There’s a Genuine Soviet Sputnik satellite on auction at Ebay. 

Duncan McLeod ( who is involved in Lucha Va Voom ) is making a documentary: LA LUCHA (The Struggle), which explores the racial and homoerotic tensions in the sport of lucha libre.

La Lucha, the seminal documentary on this topic, explores the larger world of Lucha Libre through the touchstone of the WPW league and school, where the tradition is being carefully preserved. The wrestlers themselves have learned an art form that will gain them great notoriety and instant respect, should they ever venture across the border back to Mexico. Some hope to move on to the WWF – a shot at American stardom. The dreams and struggles of these young wrestlers are carefully documented and brought to light through the camera eye. - McLeod

The film will be released on DVD in a couple of months and we can’t wait to see it.

SUPER ANIMATION LINK MADNESS!  Craig ‘Gopher’ Richardson has put together toonhub.com, an awesome page of animation-related links and we’ve just been added to it.

The site led me to discover Cartoon Central Australia  a local TV/video/DVD NEWS site of sorts (more of an anime leaning) There’s also a (slightly unloved) forum …

Had a conference call with WB Online this morning. We’ve started talking about the Build-Your-Own-Wrestler game on the ML website and how to extend this into an online Flash “wrestling game” in the most cost-effective way. I think it’s going to be lots of fun once we figure out the main signature MOVES.

Links for the day:

Tiki Tiki  - Tiki paintings by a Sydney-based artist

Children’s Book covers - Hilarious.

Visionary Underground - a breakbeat DJ collective and Eddie’s recommended music-download site of the day. (Click on audio)

Image taken from this Chinese Pop Posters collection.

Squidfingers.com has some fabulous wallpaper patterns.

Haunted paper toys

Gadgets Wanted!

Wacom’s Cintiq tablet. We first saw this about 3 years ago at an animation studio in Brooklyn NY, and the $4000 price tag had us abandoning the idea completely. Until now – I think the price has dropped, and…

Mark Zoeller, whom we met recently  (who is a new storyboard artist on ML) draws his storyboards directly ON a Cintiq. His boards are done using Toonboom Studio (Why not Flash? – Because the drawing process feels more spontaneous with Toonboom and there’s a virtual “animation disc” you can swivel, according to Mark). I noticed there is NO PAPER AT ALL on his desk with the exception of reference modelsheets.

One can imagine the possibilities. And I think this is where a Cintiq comes in really handy. Storyboarding directly into Toonboom/Flash not only means saving paper, it means you have an instant animatic. Easy to pace and time the whole show.

Drawing directly on a Cintiq using the pressure-sensitive pen seems to feel very natural to traditional animators. In fact, the Cintiq 18sx can even rotate 180 degrees in either direction just like an animator’s table. Using a Cintiq is a fast and intuitive way to work with professional 2D animation software such as ToonBoom Studio, USAnimation and Flash.

Animation sequences sketched out in Toonboom can then be imported as swfs into Flash and ‘cleaned-up’ using predesigned library assets/symbols.  BGs can be done using a combination of Flash and Expression (vector illustration program). And then bring everything back into Toonboom for final compositing, effects and camera moves … No paper used at all. Just a notebook computer and a Cintiq.

But I am really thinking of independent animators, especially the nomadic type who don’t want to lug around lots of hardware and keep track of paperwork. At the end of the day, a big studio production needs storyboards and artwork delivered on paper for approvals and revisions. PLUS nothing beats drawing with pencil and paper and flippin’ that paper…

Anyway, I still want a Cintiq!

TDK’s “I’mASpeaker” A symptom of jetlag is getting up at six in the morning and watching tacky breakfast/infomercial-type shows and awful cartoons. This cool item caught my eye the other morning on Channel 7′s Sunrise program. It’s a CD carry-case that doubles as audio speakers if you attach it to your CD-walkman. It looks like an ordinary CD case with soft black covering and it costs a mere FIFTY BUCKS. Now tell me this isn’t a cool. I wonder what the sound quality is like.

CD duplicator. Spotted in Skymall magazine on the way to Vegas. It looks so easy to use. I can see this would be PERFECT for AOTM trading anywhere anytime.

Cool link: www.base58.com

Downloadable mp3s with lotsa links to other sites with downloadable mp3s. (Click on Tunes). Eddie also recommends the Gabba site (Click on amp link)

The Eurovision 2003 Song Contest was on TV last night and we were mesmerized against our will to sit through the whole damn thing. This is what jetlag does to you. Two words about Eurovision: Very WHITE and very UNFUNKY.

Eddie’s choice was Austria: “Just because it was so bad it was actually funny. And it was very anti-Eurovision because it wasn’t a slick, choreographed act.  Don’t ask me to remember the tune, though”.

There was also no doubt that the voting was rigged. So Greece gives full points for Cyprus; Slovenia for Russia, Norway for Finland, France for Belgium, and Britain for Ireland…

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Back at Work

Good to see the guys again!
Eddie, Jonathan Snow, Gavin Christensen, Michael Dunn

Started back at work today on Cosmic Baby and Mucha Lucha designs. For the first time in a long time, I looked forward to the Sussex Street foodcourt for lunch. Ah… and it’s great to be back on this computer…

It has been raining non-stop in Sydney and the rain will continue throughout the week. (And we will be wearing giant plastic ponchos on the scooter) What a shock to the system after sunny California.

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Link: The SARS mask phenomenon (picture gallery)

The Sydney Film Festival program is here. We’re all going to see The Sweatbox. We’ve been told – a warts ‘n all documentary on the making of Disney’s Emperors New Groove. 13th June, 5.30pm Dendy Opera Quays.

