viewer in the Rochester audience asked what connection Miss Hanshaw's recordings had to a 3,000+ year old legend. Well, after Nina was dumped she crashed with friends in New York City, one of whom played a Hanshaw '78 for her, and Nina was hooked. Many of Hanshaw's songs are about suffering women, Twenties style, but some depict the sexually liberated Flapper of the period. Paley used both types of song for soundtracks, complete with scratchy 78 sounds and needle drops. The music is part of the expiatory process.
The Sita films, which originally appeared on Nina's blog and in film festivals, illustrate important moments in the Ramayana but they had to be stitched into the fabric of a feature film along with the hand-drawn Flash animation that tells a barebones version of Nina's breakup with her 'ex', Dave. This animation is handled completely differently from Sita's tribulations: Sita and Rama appear as animated cutouts, paintings done in classical Indian style, and as beautifully designed Flash characters, caricatured with respect; the modern sequences are sketchy, boiling (mad) and extremely direct. The story point is quickly made. Dave rejects Nina in a brutal email sent from India when she is on the other side of the world. Dave has no character, even his voice is flat. He's the McGuffin that gets Nina thinking about Sita--and while there is no overt identification with the goddess, the theme of the 'woman wronged by her man' does carry through both stories.
The glue that holds the picture together is the extremely entertaining commentary provided by shadow puppets voiced by Bhavana Nagulapally, Aseem Chhabra, and Manish Acharya.
Their analysis of the Ramayana clarifies complicated character relationships and actions and keeps us motivated and interested in Sita's story, which is a lot less direct than Nina's.
Nina Paley has received some criticism (and hate mail) from people who could not possibly have seen the entire film. You can read about this on her blog.
It's difficult to know how people will react to art that involves religious figures. There are many examples of this sort of thing in the Christian canon, which has been prime Hollywood material ever since there was a Hollywood. But the subtext is not religion: it's the rebellion and redemption of the woman, not the Goddess. In fact, the last shot of the film shows Sita and Rama together back in Sward (the Hindu Olympus)--with a twist that I won't give away here.
I think that SITA SINGS THE BLUES is a very original movie and quite an achievement for the artist. It may be problematic getting major distribution for it; it's already on the indie and festival circuit.
I also think that this is a film that will be best viewed more than once.
You can visit the film's site here. See SITA, and judge this film for yourself.
And I'll be visiting the store for a SITA mug!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
The Count Down
It's a little hard to believe that in thirty one days, Gizmo and I are leaving for our new Canadian home.
Thirty days is a round number but I'll start the countdown now.
This weekend I'll pick up the apartment keys and measure the windows for the curtains. There's a window treatment on the useless picture window in the living room, but I have to get something for the three others. While I'm at it I'll bring a compass to get some idea of where the sun hits this building...I was told 'eastern' exposure, but the flat has two exposures.
I've contacted a pet food supplier for Gizmo's rather poorly distributed but excellent food, a bed manufacturer for the delivery time on a new bed, and the cable company. All three things (special cat food, bed, and cable and telephone service) will be in the flat by the first week of May.
There's not much more to say except that classes are nearly over, I have all my stuff in boxes except for the things used on a day to day basis. (George Carlin's routine, "Stuff" has never been so funny.) The movers have sent the contracts. Once I'm up there there's plenty of time to inquire about my new courses and get into the culture of Sheridan and maybe even see a little of Ontario before the real work starts in August.
Thirty days is a round number but I'll start the countdown now.
This weekend I'll pick up the apartment keys and measure the windows for the curtains. There's a window treatment on the useless picture window in the living room, but I have to get something for the three others. While I'm at it I'll bring a compass to get some idea of where the sun hits this building...I was told 'eastern' exposure, but the flat has two exposures.
I've contacted a pet food supplier for Gizmo's rather poorly distributed but excellent food, a bed manufacturer for the delivery time on a new bed, and the cable company. All three things (special cat food, bed, and cable and telephone service) will be in the flat by the first week of May.
There's not much more to say except that classes are nearly over, I have all my stuff in boxes except for the things used on a day to day basis. (George Carlin's routine, "Stuff" has never been so funny.) The movers have sent the contracts. Once I'm up there there's plenty of time to inquire about my new courses and get into the culture of Sheridan and maybe even see a little of Ontario before the real work starts in August.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
The Animation Desk Redux, or Re-desked
The operation was a success! and the patient didn't die!
