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Previous News
MAY
2005
Memorial Day
Weekend Edition - 05.29.05
* Hmmmmm
.... party time, barbeques, picnics, guzzling beer,
shopping bargain sales, etc. So this is Memorial Day ?
* Okay .... a little inside
confession here. Printed words easy to hide
behind and cannot always show the real feelings,
emotions, or state of mind. I have had Stop
Motion Works online for about five years.
It was a means to stay in touch with the community and
spread the word about Stop Motion. Also, in the
beginning .... frustration with the onslaught of CGI
shutting-out other styles-techniques and pronouncements
by the ignorant media & studios referrng to Stop
Motion as old, quaint, not viable. Other reasons and more
significant, maybe Stop Motion Works
was providing me with some micro-scopic purpose or little
escape where I could have a mental
break and allows me to be on the sideline
of the Biz. I have sort of been in limbo
.... wandering. No clear, personal & career
direction even in adulthood. Enthusiasm fades in &
out. People try to push me to do things. Even doing it, I
did not get too excited. I was becoming very much a
slacker. I do have a straight job that pays the
rent and it does allows me time for other
things. With regards to work in the Biz ....I have not
really made a strong campaign to promote getting work.
Only here at SMW, I advertised it minimally ....but no
great effort. I only took on the very few job requests,
only because I was asked. Anyway, the time seems
right to get back to the hands-on work,
not doing it for
others, but only for myself and you the
audience. I could not force it before
and "it" had to happen of its own accord.
StopMoShorts is also a positive factor
in helping me decide to get back into this and also Nick
Hilligoss, and in the past from Dan
Anderson, both have ocassionally given me some
motivational spark. You might also say .... "By
the will of the Gods"
* Well .... now that I have exposed
my soul out here, hopefully I did not make
an ass of myself. It is great to see
some Stop Motion specific Blogs popping up.
Perhaps it also serves as a motivational tool
.....like a flame under your butt ....
putting it out there in the public
..... they are expecting results and you
cannot fail them. I have no
specific Stop Motion project that I am personally working
on for myself. I have to play catch-up
here, especially with regards to being online
capable to display my works so I must
finally cave-in and get high speed internet $$ I
am also way behind in actual experience with software and
there's a learning curve to familiarize myself with all
that. However, my strong points ..... is
that I got access to any killer armatures  and
that will aid me. Also, I do have a corner in my garage
that already has been setup as a
stage/animation/studio area and has been in
mothballs for years. It was initially going to be for
film using ol' fashion front projection compositing and
now I have to refurbish the stage area for all digital. I
need lower wattage lights and I will eventually convert
the FP unit to maybe a manual camera dollying/tracking
unit. As I said .... no specific Stop Mo projects. What I
will do, to warm up, as I am learning and refreshing my
skills ..... I will be doing tests & experiments
..... nothing exciting but could be informative
and I will provide blog commentary and behind the scenes.
I am not really a "sculptor" specialist where
it comes easy for me but I can do it
..... especially the ol' school Harryhausen/Tippett style
of creatures. I will do animation exercises just starting
out with bare armatures, also I will do test digital
bluescreen composites. You will see the raw behind the
scenes. Also, the dollying/tracking unit I am kind-of
jazzed about and I will also let you see my progress on
that. At times, I may need your help when I am
stuck . Just even doing the sound track might be
a stumbling block for me. So my project might be
titled ... "Watch LIO Stop Motionly Grow &
Progress " ?  As
I said before, StopMoShorts providing impetus & motivation and also
a venue where you will see my experiments & tests at
Eric's website (miscellaneous entries) and somewhere
along the way, I will try to do some official SMS entries
too.
____________________
Weekend Edition - 05.21.05
* Like the Jason
character in Friday the 13th ..... Stars
Wars may never die? Marketing
and merchandising up the wah-zoo or up the ying-yang
(your choice). The original Star
Wars are classics .... but
the prequels .... I just don't know. Yoda on your
cereal boxes, Darth Vader hyping products on TV?
