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Previous News
09.30.06
* Where is
Randall William Cook? Years ago, a big loss of incredible talent in our Stop Motion
Art/Craft but maybe by the will of the Greek
Gods, he went on to kick some visual ass
in the CGI  world; Peter Jackson's Lord
of the Rings Triology. An article came by my way
but I do not agree with the author's spin of the CGI only
aspects. What is interesting though, even though it is
not about Randy Cook specifically, there
are a few soundbyte quotes from him and also some revelation
that I have not heard anywhere. Do you
remember Ray Harryhausen got some deal
with a B-movie type production
company/distributor called Mindfire
Entertainment? I originally posted that news in
the May 2006 Blog-News. This new article I just read,
reveals that Cousin Randy will be collaborating
with Uncle Ray on the Sinbad Series. This
is not even mentioned at Ray's Official Site. If that is true,
then that is the absolutely best choice;
Randy, an eclectic & renaissance
hombre "talent" whose roots are Stop
Motion. However, in my view, if it is any sort
of serious homage to Ray's
original works, IMO, it should be Real Stop Motion; not CGI. Hey, I
am just a lone wolf crying in the wilderness
 .
Here is that article, Pixels to the People. (If website forces you to
subscribe to read article; clear all cookies
in cache & open new browser window)
Edit
10.01.06
* End of the
World Omen: Foam Latex Shortage  Yes, that was the initial
impression I got when GM
Foam Inc posted at
the message board & Link 2, that there will be a severe
shortage of a raw material that
is used for Foam Latex. GM
spokesperson, Gil Mosko gave us
the bad news but he reassured us that he secured exclusive
deal with a supplier that provides the
raw material. I did not know how to take that as
good or bad? For years, GM has
produced a high quality foam latex and I
am very happy to hear of Gil's
commitment to the continuance of GM
Foam. However, as a consumer, it is also sort-of
nice to have a few choices of products.
That is just the nature of business &
competition and giving consumers
'options'. If you are concerned
about the availability of Foam Latex,
you may want to visit or post at The Effects Lab Forum and Make-Up Artist Board and inquire what they
heard. Also, here are the few other Foam
Latex vendors, if you wish to contact them about
future availability. You can continue to lurk
and be silent, or, do something.
Let them know, you are out there
and concerned. You know, it is called
getting involved & being Proactive Edit 10.01.06
* Robot Chicken creator 'gots' a Major
Stop Mo Flick Deal  .... Maybe a snowball
effect happening here? RC giving Adult Swim Network some
pretty good ratings. Seth Green
perhaps making some impression on the power
people in Flick Village USA.
Check this out, 'Chicken' Team Brings Stoopid Monkey
to Dimension. I am
usually cynical these days about many
things. Stop Motion actually
being considered by the Tinsel Town 'suits'?
If so, then 'power' to those minority
maverick 'suits' with the guts
to go against mainstream
Hollywood's formulaic & homogenized
stuff. Edit
10.01.06
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09.23.06
* "Grass
Roots: The Movie" ..... Follow up to my rare
mid-week extra news/blog posting below (no extra
charge). I also posted at message board but minimal response .  Grass Roots maybe
could benefit in some added marketing tools
such as an ongoing production diary/blog
(like Kong is King) or maybe some presence on MySpace.
The teaser trailer is somewhat pixelated. Could maybe
have been in another better player format. When I look
closer at Grass Roots website, I see that they are looking
for investors. As usual, Stop
Motion seems to always be
struggling and fighting the
"suits" discriminatory prejudice against
our animation art/craft. Look at the mega-millions
that is thrown at the
plethora of CGI products. How easy
for some big players, suits,
or studios, with perhaps a maverick
& trailblazer attitude, that could help
finance this. If you are one of the rare & unique
few, then click here. Edit 09.24.06
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09.20.06
* "The
Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers" ....The news buzz has been around since
earlier in the year. I am not completely familiar with
the Furry Freak Brothers comics & Link 2.To me, this is certainly invigorating news
with regards to Stop Motion. This unique animation
project is going to be all Stop Motion
.... off the wall, funky, ghetto look but high
production values. Another excellent example of niche,
targeting, thinking out of the box, and trailblazing with
fresh-new material. Freak Broth ers obviously not
a family type movie. It is aimed
at specific audiences. Who knows, it
could become a Stop Mo Cult classic? (like
NMBC) Would this kind of animated movie
come out of Tinsel Town USA? I think not.
Hollywood, is stuck in their orthodox
film production system. Again, I say NICHE
.... target your audience
.... the Movie Art-House circuit market (Example:
Triplettes of Bellevue), direct to DVD, Cable TV,
etc. Take a look at the preview
test-pilot teaser of the Stop Motion
animated Freak Brothers. I already posted this before, but
I know the internet age masses have constant amnesia.
Here it is again The Rise and Fall of the Hit and I will repeatedly continue to
post it, until it hopefully sinks in.
Perhaps Freak Bros. might be a good omen
for further validation of Stop Motion to
mainstream suits. IMO, if Freak
Bros were done in CGI, it would
never-ever have that most unique quality
& impact of Stop Mo.
Official movie site Grass Roots: The Movie. Usually, I am doing my short
blogs/news only once a week, but this Furry
Freak flick got me jazzed and posting an extra,
blog special edition here on Wednesday,
just for you all 
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09.16.06
* Ripping Off
Aardman ....
A Stop Motion animation making its rounds online. This originally
done by Aardman, however, someone just
basically replaced a different soundtrack.
