... because, there are many things that are just too important to forget and must be taken seriously, like brushing your teeth, fluffing your pillow at night and being nice to little old ladies, so...Thursday, May 25, 2006
towel day
... because, there are many things that are just too important to forget and must be taken seriously, like brushing your teeth, fluffing your pillow at night and being nice to little old ladies, so...
Monday, May 22, 2006
"what's the character thinking?"
Today, I came across this inspirational speech by Glen Keane. It was wonderful hearing this modern day animation master telling the CalArts students to "Go forth and be yorselves, don't try to be somebody else". In away I found this speech a bit ironic especially now where we're at a time when people who aspire to become cg character animators just download the same free rig off of the internet and all end up doing bits of animation that just "blah" one into the other. I'm not saying that there aren't good animators amonsgt them, far from that. But if there is great talent amongst these people, it does definately become paler for using a free rig and not their own design.
Saying that... I must confess that I also am using one of those free rigs to do bits and pieces of animation fro my new showreel. What can I say in my defense?
I'm a crap modeller and know nothing, ziltch, nada about rigging, but I am going to do my darndest to let my personality shine through! (I just hope it works!)
Saying that... I must confess that I also am using one of those free rigs to do bits and pieces of animation fro my new showreel. What can I say in my defense?
I'm a crap modeller and know nothing, ziltch, nada about rigging, but I am going to do my darndest to let my personality shine through! (I just hope it works!)
Friday, May 19, 2006
don't mean to offend, but...
A friend of mine sent me this today... I don't mean to offend anyone but, I can't help it! It's just funny... Well, at least I find it funny after living 8 years in the UK and being taught that it is "petrol" that we put in our cars and not "gasoline", that we walk on the "pavement" not on "sidewalks".
Hope that I'll still be allowed in the US after this post!
JOHN CLEESE'S LETTER TO AMERICA
To the citizens of the United States of America:
In light of your failure to elect a competent President
of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the
revocation of your independence, effective immediately. Her Sovereign
Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, will resume monarchical duties over all
states, commonwealths and other territories (excepting Kansas,
which she does not fancy).
Your new prime minister, Tony Blair, will appoint a
governor for America without the need for further elections. Congress
and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next
year to determine whether any of you noticed.
To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency,
the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:
1. You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English
Dictionary. Then look up "aluminium," and check the pronunciation
guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.
The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour', 'favour'
and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without
skipping half the letters, and the suffix "ize" will be replaced by the
suffix "ise." You will learn that the suffix 'burgh' is pronounced
'burra'; you may elect to respell Pittsburgh as 'Pittsberg' if you find
you simply can't cope with correct pronunciation. Generally, you will be
expected to raise your vocabulary
to acceptable levels (look up "vocabulary"). Using the same
twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you
know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.
2. There is no such thing as "US English." We will let
Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be
adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination
of "-ize."
3. You will relearn your original national anthem, "God
Save The Queen", but only after fully carrying out Task #1 (see
above).
4. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.
November 2nd will be a new national holiday, but to be celebrated
only in England. It will be called "Come-Uppance Day."
5. You will learn to resolve personal issues without
using guns, lawyers or therapists. The fact that you need so many
lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent.
Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort
things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then
you're not grown up enough to handle a gun.
6. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or
carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be
required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.
7. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap
and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will
understand what we mean. All intersections will be replaced with
roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left with immediate effect.
At
the
same time, you will go metric immediately and without the benefit of
conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you
understand the British sense of humour.
8. The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which
you have been calling "gasoline") -roughly $6/US gallon. Get used to
it.
9. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you
call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on
calling potato chips are properly called "crisps." Real chips are thick
cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with mayonnaise but with
vinegar.
10. Waiters and waitresses will be trained to be more
aggressive with customers.
11. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer
is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will
be referred to as "beer," and European brews of known and accepted
provenance will be referred to as "Lager." American brands will be referred
to as "Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine," so that all can be sold
without risk of further confusion.
12. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast
English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast
English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie MacDowell
attempt English dialogue in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" was an experience
akin
to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.
13. You will cease playing American "football." There is
only one kind of proper football; you call it "soccer." Those of you
brave enough will, in time, will be allowed to play rugby (which has
some similarities to American "football", but does not involve stopping
for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a
bunch of nancies).
Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not
reasonable to host an event called the "World Series" for a game which is
not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware
that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable.
14. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving
us mad.
15. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from
Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the
acquisition of all monies due backdated to 1776.
Thank you for your co-operation.
John Cleese
Hope that I'll still be allowed in the US after this post!
JOHN CLEESE'S LETTER TO AMERICA
To the citizens of the United States of America:
In light of your failure to elect a competent President
of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the
revocation of your independence, effective immediately. Her Sovereign
Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, will resume monarchical duties over all
states, commonwealths and other territories (excepting Kansas,
which she does not fancy).
Your new prime minister, Tony Blair, will appoint a
governor for America without the need for further elections. Congress
and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next
year to determine whether any of you noticed.
To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency,
the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:
1. You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English
Dictionary. Then look up "aluminium," and check the pronunciation
guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.