I now have a very sturdy birch plywood top to where the swivel used to be on the old animation desk. The top and 'ears' are disassembled and waiting to be reconfigured on metal shelves that rest next to the wooden desk (which is uncharacteristically standing on end in preparation for the move.) It makes an attractive sculpture and will be a very nice computer desk. Two neat holes have been cut in the rear of the top shelf section to allow free passage of the mare's nest of cables one needs to set up this system.
And I got a floor plan for the apartment that gives accurate measurements for the rooms--the desk will fit, and there's room for a small shelf that will hold the computer tower and backup system. The fit will be Snug, but it will be a better use of space than the much larger room I'm moving it out of.
I had a crazy conversation with Bill Matthews about my new place. It seems that Bill, who was one of the founders of the Sheridan animation program in 1967, lived in that very building, and on the same floor, while working to get the program started. We have ascertained that we are not sharing the same apartment, albeit at different points in time.
Now this might sound like Synergy, Serendipity, or oogie boogie magic, but in fact there is a simple explanation. The Devonshire apartments are a good deal nicer looking than the unit across the street, which also dates from the late Sixties. There are very few apartment buildings in Oakville. The ones near the college now probably did not exist then. And the Devonshire is wonderfully located; the bus is right outside the door, it's five minutes from the train station, and within walking distance to the library, a pool, a cultural centre, and the lake. It would be a logical choice for someone who didn't want to drive too much but still keep a short distance between themselves and work.
But it is a rather remarkable coincidence all the same.
I now have a very sturdy birch plywood top to where the swivel used to be on the old animation desk. The top and 'ears' are disassembled and waiting to be reconfigured on metal shelves that rest next to the wooden desk (which is uncharacteristically standing on end in preparation for the move.) It makes an attractive sculpture and will be a very nice computer desk. Two neat holes have been cut in the rear of the top shelf section to allow free passage of the mare's nest of cables one needs to set up this system.
And I got a floor plan for the apartment that gives accurate measurements for the rooms--the desk will fit, and there's room for a small shelf that will hold the computer tower and backup system. The fit will be Snug, but it will be a better use of space than the much larger room I'm moving it out of.
I had a crazy conversation with Bill Matthews about my new place. It seems that Bill, who was one of the founders of the Sheridan animation program in 1967, lived in that very building, and on the same floor, while working to get the program started. We have ascertained that we are not sharing the same apartment, albeit at different points in time.
Now this might sound like Synergy, Serendipity, or oogie boogie magic, but in fact there is a simple explanation. The Devonshire apartments are a good deal nicer looking than the unit across the street, which also dates from the late Sixties. There are very few apartment buildings in Oakville. The ones near the college now probably did not exist then. And the Devonshire is wonderfully located; the bus is right outside the door, it's five minutes from the train station, and within walking distance to the library, a pool, a cultural centre, and the lake. It would be a logical choice for someone who didn't want to drive too much but still keep a short distance between themselves and work.
But it is a rather remarkable coincidence all the same.
Women in Animation (and live action)
"There were no female animators at Disney's in the Golden Age (except for Retta Scott)."
I've heard this statement from men and women --many of whom should know better.
"We had a lot of female assistants," one younger animator said to me once. The thing is that if you were assisting at Disney's in the Golden Age, you were also animating. If your animator allowed you to accumulate 70 feet of footage on approved scenes, you would be promoted to animator...and how easy it was, under this system, to not count scenes as 'animation' so that the promotion would forever be in the future.
I hope to have some information on some of the unknown women of The Golden Age At Disney Animation in future posts.
Meanwhile, I can write about a few working today whom I know personally.
Ellen Woodbury (supervising animator, ZaZu in THE LION KING, Pegasus in HERCULES) is currently a sculptor in Loveland, Colorado. Ellen's stonework reflects her animation training--some of them really do seem to be alive! Her work can be viewed at the Creative Talent Network. While you are at it, check out the work of the many other talented women and men there.
Carole Holliday was an animator on THE GOOFY MOVIE while I was a supervisor in France. I told my superiors that Carole's animation was good, and that her storyboards were even better. This might have influenced their putting Carole into the Story department after GOOFY MOVIE wrapped. She was, I believe, the first African American woman to work there.
