Monday Love

"You can find better stories in books and movies. Better illustrations in magazines and on book covers, richer characters in Dickens and in classic sitcoms. Where else can you get get magic moving eye candy but in animated cartoons when they are in top form? - and why do so few places and people want to give it to you?"

-- John Kricfalusi

I was watching Mickey and the Beanstalk last week for some visual reference for a project and loved this scene with Donald flipping his sh*t due to starvation. Check out this pose. Personally I think they could've taken it a bit more extreme but then it might've started looking a little too Warner Brothersy. I do love those fingers!



Also for a sidenote, sometime between now and this Saturday I have to migrate this blog to another URL due to Google severing support for blogger-based blogs hosted on other servers. If it goes down, just visit www.markedanimation.com and you will kindly find direction there.

Purple Brain Music Video aka How I Ended Up on the Internet After Blacking Out

One night at Lifelong Friendship Society we had a few friends over and more than a few beers between the lot of us. After shooting a few things on green screen I woke up at home the next morning with my shoes still on. Go figure.

Brian Close shot and directed this video which you can read more about here.

Purple Brain from Georgia on Vimeo.

Holy Crap It's June Already

Hello hello!
I apologize to those of you that I haven't talked to nearly as much as I should have in the past couple of weeks but I haven't had too much time away from other engagements. I've been at the LFS office everyday for the past four weeks & my roommate tells me that the only way she knows that I'm alive is the jug of apple juice in our refrigerator progressively gets emptier and emptier as the week passes.
Since I'm more of a visual guy I'll post a few images rather than explaining anything.















More to come.

Photos by Mark Phillips, Rob Cohen, Sam Bair, Brian Close & Gina Vortman

The Vendor Client Relationship

I don't think it's ever been more eloquently represented.

Mike Judge's "Extract"

via videosift.com

Few people capture the mundane characteristics of every day life quite like Mike Judge. It took me a couple of years to learn to appreciate the man (I thought Beavis & Butthead was annoying when it first aired and it took me a few seasons to warm to King of the Hill) but I think the guy nails it in his live-action work. Office Space & Idiocracy were both instant classics for me and while they may have had their flaws, they really did influence my daily world view, as ridiculous as that might sound.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to his next feature. It looks fantastic.

Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job!

Season 4 is currently airing every Sunday night (Monday morning I guess...?) at 12:30 AM EST

Watch it. Even if you hate it.

Metronomy "A Thing For Me"

88 turned me onto this video earlier today, it's SICK.


A Thing For Me from Metronomy on Vimeo.

(sick in the good way, not the AIDS-y way)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been tying up all the loose ends with boarding out new projects these past couple of days so I can have my first real vacation in half a year. This particular animator is heading back to Chicago 'til next week, and is going soak up all the love and nostalgia that his social sponge can absorb!

... but maybe more so in a way that sounds less gross.


Nacho pie here I come.

Adventures in Time Warner Cable

This morning I had the pleasure of missing a few hours of work in order to wait for the cable guy to drop by with his bag of electronic jollies. Since I moved to Brooklyn, I've relied on a shared [read: "iffy"] wireless internet connection with the floor below me and no cable television to speak of. I rely on the internet to get a lot of my freelance work done, as I'm generally online either transferring large movie files or discussing work with my associates. Today was the big day that I'd finally make my triumphant return to ultra-fast hand-blistering internet speeds, and on top of that subscribe to digital cable for first time in my life (as per request from the roommate). Unlike most cable-installation stories (... are there any?), the cable guy was punctual and finished his work in little over half an hour.
Before I go on, let me just say that three days don't pass by in New York City without the City reminding you that yes, you do indeed live in it. The City rubs your nose in it everywhere you go, whether it be a couple in their seventies making out on the subway or a mass of panda bears gathering for no apparent reason. New York City sure likes to flaunt itself.
I was reminded of this once again when I walked into my bedroom this morning to check on the cable guy, who was now seated at my computer. I saw that he had the internet up and ready to go, at which point I thanked him for his time. The conversation then went something like this:

Cable Guy: "... so, do you work in stocks?"
Me: "Um. No. I'm an animator... much less glamorous."
Cable Guy: "How much do you spend on lunch every day?"
Me: "... well, my job generally buys everyone lun --"
Cable Guy: "Well if you had to pay for it, how much do think you would pay?"
Me: "I dunno, I guess like $7-10?"
Cable Guy: "You should check out this website I run, you can find a lot of really good deals on groceries and full meals delivered to your door!"

[ Cable Guy brings up his website on my computer. ]

Me: "I don't think I'm that interested... I --"
Cable Guy: "Well you can actually order a lot of different things on this site! Like if you're shopping online at Best Buy or the Apple Store..."
Me: "Um. Okay?"
Cable Guy: "How would you like to earn three thousand dollars a week for doing just a few hours worth of work?"

It was at this point when the Cable Guy presented me with a "business opportunity" for running my own website and having the internet company do "90% of the work for me." So easy! Thanks random Cable Guy for trying to bring me on board for your pyramid scheme. From there I tried to wrap things up as quickly as possible.

Me: "Well thanks sir, I gotta get to work."
Cable Guy: "Cool man so would you be interested in coming to a company seminar this weekend?"
Me: "Um..."
Cable Guy: "It's up in Queens but I can drive here and pick you up!"
Me: "... sorry man, I got a... thing I gotta do this weekend."
Cable Guy: "Oh that's cool man can I call you follow up then? What's your number?"

... and so was my New York experience of having cable installed. After he left I turned on my television to see what this fancy "digital cable" was all about. Then it hit me: Why the hell do I have 900 channels? Honestly, what the fuck am I going to do with that many channels? I watch maybe about 5-6 television shows total. So why do I have a Korean channel that features a show called Bare Feet Love? Once I double-check the bill to make sure that I'm getting what I'm supposed to, it should prove to be an interesting few months discovering television.


SIDENOTE: My biggest problem with Williamsburg was summarized in one lunch menu option today.

My Love Affair with Tim & Eric

I'm not going to try to defend Tim & Eric Awesome Show: Great Job! by any means, because I understand that calling it an "acquired taste" is an understatement. I think the show's irreverent humor is brilliant, and the way it embraces and champions poor & ugly-looking broadcast production is icing on the cake. Here's a favorite clip of mine from this week's episode: