December 28, 1977

Hello Ya'll,

This Friday the 28th is my birthday. I'm turning 30! I've decided to give myself a little present. I'm going caving on Saturday! I'm in Austin, Texas right now visiting my cousins and I just discovered this little gem...er, BIG jem! Look how beautiful that is!

Inner Space Caverns!





I'll be going on the wild cavern tour which involves wearing a head-lamp and crawling around in tiny spaces, getting dirty, grimy, and gross. I actually have to find a thrift store to buy some shoes, jeans, and a t-shirt. They say you'll want to throw them out when you're done with the 4 hour excursion. I'll be with a group of 8 people and 2 guides. Don't worry though, I've done this once before. I went to Crystal Caves in Sequoia National Park 2 years ago. It was amazing. I saw bats, blind centipedes, crickets, and spiders. These blind critters are very unique and you're really lucky to find just one.

Oh look, I guess there's a name for them.

"Troglobites
Troglobites are true cave-adapted animals: those that have acquired characteristics, through natural selection, that favor their survival in a particular cave environment. Typically these adaptations include an absence of visual organs (i.e., they are blind) and loss of pigmentation (they tend to be white, pink, or translucent). Troglobites tend to be small aquatic animals or insects or their kin; there are no known troglobitic mammals--not even bats."

We're going to comic con 2008!!

Morgan and I are going to have a table!
And...new books!!
Just got the email confirmation today.
See you next year!

Stocking Stuffers

Robot Experiment

No CG here...

I thought this was pretty cool. It's called a Tesla Coil. I saw one at the Coachella music festival a few years ago. They are so much fun to watch. Just don't stand too close!

This one plays music! Towards the middle you'll hear Mario Bros and Tetris!



This one's 15 feet tall.



This is just insane.

Darth Vador Blues

This one made me cry. I had laughter tears. Those are the best.

How to get ready for a date with a "rat".

Dust off your sleeves.



Dust off your cuffs.



Don't forget your toosh.



Put your coat on and check the mirror. Lookin' good!



Pose as "cool" as possible. Hold it for 6 seconds...that's it!



Now grab your violin and head out into the night.

Kristen Wiig

When SNL is good...it's grrreat!

And I officially have a crush on Kristen Wiig. She's so good it's sickening.

Story time

Frank scolded his son for climbing the tree. This was no time to be separated. The cops were after them and they needed to stay out of sight.
And then they heard it... the loud rumbling of an engine.

Junkyard...

Don't Stare into a Junkyard's eyes'.
For he will eat you, dead or alive...

Gangster!

Check out my last post. Austin Madison won the caption contest.

Here's something fun. I Found a new website tonight.
Sketchcast.com
Register and try it out, it's free!




It's a pretty rough program right now. There is only one brush and eraser size and worst of all, no un-do's. I'm sure they're working on it.

Caption

Captions, captions, anyone? Can anyone come up with a caption for this?

Too late!
Austin Madison is the winner. Nice job Austin. I think I'll be doing more of these caption games in the future.

Yo Ho Hiccup!

Ahoy Mateys! Steve put his pirate drawings up this week and I thought I'd post mine too. These were done at Dreamworks at a figure drawing class taught by Dave. P. This model, I forget his name, is incredible. He brings his own props and music. You really get into the piratey atmosphere when you have all the right elements surrounding you. Enjoy....

Oldie...

Lejo

Wow. Has anyone seen these before? I tried doing these movements with my hand and find it impossible! Now that's talent!





Here's some info about Lejo. www.lejo.nu
Click on the English button on the bottom.

Riding Scooters on the island of Spetses, Greece.

I took a trip to Greece a few weeks back and this is what it was like almost every day. Wake up, eat a light breakfast, pack up your scooter, and find a beach. I took a spill one day while trying to use my camera and make a right turn. I ended up having to pay 50 euros ( or about $68 dollars) to fix the light and some scratches on the side. I thought it would cost a lot more so I'm happy with what they charged. I think I want to buy a scooter now....they are soooo much fun. Enjoy! Oh yeah, the music I added is from a band called Ratatat.

Mickey Mouse and Audie

My friend Audie Harrison sent this to me today and I had to share it with everyone.
Some of the best Computer Animation ever seen by mankind.

The above screen capture is what you'll find 3 mins and 15 seconds into it. Just beautiful.



By the way, check out Audie's Cal Art's films, they're amazing! Hand drawn baby!! Pencil and paper!

Ringed Planet!
( This one played in Cannes! "Official Selection. Kodak Emerging Filmmakers Showcase".)



The Golden Age of Wrestling
"Been training day and night, the golden belt...strapped on tight."




Where's Texas?
( I saw this my first year at Cal Arts. It blew me away. The weight of that cowboy walking down that sand dune feels amazing. I'm still trying to get a scene like that at work. It would be so much fun to animate. Add a mixture of drama and absurdity to your story and you've got brilliance.)

The Vest Gang

Keep one eye around,
or you're headed for trouble.
The Vest Gang cometh,
and they have 13 year old stuble.



Weird creatures from the deep.
At night they come and rub my feet.
It's strange I know, but they are so sweet,
Rubbing and massaging my stinky feet.

European stuff...

At the Musee de Orse, Paris.


Having dinner in Rome.


Pigeons in Murono, Italy.


Drawing in a clothing store. Rome.

A little sneak peak...

A little sneak peak of Kung Fu Panda today. Thank you You Tube member DCass99.

These maquettes were shown at the Mattel booth at the San Diego Comic Con. Nicolas Marlet designed all these characters and I'm currently animating Tai Lung and Po. Don't worry, the trailer will be out very soon. Enjoy.

FREDERATOR BLOG

Go here to see a little advertisement for my book, Say Havarti!

http://newtoons.frederator.com/post/4326

My pal Jeaux was kind enough to help me get the word out there in internet land. Thanks Jeaux!

I will also have a link on my blog soon where you can CLICK and purchase through Paypal.


So I'm back at work and still thinking about the con. Wow! What an experience. I bought books, I traded books, I sold books, we tried different strategies to sell the books, and we tried different ways of displaying the books.
Here's the first day of the Con. Look how messy the table looks! We had no clue! We figured out a neater system as the days went by.
Gabriele is scolding me once again. See the finger wag? Scott took this photo. Thanks Scott.



And here's a group shot. My head looks funny because I'm wearing a black top hat. Thanks for the photo Jenny Lerew.

The book is coming....Booth #831

More sneaks for your pleasure. It will arrive at the Comic Con this week.
Remember, autograph and doodle with every purchase!

Sneak Peak of the book....

We Blog!

I am proud to announce that me and my cohorts at Dreamworks will be selling our books at the San Diego Comic Con July 25th through the 29th! Can you believe it? My first self published book!

Here is the talented line-up!

Morgan Kelly, Scott Wright, Donnachada Daly, Gabriele Pennacchioli, and Jakob Jensen

Above is our banner! Look for it and you shall find us underneath it eagerly awaiting your presence. If you want, I will draw and sign my limited, and rare, one of a kind book for you!
Oh, so you'd like a caricature? Done! Or perhaps an owl? Done! Oh, you're getting tricky now aren't you? A bear in a tea-cup car riding down the highway? Tsk! Tsk! Done!!

Here's a map to help you on your way. Booth #831

old sea lady...

Old sea lady, of the deep,
Rises to the surface
Right out of her sleep.

Cha-cha to the left,
And cha-cha to the right.
This ol' bag is quite a delight.

Greece

Hi to all two of you that read this blog! Thought I'd update it and tell you where I've been.Well, actually, I'll just show ya. The photo below is of Santorini, Greece. It's also called by its ancient name "Thira".
I was actually there this morning!




Crazy huh? To say it was awe inspiring is an understatement. This portion of the city is actually on the edge of a cliff created by an active underwater volcano. But don't worry, the next eruption is scheduled to take place in
20, 000 years. I took a ferry out of the port of Santorini to the island of Mikanos and that's where I am right now. I've rented a scooter for two days and am just going to ride around looking for nice beaches. I've got my trusty snorkel gear and am ready for some fish and sea shell hunting. I've been eating loads of greek salads, octopus , calamari, souvlaki (pork or chicken on a stick), and my favorite drink of the moment: Orange Fanta soda. I need like 3 of these to get me through the heat here.



I'll post more photos when I return, which is sat. The ones above are from google searches.

Oh, and I also rode one of these.....up 300 flights of stairs. And for some reason my donkey realllly liked walking near the edge of the steps. A part of me thinks he really hates his job and scaring the crap out of me just made his day go by easier. And he did scare the crap out of me. You should have seen my face. It looked sort of like donkey's face below.

Need I say more?

Indiana Jones 4......coming May 22nd 2008.
Does this not make you happy or what??
Please, Mr. Spielberg, give us a great story.

Wow!! I can't wait!!!

Wild Things

Introducing Dan Deacon

I saw Dan Deacon perform last night. It was so much fun. Here's a taste of him.
Different? yes. Weird? yes. Energetic? Yes. Fun? yes. Sweaty? yes. Colorful? yes. Enjoy.....





"Dan! Can I get a photo of us??...It's me, Captainyolk!"





A side note about the banana ipod.
He hates using the Ipod. When pausing and then playing, the music slowly fades into the song....instead of just playing instantly and loud. This pisses him off....but the show must go on.