The various online postings (also on YouTube) of this
animation clip, do not seem to clearly
state that it is from the Creature Comforts UK television series. Viewers are misled /
misinformed. The animation of course, is good, but I did
not find the replacement dialog /
subject matter, humorous or entertaining (voices
of President Bush & other Republicans). See it for
yourself, Talking Politicians at The Daily Top 10.
I posted some comments at their site. Edit 09.17.06 Tennessee also commented there.
* Animation:
Story or Sizzle?... A commentary written by someone. You can
probably guess I would likely agree with much of her
points and she more calmly & thoughtfully expresses
them (compared to my "tirades"  ).
It's a quick read .... check it out
* Online
Ads-Campaign trend from Big Players .... Have you heard me say this
before, Targeting & Niche?  This
one for Mazda. The ad done
as trailer style, representing  an ol' hobby known as Slot Car Racing (waay before 'puter & techy
toys diversions). Some online comments says the ad uses
some Stop Mo techniques. The Awesome Adventures of Wild
Child. If you
cannot find the movie clip link there, here is another
posting at Google Video. Also, if you do not know already,
Ethan "Angry Puppet" Marak and
small crew recenty did a Stop Mo Ad
series for for an online
promotion for Levis Strauss Link 2. "Niche, targeting, niche, targeting,
niche, targeting ...." Edit 09.16.06
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09.09.06
* Before
Corpse Bride (2005), there was Phantom Inventory (2004) .... I invite you to revisit
this very rich looking, high productions values Stop
Motion short made by French creative artists.
No complex & costly
internal armatured Mackinnon & Saunders geared heads.
Shot, so dialogue is minimal and therefore, mostly visual.
No need for CGI's fad dejour
of sometimes excess barf inducing dizzying
camera motion or showing off
how they can clone a plethora of characters
(crowd scenes). Good ol' "less is more"
still powerful but overlooked by the Suits &
CGI'ists. There are many different
cinematic styles to tell story. Nothing against CGI, but combination
methods (traditional with digital tweaking) can
give superbe results too. In the past,
some on message board were familiar with Phantom. Here we go,
Phantom Inventory website (unfortunately, a Flash-heavy
site). You can see the animated short there (28mb) and
also, some good behind the scenes pics.
You will need the XviD codec in your player.
No problem installing in Windows Media Player,
however for Macs (QuickTime) you have to jump
through some hoops both codecs here.
* Stop Motion
Works Studios/Artists link ..... SMW been around for some years now and
as you already may know, some links here, I just never
got around to it. If you only knew how much time it takes to
keep a website fresh and alive so that it does
not appear like a deserted cyber-virtual ghost
town. Just minor maintenance too and especially a
blog, can suck so much of one's time.
Writing does not come easy to me. It is a strain
sometimes, but I do it. Back to topic; I
finally started adding something to the Studios/Artists
link. In quickly
putting it together, then doing some fast searching
online, I am astounded & bewildered  ,
that some top or well known Stop Motionists,
do not even have at least, a minimal
online resume or portfolio to promote
themselves. Even though I relunctantly have been
forced to use the personal-time-sucking-internet
,
I do realize that it is today's
marketing, communication medium. It is so affordable or free
(no cost), to have an online internet presence. Edit 09.09.06 Example of "Internet
Challenged" Stop Motionists: Kim
Blanchette, Justin Kohn, Trey Thomas, Richard C.
Zimmerman, Kent Burton (& probably more I could not
find) No online; personal, resume, or portofolio
page. Geeeez ....they need to study-up
on self-promotion!
* Not
Stop Motion
News: Kids Education & Teacher Unions .... In public
schools, apparently, some of our kids not getting the
best. Saw this report on ABC television network (USA)
which was a re-broadcast but recently updated. It is
about public education system in the USA.
"Not enough money", the teaching
"industry" claims, is the supposed
cause of poor education. Did you know, it is almost
impossible to fire a poor performing or slacker teacher?
Also, they are generally against school vouchers and denying you "choice".
You can see some clips or read the transcript Stupid in America
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09.02.06
* Overcrowded
Mainstream Movie Biz? I am not going to write-blog much in this
installment. Soooo dead out here. I
suppose more so with Labor Day Holiday in USA.
Everyone doing their ritualistic behaviors,
last minute rush traveling all over the
country. Oh, back to the Flicks. Read this Too much competition for DVD
dollars eventually spell the end for today's CG boom?
* Consumer
affordable techy products competing with Theatrical
Movies .....
How products such as home projection TV, Ipod type
devices, Cell phones, etc. impacting the movie biz who
are stuck in their orthodox ways ..... spending mega-mega
excess millions on each film and they become shortlived,
and less profit revenues. If you wanted to watch 'Superman,'
which media would you choose now?
* Not Stop
Motion News: "The Last Days On Earth" .... A two
hour special pretending to be an objective documentary
which aired on ABC-TV this past week. It was all a disguise,
to make its sensationalized claim about Global
Warming as our supposed most
immediate threat to our
extinction. Way before, any "warming"
plague, I think, Terrorism or Economic and/or
Government collapse is going to do us
in, "first". Al Gore
says there is no debate about Global
Warming. That is not very "democratic". Lets present
the full picture and other
Scientific views. More commentary, The End of the World ? according to
ABC News and Al Gore... Okay, I have nothing more to news/blog
about. I did not even include any decorative
thumbnail images. Why spend more time on this?
Like I said .... eerily quiet-dead all around and at
message board. I am leaving. Go entertain yourself !  Edit 09.02.06
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