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Ian Ross, Drake Brodahl, Troy Parke, Matt and myself went down to the screening of “The Animation Show 4” at the Varsity this Friday.  We sat next to a crew from the old Sucker Punch days including Suzanne Kaufmann (who currently instructs at Digipen and is working with us at Plexi this summer), Ramey Harris, Bart Kaufman and Gene Blakefield who worked with us (meaning Matt, Troy and Joel) at another studio before going over to Sucker Punch. 

The highlights of the show for me included Joel’s intro piece, Pes’ “Western Spaghetti”,  and Matthew Walker’s “John and Karen”.  Word straight from Joel was that he did an ending animation that wasn’t included in the screening.  Perhaps it’ll make an appearance sometime in the not-so-distant future. 

After the screening, Joel Trussell, Rebecca Moline and Robert May (Producers of “The Animation Show”), Anton Bogaty, Gene Blakefield, Tom DesLongchamp and his wife Jessica, Matt and I went over to Flowers for a couple of drinks and lots of animation chatter.   The group eventually ended up in Capital Hill for more drinkage and deep discussions.  Hanging out with Gene, Anton, and Joel again after such a long time was such a wonderful treat–reminiscing, talking about new stuff, being wacky, eating lots of fries and fried fish, *sigh*!  The cherry that topped everything off was getting a chance to meet and talk to the very delightful Rebecca and Rob.  Thank you for some fun times!!!

Joel in the Plexipixel animation clubhouse

Troy cheesing it up with Joel Trussell

Rob May, Joel Trussell and Rebecca Moline rocking HARD

Getting crabs in Northgate with Gene Blakefield and his adorable family

Joel, Anton Bogaty (and Matt) reliving old times at the Canterbury

Jim Woodring has a new book out which is available signed by the amazingly talented artist himself on his website.  A signed book will be sent to your doorstep for a mere $25 (shipping included) or $35 overseas. 

“The Museum of Love and Mystery” constains 24 cardboard pages of full-color images from Frank’s holiday sojourn in the Western Unifactor.

Matt already has a copy of this book.  It’s a MUST HAVE. 

Saturday, June 7, 2008
10am - noon
Under the Arches near the Pacific Science Center

Meet the star of Wall*E and other nerds like us taking photos with the cute little dude.  Don’t forget to bring your camera!

Tony White has posted a version of his short film “Endangered Species” for viewing on YouTube.  It’s a mockumentary of the rise and fall of traditional animation.  The animation in the piece is well executed.  The pace is good and the content of the story is interesting and compelling.  The most creative part of the film is how Tony mimics snippets of well-known animations using Tony’s well-known animation character in a delightfully playful way. 

Toon Zone posted a really comprehensive interview with Tony in 2006 about the “Endangered Species” animation and its inspiration.   

In the interview, Tony mentions his ill-fated ”Animation Masterclass” book.  This was the book that Tony consulted with Matt Tamaru (Rodriguez at the time) on Flash character animation.  Unfortunately, ”Animation Masterclass” never did see the light of day. 

Here’s the film.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

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I’ve been a resident of the north area of Seattle for over 15 years and the Ballard Denny’s located on the corner of Market St. and 15th has been a very important landmark for me.  Unfortunately, the building–which is a great example of mid-century Googie architecture–has been vacant since it was sold to ill-fated monorail project in 2007 and is slated for demolition.  The land is tragically slated to be developed into yet another condo with a Rite-Aid on the corner.

The building was built in the mid-60’s as the Manning’s Cafeteria and was one of many Manning’s restaurants up and down the west coast.  Manning’s was one of Seattle’s longest running and successful chains.  The Manning’s Cafeteria Building was the only building in Seattle designed by Clarence Mayhew, a very well-regarded Bay Area architect.  More information about the building can be found on Docomom WEWA’s website.

Tomorrow, the building will be up for nomination as a historic landmark at a public hearing.  Here are the details:

Wednesday, February 20, 2008, 3:30 p.m.
Municipal Tower, 700 Fifth Ave., Room 4060. The meeting will be open to the public.

Hope to see you there!

As tech-savvy people, we love our digital media. But as designers, math savants, artists, writers, and general thinkers we often find inspiration in those old-fashioned information-conveyers called books. Remember those? Reading rates are declining alarmingly in the U.S., but we refuse to believe that’s happening here in our office.

To prove it, we thought we’d spend a little end-of-the-week energy discussing the books that engage us. We like to call it the Plexipixel reading room. Come inside, pour yourself a cup of hot tea, and peek at what has us snuggled up under our afghans in the mid-February cold.