Carole has just informed me that she has added another string to her bow; she has produced a short live action film with her own production company (Crowded Metro Films)
The film, WITT'S DAUGHTER is a lovely looking and beautifully photographed little film. I look forward to seeing the entire film and hearing how it does on the festival circuit.
I've heard this statement from men and women --many of whom should know better.
"We had a lot of female assistants," one younger animator said to me once. The thing is that if you were assisting at Disney's in the Golden Age, you were also animating. If your animator allowed you to accumulate 70 feet of footage on approved scenes, you would be promoted to animator...and how easy it was, under this system, to not count scenes as 'animation' so that the promotion would forever be in the future.
I hope to have some information on some of the unknown women of The Golden Age At Disney Animation in future posts.
Meanwhile, I can write about a few working today whom I know personally.
Ellen Woodbury (supervising animator, ZaZu in THE LION KING, Pegasus in HERCULES) is currently a sculptor in Loveland, Colorado. Ellen's stonework reflects her animation training--some of them really do seem to be alive! Her work can be viewed at the Creative Talent Network. While you are at it, check out the work of the many other talented women and men there.
Carole Holliday was an animator on THE GOOFY MOVIE while I was a supervisor in France. I told my superiors that Carole's animation was good, and that her storyboards were even better. This might have influenced their putting Carole into the Story department after GOOFY MOVIE wrapped. She was, I believe, the first African American woman to work there.
Carole has just informed me that she has added another string to her bow; she has produced a short live action film with her own production company (Crowded Metro Films)
The film, WITT'S DAUGHTER is a lovely looking and beautifully photographed little film. I look forward to seeing the entire film and hearing how it does on the festival circuit.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Ollie Johnston, 1912-2008
It's been a sad week for animators. First we lose Andy Knight, now news has come that Ollie Johnston (the last of the famous "Nine Old Men") died on April 14 after a long illness. Ollie was 95 years old.
I first met him when I was in my freshman year at Cal Arts. I'd gotten the idea of animating an albatross--a gooney bird. I was pretty sure that this amusing creature, which crashes on landing, had never been animated before.
"I hate to disillusion you," Brad Bird said one day as I was happily working away on a walk on the bird, "but they're animating an albatross in THE RESCUERS, the new Disney feature. Ollie Johnston is animating it, and he is one of the artists coming to our show this spring to see our pencil tests."
My reaction was something along the lines of "NUURGGGHHH" (sound of extremely fast inhalation and incipient panic attack.)
Ollie and Frank were genuinely interested in our work. I recall that Marc Davis was there too at the screening, but can only remember one thing Ollie said to me after it was over and he'd seen my albatross test. As he and Frank were exiting the room, Ollie turned, looked back at me, and said behind his hand in conspiratorial fashion:
"Stick with it. We need more women in this business!"
I did stick with it, and became friendly with Frank, Ollie, Marie and Jeanette after I landed my first job at Zander's Animation Parlour. Since I'd actually gone to work before my senior screening and graduation, I wrote to Frank Thomas after I found out from assistant Ellsworth Barthen how to reach him, and asked for a crit.
"Your test shows great ambition and some difficult angles...perhaps when you have improved the animation, staging, cutting and direction, your work will improve."
Blunt criticism, but absolutely true.
Ollie and Frank continued to go to the Cal Arts shows. They really loved this crazy artform and did not want the knowledge of a lifetime to die with them, so they wrote one of the most important books ever published on character animation, Disney style: THE ILLUSION OF LIFE.
I think they went on to write one other book that was at least as important as this one. I refer to their moving and wonderful book on the making of BAMBI. What an achievement!
I was proud to count both of these fine gentlemen as my friends. They also encouraged many other female students at Cal Arts to 'stick with it'. Thank you, Frank and Ollie, for being great artists and just great, period.
Thank you too, Captain Hook, Mr. Smee, Baloo, Thumper, Doorknob, Queen of Hearts, White Rabbit, Pinocchio, Seven Dwarfs, Bambi and Thumper...
I will think of Frank and Ollie whenever I run these films.
Donations to the World Wildlife Fund may be made in Ollie's memory.
Your scenes really are there forever.