Continuing to extract every micro-drop of $blood$
from it. Look at this too .... Lucas to Release All Star Wars in
3D . How many different
Star Wars releases or versions? Special edition,
golden edition, collectors edition, directors cut edition
.... ad nauseum? Lord of the Rings did
some merchandising but maybe with a bit more moderation
& restraint. I do not recall seeing Gollum on
cereal boxes or Gandalf selling
Pepsi-Cola on TV? To me, it kind of cheapens
the product. I suppose it has always existed but
even worse now .... even more excess
hyper-marketing .... voracious in your
face capitalism .... and not
principles or being classy. A few sample reviews
here of Revenge of the Sith 1 - 2 , then this review by a Star Wars nerd but implying
objectivity. I hear Ebert & Roeper
both gave Sith a thumbs-up. They are
the Kings of Movie Critiquing. You know,
the Lucas Empire salivating about that
.... $$$. Did you know, Sith has already been
pirated? Read this Revenge of the Sith Online. My comments here are NOT
necessarily, dissing or putting down Star Wars.
You are wrong, if you see it as that. Just giving you a
glaring example of the Current State of
Mainstream Movie Biz. They all
unfortunately, like lemmings, do it
inTinsel Town.
* Sooooo .... Marc Spess is going Slick
on us? He just gave us a preview of his upcoming
fancy schamcy website. To me, Marc's website had
sort-of a Milton Bradley'ish, kind of "for
kids" website ambiance?  I am most
pleased that he is "Seeing the
Light". No .... not a Cooooool
"Black" website,
but a darkish gray website which is "almost
the way" IMO, that more subdued color scheme
gives it a more serious business or credible kind of
feeling. I am now speaking to the webmaster
audiences out here .... please NO FLASH
websites! I hate that, when we are not
given a choice of Html version of site. If a
website is about info, resources, etc. it should be
quick to navigate through the pages. Sites with excess
Flash .... mostly tells me .... maybe not
much on it and trying to appeal via eye
candy gimmicks to maybe compensate for lack of content. Even
if the content is good .... Flash can be
distracting (to me) and it really sucks
for internet dial-up connection users. Remember
.... worldwide.... most do not
use high speed broadband internet hook-ups.
____________________
Weekend Edition - 05.14.05
* The most detailed review,
I ever read. It's about the just released 2 DVD set of The Life Aquatic. Does he actually get paid
to do these reviews or just an obsession-hobby of his. At
the computer and glued to TV (watching Dvds) 24-7? It
appears that most reviews done there are pretty anal
retentive, even getting into image & sound quality.
Well ...the website is called Digitally
Obsessed. So that is a clue? Duh 
* Knight's studio awaits a cue for
next big step The
article title says it all. Nike shoe
mogul, Phil Knight who owns the new Vinton Studio
.... he seems to be salivating to be like a Pixar or
Dreamworks. Unfortunately, the mainstream movie
biz market may get eventually glutted
with similarly looking animated products.
The article even kind of alludes to that. Audiences are
fickled and getting jaded or bored more quickly. Movies
today: Like guzzling down common
Beer ...available by the keg-ful.
Movies of yesteryear: Like sipping
Fine Wine ....more rare to find .... you savor
it & appreciate it and the experience is more
memorable.
* Check out this quote ......"There
is sure to be much talk of Lucas' contributions to the
cinema -- both good (his reinvention of mythic archetypes
under the guise of sci-fi) and bad (his success led
Hollywood to its current obsession with chasing
blockbusters)" .....Yeah,
the eventual saturation with these genre wannabe
blockbusters. They pump them out so fast &
then dumped on DVD just as fast. I hardly ever go to
movie theaters. Just wait a few months and rent
it. Cheaper and I do not feel ripped off
(ticket prices) by the "Hollywood
Suits/Studios" especially if the movie turned out to
be a dud or mediocre (homogenized & formulaic) You
can read more here Lucas' effects wizards morphed biz
approach Article
somewhat butt-licking computerized special
effects.
____________________
05.11.05
* Kind of slow for me with the news.
Just busy .... and sitting my butt in front of computer
does not contribute in helping me getting "real
life" things done ! The message board .....I am trying to perhaps cool off a bit
on, but sometimes I must reply to give more balanced
viewpoints to a particular poster at the forum. I am not
an expert on all matters of Stop Motion, but I can see if
something is too one sided. Not fair to
people who may be beginners or to those who are not sure
of what they are reading is factual or hyperbole. It's
good to be enthusiastic but at least present your POV
with more balanced information and don't be too
preachy! Switching subject .... I prepared a test page Digital
Still Cams Overview.