Here’s our “in process” or just-completed list:

• Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis – “Funny and dark and crude … by the end I was like, ‘Enough already!’ but it cracked me up,” says Kiva P.
• White Teeth by Zadie Smith – “Smith is sharp and incisive. It’s a great book on diversity that doesn’t bang you over the head,” says Amie S.
• The Worst Years of Your Life: Stories for the Geeked-Out, Angst-Ridden, Lust-Addled, and Deeply Misunderstood Adolescent in All of Us - “Four out of five stars,” raves Ryan W. about this collection of short stories about junior high.
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• If I Die in a Combat Zone (Box Me Up and Ship Me Home) by Tim O’Brien
• The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
• Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy – “Very dark and post-apocalyptic, but touching and hopeful in its own way,” says Ian R.
• Al Jaffe’s Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions #5
• Magilla Gorilla: A Big Golden Book
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Blade Runner: The Inside Story by Don Shay
• Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
• Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky – “All those other white powders have nothing on salt,” says Tizzy A. “Just try to pickle a herring in Splenda!”
• The Writings of Austin Osman Spare: Automatic Drawings, Anathema of Zos, The Book of Pleasure, and The Focus of Life by Austin Osman Spare
• Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
• The daily Seattle Post-Intelligencer – says John T. “It’s all I ever read.” (He’s not lying. -.ed)

And like most readers, we’ve got a long list of books we’re going to get to… someday. (Except Joshua S., who always finds time for his book list. “I’ve never missed out on a book. if I want to read something I read it,” he says. “There are probably some really good books that I don’t know about that I haven’t read, but would like to read, because they’re good, right?”.) Maybe so, Joshua S. Here’s what’s on our shelves to finish in the next few years:

• Moby Dick
• Ulysses and Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
• Photoshop CS2 for Dummies
• Necronomicon by H.P. Lovecraft
• First Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Fiend Folio
• Birds and Words by Charley Harper – says Drake B. “He was incredible. He just passed away last year, right as his giant anthology book got published.”
• The Art of Project Management by Scott Berkun
• My Life by Bill Clinton – “The one book I’ve had since it came out, but I just cannot get any traction on finishing,” says Allen C.

How about you? What’s in your Reading Room? 

Matt and I took Will Vinton, his lovely wife Gill, and daughter to brunch this Sunday before Will’s Master Animation Class at the Northwest Film Forum.  We wanted to welcome an animation luminary to our lovely city and have an excuse to check out the brunch at Palisade Restaurant.

Will’s little daughter had a bit of a rough morning–we picked them up at 9am so that we’d have enough time for a leisurely meal and get Will back in time to set up for the class.  As soon as her Very Berry Smoothie (which came in a tiki glass) and Wacky Waffle (adorned with a bacon smile) arrived at the table, she was able to find some enjoyment in hanging out with a bunch of adults in a strange place.

Will and Gill were amazingly sweet people and extra fun to talk to.  Matt was able to talk shop, taking as much in about Will’s experience as an Academy Award and Oscar winning animator.  Gill and I talked about food–one of my favorite subjects.  Gill’s from Yorkshire (she didn’t think that I picked up on her slight British accent) and Matt’s family is from London/Ipswich so we had a lot to gab about.

We all ended up eating way too much.  You see, the way brunch is set up at the Palisade is that you pick an entree and it comes with trips to the buffet.  I know you’re thinking “ugh! buffets… usually not the cream of the crop.”  But this buffet had shrimp cocktail, oysters on the half shell, papaya, mango, macademia nut pancakes (with rum maple syrup)…  *burp*  Oh yeah, AND we had our entrees which were also amazing.

All the while, we were able to oogle the Seattle skyline, mountains, and water all from our table.

What drives Knoxville’s most famous cartoonist? Total fear. 

Check out this inspiring article from Metro Pulse about our friend Joel Trussell and his rise to success as an animator. Way to go Joel!

On the front page of the Eames Foundation site are links to Matt’s photos of our visit to Eames House in Santa Monica this past June.  We were there to celebrate Charles Eames’ 100th brithday and the dedication of the house as a National Historic Landmark. 

Schmancy Toys is proud to present the colorful and wonderful felt artwork of Snaggs. Please come to the opening reception on Friday, May 11th from 6-9 pm.

Schmancy Toys is located at 1932 2nd Ave in Seattle’s Belltown.