The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour', 'favour'
and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without
skipping half the letters, and the suffix "ize" will be replaced by the
suffix "ise." You will learn that the suffix 'burgh' is pronounced
'burra'; you may elect to respell Pittsburgh as 'Pittsberg' if you find
you simply can't cope with correct pronunciation. Generally, you will be
expected to raise your vocabulary
to acceptable levels (look up "vocabulary"). Using the same
twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you
know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.
2. There is no such thing as "US English." We will let
Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be
adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination
of "-ize."
3. You will relearn your original national anthem, "God
Save The Queen", but only after fully carrying out Task #1 (see
above).
4. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.
November 2nd will be a new national holiday, but to be celebrated
only in England. It will be called "Come-Uppance Day."
5. You will learn to resolve personal issues without
using guns, lawyers or therapists. The fact that you need so many
lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent.
Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort
things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then
you're not grown up enough to handle a gun.
6. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or
carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be
required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.
7. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap
and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will
understand what we mean. All intersections will be replaced with
roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left with immediate effect.
At
the
same time, you will go metric immediately and without the benefit of
conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you
understand the British sense of humour.
8. The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which
you have been calling "gasoline") -roughly $6/US gallon. Get used to
it.
9. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you
call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on
calling potato chips are properly called "crisps." Real chips are thick
cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with mayonnaise but with
vinegar.
10. Waiters and waitresses will be trained to be more
aggressive with customers.
11. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer
is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will
be referred to as "beer," and European brews of known and accepted
provenance will be referred to as "Lager." American brands will be referred
to as "Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine," so that all can be sold
without risk of further confusion.
12. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast
English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast
English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie MacDowell
attempt English dialogue in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" was an experience
akin
to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.
13. You will cease playing American "football." There is
only one kind of proper football; you call it "soccer." Those of you
brave enough will, in time, will be allowed to play rugby (which has
some similarities to American "football", but does not involve stopping
for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a
bunch of nancies).
Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not
reasonable to host an event called the "World Series" for a game which is
not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware
that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable.
14. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving
us mad.
15. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from
Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the
acquisition of all monies due backdated to 1776.
Thank you for your co-operation.
John Cleese
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
my totoro obsession
In the first year of my BA course, our classical animation tutor Steve Roberts (yes, I'm naming names, and it is his fault) made the unfortunate mistake of showing us a scene which had a little girl and a bizarrely huge cat/bear like animal waiting for a bus in a dark forest... I was immediately hooked!!
The animation was so subtle and beautiful and the subject matter so strange that I was lost for words (believe when I say that that's very unusual), so you can imagine how heartbroken I felt when he said that that tiny clip was all that he had... I later on found how how really hard it was to get my hands on this beautiful film.
It took me 6 years to finally track it down and watch it, I was so amased with it. It was even better than what I remembered, unfortunately the dvd wasn't mine and I had to (begrudgedly) return it to its rightful owner.
In my opinion, this is the very best film that studio ghibli ever made even though it is much much more modest that their later films("Spirited Away" comes in at a very close second place) so here is a little picture from it and the best website that I found about this wonderful film.
http://www.totoro.org/
Monday, May 15, 2006
refreshing websites
Once in awhile my ickle friends send me very cool websites, this is one of the latest.
Have fun!!
http://www.marsipan.co.uk/
Have fun!!
http://www.marsipan.co.uk/
Friday, May 12, 2006
lost projects
Here's a background from one of my many ideas that has never seen the light of day. The film was called "Walkies" and it was the story of a boy who learnt, in the worse possible manner, that cats are far too independent to walk on a leash.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
links and etc...
Do keep an eye on the links that I'll be adding to this blog as often as possible, there are (and will be added) some true golden nuggets of the precious kind (as opposed to the nasty frozen kind, blargh!) for you folks to enjoy!
Amongst them you can find my showreel (for some reason the link from the "by the way" post that I did before isn't working) and the link to my special bear of a friend and highly talented animator, Ricardo Silva, and etc, and etc... Another etc will be added once I add some more links!
Amongst them you can find my showreel (for some reason the link from the "by the way" post that I did before isn't working) and the link to my special bear of a friend and highly talented animator, Ricardo Silva, and etc, and etc... Another etc will be added once I add some more links!
what springtime does to you?
Well, it seems that this springtime made me draw fairies!! Here's the best one to come out of my insanely over scribbled sketchbook.Hope that you'll like it as much as I enjoyed drawing it!
Monday, May 08, 2006
by the way...
... just in case you're wondering what I do for a living, well... I'm a 3d character animator! Huzzah!
(Now, if only I had a photo pretending to work, damn...) Here's a little sample of what I do (it is a bit out of date, hopefully I'll have a new one up and running as soon as possible) http://miaumau.no.sapo.pt/showreel.mov
Hope that you'll enjoy it!
welcome to my brain! (fasten you seatbelts)
Hello everyone!
Here's my very fist post... I wish that I had something decent to tell or show you but, the crappy scanner isn't working so here's an old drawing of mine.
It is from one of the many ideas that jump around in my brain but, never see the light of day! (Unless anyone is intereste in seeing a film about a pigeon lover!)
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