Look At All The Healthy Creatures Dancing On The Lawn

Lean out our new window and

this

is what you'll see.

the other direction.

up

down

across.

Fuel

This is a little special effects clip we did for Thirteen/WNET's "Curious" mini-series last summer.

The characters (people) were shot on DV and chromakeyed. The lightbulb we photographed against white and digitally rebuilt it.

It's Spring...

Michael Sporn did a typically illuminating post on this John Hubley "Electric Company" film a little while back.

This film is the perfect example of picture working against soundtrack to highlight and define one another. An ideal Alienation Effect (opposed to gesamkunstwerk).




Of course, the soundtrack was completed before the animation was begun. Tissa David, who animated this (read Michael's post -it's great) once asked Hubley the same question I asked her. "How do you know the soundtrack will work if you record it all beforehand?"

His response: "If the music works and is good, the picture will work and be good." And there we have a secret from the gods.

How Rich!

How rich can you get?

Our culture prizes obscenity, so "obscenely rich" might be the answer.  Now to answer that question with another question: Do you plan on riding a stretch limousine through the eye of a needle?

You're never gonna know 'til you've met

Priviledge, exclusivity, a velvet rope around the world.  We call them "heroes" or "celebrities" -purveyors of a secret knowledge.  That knowledge "heroes" and "celebrities" are uninteresting.  If the ticket buyer finds this out -there goes the millions.

This young boy

You can respect businessmen like Bill Gates or Walt Disney, who amassed huge fortune from hard work.  They may not have been nice people, they may have squashed competition and put forth questionable product -but they have the dignity their own devices.

A young boy? As rich as you can get?  What has he done?  What contributions to mankind has this young boy made?  Is it simply the position of his parents and the family name?

Richie Rich is his name

Figures. Either that or Cash Gold.

He's rich enough he's in the "Rich Hall of Fame"

I've been to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans -Oliver Wendell Holmes, Samuel F. B. Morse,  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John James Audubon and few dozen other full names dignitaries.  Now an entire museum dedicated to wealthy.  Not their achievements, not their philanthropy -just the mass of their wealth.

His bank account is as rich as his name

For those amongst us who don't yet understand: this prepubescent twirp has more money than will pass through your hands and the hands of all your generations.  Adore him.  He's rich.

Now that's rich!

I'll say.

Richie Rich!

Once more with feeling -the obsessive vanity of a do-nothing billionaire, a Paris Hilton in a Little Lord Fauntleroy -say the name.  Say. The. Name.

Kulazee!

Made it to Krazy! at the Japan Society yesterday.

snuck a few photos

The exhibit is broken into three sections: comics (manga), video games (bideoke-mu), animation (anime).

The manga section is organized by artist.  Strange.  To me, manga (and anime) are not artist centric media -they are genre specific.  The forms find greater meaning not through the power of individual creators but through their place within a library of similar stories.

"Creator" centered exhibition is a peculiarly Western interpretation, a cultural prejudice that doesn't do much to illuminate the form.

the displays were very good

The video game section was small.  Four consoles, some art on the wall and a Pacman/Galaga table.

Only Pacman.  Not Ms. Pacman.  Ms. Pacman is the superior game.

The video section is also well laid out.  Several films from "Akira" to "Paprika" and "Mind Games" projected side by side at wall sized slices with booths for full viewing with audio facing.

A music room is an afterthought, and doesn't add much to the overall show.

The book which accompanies the show is even more peculiar.  More on that in the future.

French and Frisky

Here's a 1956 collection of gag panels. They're not as "frisky" as you'd expect from the French.

There are few early Sempé illustrations.

before he was, you know, Sempé

The strongest are from the pen of Claude Raynaud. This is the only place I've seen his work. The style is standard 1950s, but the gags hold up.

This one is very French, if even less "frisky".

Bingo

This was published in 1998 by two of my favorite non-Americans; drawn by Laurent Cilluffo and written by Valérie Cardon. Bingo.


Laurent has tight, distinctive line. Tight, but nothing like the clear line of Hergé. His line is design. His design is character.

The line is distinctive, but the application of color is downright unique. Loose shapes applied flatly with silkscreen.

page one

This little book is about 40 pages.

page two

page three

See a pattern emerging?

page four

page five

You'll never guess how it ends. But I will hint -it's very satisfying!

As The PowerPoint Turns

Sometime in the mid-90s I saw Ben Katchor give a talk which culminated in his narration of a slide show of his comics.

Sounds bad, right? Like open night mic bad.

It's an indelible memory.  A great theatrical experiance.

A few months later I went to my first "Carousel" performance.

R. Sikoryak has been putting these shows together since the age of slide projectors.  Last night's show at Dixon Place (in a fancy new space with uncomfortable seats) was characteristic of the series.

Longtime presenters Brian Dewan and Jim Torok joined Sikoryak, Tim Kreider, Josh Neufield and first-timers Dean Haspiel and Kriota Wilberg.  Some are straightforward readings (like a poetry mixed with a slide show), others are like intimate monologues by the artists.  Tim Kreider, for example, shared a series a comics he drew several years after a bad breakup, he created a new structure to frame them and extemporanously explored their history.

The next "Carousel" will be at Dixon Place on May 28th at 8 PM.