I rushed it out .... will fix any typos or errors later.
Something I really did not want to get into. Too much
confusion and subjective viewpoints about Digital Still
Cams. Okay ....nothing else too exciting to report. So
hard to satisfy you, the demanding public!
Edit: The above page will be changing on
a, "as needed" basis. I just updated it
right now. Some links added about general DSLR
Longevity. I will post here in news whenever I
update or revise that page.
____________________
Weekend Edition - 05.07.05
* As you know, in the past I have
ranted many times about mainstream movie biz but have
mellowed my comments and I do not do it as much anymore.
It does not mean that have I changed my views. Perhaps I
have given you a different perspective
and made you aware how the entertainment
media industry is pumping out a
very controlled product to reach the
lowest common denominator (the masses).You may not see
much in the way of unique storytelling or different
aesthetics/styles of moviemaking from the corporate
studios. I suppose ..... worldwide in other countries
.... they eat-up American entertainment, so I guess
movies are further diluted and homogenized and are
formulaic to tap into those audience masses as a source
of more profits. Sooooo ..... do not
look to mainstream for "breaking the mold" with
regards to movies. If it happens .... it is by accident
and escaped the "suits" controlling hand.
Mainstream will not be your so-called savior (for
you Stop Motionists). Many other venues now for
distribution and niche marketing .... thanks to technology
(which includes the internet). I do see the value
of technological tools but used with wisdom and
not abused. Maybe I am also speaking philosophically ....
in the big gestalt world POV. Anyway, in keeping with
this theme, here is a recent, brief but cogent article
.... maybe kind of .... abuse of technology??
The Wrath of Tron: How CGI Is
Ruining Movies
* Looks like Ethan Marak
aka Angry Puppet is back in circulation
amongst us! He has always been, somewhat low key/quiet at
the message board and posted occasionally. Get this
.... he probably has a personal life and
maybe that his excuse? I cannot believe
that .... putting Stop Motion second?! Ethan
recently worked on the cult Stop Mo hit,
Robot Chicken He has moved back & forth from
Bay Area to Los Angeles so many times .... I have lost
count. He now just finished another move and guess where?
In Hollywood. Yes, actually in Tinsel Town!
Ethan has been working on his own, yet untitled
Stop Motion project. He has been after me for so
long to custom fabricate him a puppet armature.
For some reason, he insists on having a LIO
Stop Mo Armature? Finally, he cornered me and I
am doing one for his project. Very interesting
and funny character but I cannot say anymore. Anyway ....
I do not know if Ethan reads my page here (if you don't
.... shame on you) Somebody .... pass on the
message to him, that he is the subject of a
Blog! Also, that the armature is in progress
but just a little delayed. Do not worry Ethan
.... it will be done, even if I have to
drive to Hollywood and deliver it to you personally! I
posted here publically, and so, everybody
will be waiting for it too The
Return of Ethan ... he is now a Blogger at
Angry Puppet Films
____________________
Sunday is Almost Over & Back to Work on
Monday Edition  - 05.01.05
* The Stop
Motion Software & Tools page was down for a little while. During
website maintenance, I accidentally deleted it and had to
put it back together and desperately looking in my files
to find text copies of my reviews, then I redid the html
codes & design layout. It is as good as new
now. I added, two new animation programs
.... one called Stop Motion Station and the other one is
I_Can Animate. I also added two other
lip sync programs .... Papagayo and JLipSync. I even added link to DAR
200 So, go to the Software
page and you will
see additions and slight re-editing.
* Hitchhikers Guide to the
Galaxy is now out. How come I have not heard
that there were some Stop Motion micro-scenes
in this movie? These reviews mention it, Hitchin' a ride and Hitchhiker 2-1/2 stars Here is photo of Stop Motion in Hitchhiker Looks like something that will not
necessarily advance the Art of Stop Motion. Kind of mixed
reviews of movie. It is a Disney product
so they may have put "their kind" of
branding-flavor into it.
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