HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUGS!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUGS!: "65 years ago on this day, Warner Bros. released a Merrie Melodies short called A Wild Hare. The zany wise-guy personality that the studio was slowly developing was finally nailed in this film by Tex Avery..."(Via Cartoon Brew.)

Bugs was a major influence for me growing up. He was awesome. I'm sure I still have personality traits that originate with him. It didn't hurt that I had a serious overbite.

Luckily I eventually learned what parts of the personality were cool to keep around and resonated with me so strongly that I wanted to keep them around. Irony, a sense of humor in all situations, A certain level of casual friendliness that can disarm people in tense situations. Here's to you, you wascaly wabbit!

(Editor's note: All the anvil incidents were dropped (hee!) due the generous juvenile offender laws in Arizona. Phew! :))

3:43:37 PM     Discuss: []


Cartoon Brew: Disney Hand drawn animation R.I.P.?

Cartoon Brew: July 2005 Archives: "At 3pm today (Monday 25 July) the entire studio was summoned for a staff meeting in which we told by the General Manager Phil Oakes that upon completion of our next production 'Cinderella 3', DisneyToon Studio's Australia will be closing down after 17 years. They have cited current business needs and production schedules as the cause. So Disney hand drawn animation now ceases to exist."(Via Cartoon Brew.)

Some would argue..and I am one of them, that the very fact that they were working on Cinderella 3 gives you a good idea what happened to hand-drawn animation over at Disney.

My 7 year old hates Disney. I can't say as I blame her. Mind you, she loves the Pixar stuff, and Pirates of the Caribbean, and Peter Pan and Aristocats and a bunch of the other older stuff. But she really dislikes Disney. Wrap yer head around that....

Interestingly, I'm starting to wonder if it's "Disney the giant organism pumping out crap" that she has a problem with. I'm probably projecting....

3:38:01 PM     Discuss: []


Brew up some cartoons! So, I've recently begun reading a Weblog called "Cartoon Brew". It has a lot of interesting stuff about different facets of the animation biz. Go check it out.
3:30:15 PM     Discuss: []


Manage your time...

...Or someone else will do it for you....

I've got to keep repeating that to myself.

11:46:48 AM     Discuss: []


Concrete stairs

Well, this is one of those "Well why should anyone care about this?" posts.

So I spent the weekend repairing the crumbled steps. It was interesting, since I've never worked with concrete, brickwork or mortar before. Amazing how much rubble can come from a small (3' high) set of steps.

Two of the steps that I thought were only going to need patching ended up collapsing on me while I was clearing away the crumbling pieces of cinder block. So I ended up pouring concrete and rebuilding the right side of the first two steps.

All this while Massachusetts is in the midst of some...warmish weather. Thank goodness for AZ birthright for ignoring heat. :) Sweating is still annoying.

So...100lbs of concrete, 15 paving stones and some sweat later, fixed steps. Whee! So much for the weekend! back to work!

Mind you it was kinda cool when Josephine asked how much it costs, and I told that it cost less than $100. He sister had gotten a quote from a contractor who (surprise) wanted to rebuild the whole thing and wanted $800 to do it. Mind you, I can see why he wanted to but now we can wait a while longer.

And...it's always neat to do something decently when you've never done anything even vaguely like that before. I'm rather satisfied with the job I did, which is a nice feeling.

(Proving that I am not an Über-geek, I do not have "Before" and "After" pictures of the stairs in question to post.)

11:14:43 AM     Discuss: []