John Hughes 1950-2009

I can't think of any one filmmaker that takes me back to those awkward teenage years, and with a smile no less, like John Hughes. Walk into the video store where I worked as a teenager, and 9 out of 10 times, you'd find me watching one of his movies....again. He gave us The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Vacation, Weird Science, Pretty In Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful, Uncle Buck, Planes Trains and Automobiles, and my favorite film of all time....Ferris Bueller's Day Off. If you want a window of what it was like to live in the 1980's, nobody did it better than John. His films still resonate with me, and I've yet to find a filmmaker today that can tell so many stories with such incredible heart and humor in the way that the did.... Mr. Hughes passed away of a heart attack on August 6th, he was 59 years old.
"Yep. I said it before and I'll say it again... Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around, you could miss it." --Ferris Bueller

Viva la Fjorg!

Fjorg! has begun.. What is Fjorg! you ask? Its an animation marathon at Siggraph... Teams are to create a 15-45 second animation in 32 hours time. No more, no less, no Resubmits. This is no small task, for one thing...its 32 hours straight....and two, its in New-freakin-Orleans, and three....random distractions are thrown at the animators at any given moment. Good times....good times.
Day one Link:
Day two Link:

Here's an updated link to a short film about this years Fjorg! Ah, the joys of Sleep Deprivation. Plenty of Ringling Students and Alum representin y'all.

SIGGRAPH 2009 FJORG! Competition in New Orleans, LA from Alumiq Productions on Vimeo.

Good times....

Here's some great slo-mo reference for the next time you're working on some blendshapes or something... At least thats my excuse for putting it up here. Enjoy.

A letter from Ward Kimball

Back in 1973 a young Will Finn wrote a letter to Ward Kimball.... On Will's blog, he recently posted the letter he received from Ward. It still holds many words of wisdom for aspiring and current animators today... Check it out....

So Simple......

Here's a commercial I saw recently that I just think is just so damn simple its awesome... Its one of those ideas that when you see it you say, "Why the hell didn't I think of that??" I dont know what it has to do with Frito-Lay chips and dip, but I dont care....I just like the animation. :) There's a webiste with more of their commercials at:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/03/in-videos-frito-lays-dips-and-chips-animated-commercials.html

Enjoy!

How much does an extra "D" cost?

Just went to see "Monsters vs. Aliens" this afternoon and enjoyed it... What I didn't enjoy however was when the kid selling tickets told me, "You know the 3D vesion costs $3 dollars more....is that Ok?" They were showing both a standard 2D version, and the nifty new fangled 3D version with Buddy Holly glasses as well. I asked him why the 3D one cost more, was it the glasses? He told me, "Its to cover the cost of making the 3D...." Uh....Ok. So thats $12 for adults, and $9 bucks for the six year old. I dont remember paying more to see Coraline a few weeks ago... Maybe Katzenberg is offsetting the cost of installing a Holodeck needed to make these 3D movies....
The 3D was cool....but I'm still not 100% on board..... It's still a bit dark around the edges, and fast movements seem to Strobe a bit. Overall it still has that gimmicky 'ViewMaster' feel...which was cool as a kid, but.... Maybe I'm just getting old... ;)
Sent from my iPhone

"Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" Trailer up....

Looks like it could be fun... Very stylized characters and animation which is refreshing.... even if the eyes look reminiscent of Davey and Goliath here and there... Click the Image for the Link.