I first met him when I was in my freshman year at Cal Arts. I'd gotten the idea of animating an albatross--a gooney bird. I was pretty sure that this amusing creature, which crashes on landing, had never been animated before.
"I hate to disillusion you," Brad Bird said one day as I was happily working away on a walk on the bird, "but they're animating an albatross in THE RESCUERS, the new Disney feature. Ollie Johnston is animating it, and he is one of the artists coming to our show this spring to see our pencil tests."
My reaction was something along the lines of "NUURGGGHHH" (sound of extremely fast inhalation and incipient panic attack.)
Ollie and Frank were genuinely interested in our work. I recall that Marc Davis was there too at the screening, but can only remember one thing Ollie said to me after it was over and he'd seen my albatross test. As he and Frank were exiting the room, Ollie turned, looked back at me, and said behind his hand in conspiratorial fashion:
"Stick with it. We need more women in this business!"
I did stick with it, and became friendly with Frank, Ollie, Marie and Jeanette after I landed my first job at Zander's Animation Parlour. Since I'd actually gone to work before my senior screening and graduation, I wrote to Frank Thomas after I found out from assistant Ellsworth Barthen how to reach him, and asked for a crit.
"Your test shows great ambition and some difficult angles...perhaps when you have improved the animation, staging, cutting and direction, your work will improve."
Blunt criticism, but absolutely true.
Ollie and Frank continued to go to the Cal Arts shows. They really loved this crazy artform and did not want the knowledge of a lifetime to die with them, so they wrote one of the most important books ever published on character animation, Disney style: THE ILLUSION OF LIFE.
I think they went on to write one other book that was at least as important as this one. I refer to their moving and wonderful book on the making of BAMBI. What an achievement!
I was proud to count both of these fine gentlemen as my friends. They also encouraged many other female students at Cal Arts to 'stick with it'. Thank you, Frank and Ollie, for being great artists and just great, period.
Thank you too, Captain Hook, Mr. Smee, Baloo, Thumper, Doorknob, Queen of Hearts, White Rabbit, Pinocchio, Seven Dwarfs, Bambi and Thumper...
I will think of Frank and Ollie whenever I run these films.
Donations to the World Wildlife Fund may be made in Ollie's memory.
Your scenes really are there forever.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Andy Knight
I am extremely sorry to announce that talented animator, producer, storyboard artist and layout man Andy Knight died of a massive stroke on April 11 while on a trip to France.
I worked with Andy at Hahnfilm in 1988 on WERNER BEINHART and BENJAMIN BLUMCHEN--I was amazed at how fast this young Canadian artist could turn out background and character layouts--it was almost as if he was animating.
Andy's company, "Red Rover" was a well known and very successful Toronto commercial animation company. Andy was just on the verge of signing contracts in France with a variety of producers for a number of original productions he'd created.
He was 46 years old.
Addendum: Andy's funeral was on April 21. Donations in his memory can be made to
Plan Canada (Foster Parents Plan) http://www.plancanada.ca
I worked with Andy at Hahnfilm in 1988 on WERNER BEINHART and BENJAMIN BLUMCHEN--I was amazed at how fast this young Canadian artist could turn out background and character layouts--it was almost as if he was animating.
Andy's company, "Red Rover" was a well known and very successful Toronto commercial animation company. Andy was just on the verge of signing contracts in France with a variety of producers for a number of original productions he'd created.
He was 46 years old.
Addendum: Andy's funeral was on April 21. Donations in his memory can be made to
Plan Canada (Foster Parents Plan) http://www.plancanada.ca
Friday, April 11, 2008
Great Fleischer blog and it's about time too!
Forgotten by everyone but history geeks, of course.
This is a fantastic blog about the Fleischer studio. Learn about Disney's biggest rival in the Thirties...if the brothers had made up with the union and not fought amongst themselves, they could STILL be giving Disney a run for their money....Sigh.
Lillian Friedman Astor was the first female animator in a commercial studio. Read about her here, then read about the other fantastic Fleischer people.
This is a fantastic blog about the Fleischer studio. Learn about Disney's biggest rival in the Thirties...if the brothers had made up with the union and not fought amongst themselves, they could STILL be giving Disney a run for their money....Sigh.
Lillian Friedman Astor was the first female animator in a commercial studio. Read about her here, then read about the other fantastic Fleischer people.
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