In 1997, Sting was asked by the Walt Disney Company to write the music for a new animated feature called Kingdom of the Sun; to be directed by Roger Allers, on the heels of his huge hit, The Lion King. Sting agreed, on the condition that his wife, Trudie Styler, could document the Disney mode of production. With unprecedented access to the notoriously sheltered animation studio, this film follows the making of Kingdom of the Sun – eventually released as The Emperor’s New Groove – recounting the gruelling five-year schedule that consumed two directors, three titles, six songs, millions of animation cels and countless egos.  

AWN Magazine has a review.

¡Mucha Lucha! Issue #2

The second issue is due out May 28th 2003 – this week! (DC COMICS: May 2003) For pics of the first issue, check out ‘archived posts’ at the bottom of this page.

Note: all times are now Sydney time

Back in Sydney!

We arrived at 6am; dumped our piles of luggage at home and here we are (8am) checking our email at the studio as the sun rises on a very peaceful, quiet Saturday morning.

Before we left L.A. we had lunch with the in-house Mucha Lucha crew, said our goodbyes and promised to be back. What with an extended 2nd season of 26 episodes this year (followed by another 13, and a Direct-to-video movie), there is much WORK to be done and we want to be part of the action!

group pic taken in the WB Animation Lobby

Mucha Lucha CREW from L to R (standing): Pam Palma/Flash artist, Katrien Verbiest/BG design, Annette Huckell/Flash librarian, Michael Diaz/Creative Exec, Roman Laney/BG design, Ron Brewer/Storyboard Supervisor, Ricky Garduno/Storyboard artist, Tim Yoon/Prod. Manager, Dominic Bianchi/Prod. Coordinator (almost hidden), Greg Colton/Storyboard artist, Ken Kessel/Creative Producer, Garth House/Prod. Coordinator, Ira Sherak/Storyboard artist (half seated), Eric Waldman/Prod. Coordinator

From L to R (seated): Peter Hastings/Story editor (with glass vase), me, Joel Kuwahara/Line Producer (on the ground), Eddie, Tony Mora/Flash artist.

After yesterday’s voice recording, Carlos showed us a pilot of Comedy Central’s forthcoming “Reno 911!” series (a cop show parody in which he stars as Officer Garcia). It’s HILARIOUS. Really!

L.A. is really the global hub of TV animation. Sure, there is a lot happening in Australia, Europe etc. But we have met SO MANY talented people here. There are so many animation studios, and so many properties in development… plenty of inspiration to keep creating and pitching new stuff while we work on ML with WB Animation; and Cosmic Baby with Cartoon Network Asia-Pacific.

In terms of Lucha Libre/Masked Wrestling culture, L.A. is also calling to us. There are matches every alternate week somewhere in SoCal. There’s Lucha Va Voom next month (which we’ll sadly miss again). There is Revolution Pro and TJ 3 hours away…

 

We leave L.A. this Thursday night; we have to check out of this apartment on Wednesday. There are several meetings, dinners and last minute shopping trips (Japantown bookstores and Cartoon Color Company, for instance) to cram into the next 3 days…

So only some very light blogging for the next few days. And possibly none until we’re back in Sydney on Saturday.

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tiger Harley on the LV strip

We went to Las Vegas on the weekend with some people from WB Animation, and it was fun. Yes, we gambled. We drank. We ate. We walked and walked until our legs could walk no more. We saw tigers and lions, showgirls, a water-show, a fake volcano… and marvelled at the supreme tackiness and decadence of the famous themed hotel-casinos… Las Vegas is an adult’s Disneyland, really. Some fabulous photos of Vegas at this website

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This evening we had the pleasure of having dinner with James Bazan, a filmmaker-photographer (from Seattle, now based in L.A.) who is currently researching and developing a documentary on “POWER AND GRACE: Mexican Wrestling In America”.

… a feature-length documentary on the rise of one of the most popular underground sports in the world today, Mexican Wrestling, or Lucha Libre, into the American mainstream. Mexican Wrestling is seeping into every facet of American pop culture and this documentary will explore the roots, traditions and future of a sport that most of America knows almost nothing about. - James Bazan

And everyone SHOULD KNOW about it! Which is why we developed Mucha Lucha. Which is why we spent the last few years immersing ourselves in this cultural phenomenon/sport in Sydney-Mexico-Los Angeles. James is doing the same thing and we really wish him well with his project and hope it takes off bigtime. The timing is so perfect right now for a documentary like this one that promotes lucha libre and the luchador profession with passion and depth. (And Chavo Guerrerro is involved!)

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Buenas Noches. It’s midnight but have to do lots and lots of PACKING…

E3 Day – WB Interactive Party

The E3 Expo has been happening these last two days and it’s the biggest electronics/gaming convention that EVERYONE in the industry has been going to. It’s a mega-geek event and even though Eddie and I don’t really play video games, we received guest passes via WB Animation and went along for a whirlwind tour of this massive event, led by Eric from WB Interactive.

A few things we learnt along the way:

• I think there is a game for every single TV/Feature property that has ever existed in the past couple of years. If there isn’t a game, then there’s a high change it is currently being developed. 
• WB Interactive and Ubi Soft are working on a ¡Mucha Lucha! GAMEBOY. Tentaive release date: November 2003!
• There is also talk of a Playstation 2 ML game in development …

The thing about E3 is that every gaming or animation-related company is partying BIG this week. Sony, Nintendo, Playstation, Disney etc. are hosting million-dollar parties for all employees and important clients.

We (and all WB Animation executives) were invited to the Cartoon Network-Adult Swim cocktail party, where we were introduced to … would you believe it… Australia’s George Miller! (Mad Max, Babe)

George Miller and 2 slightly-flushed animators
(Also, behind us which you can barely see – is a Edward-Munch-”Scream”-style painting of Shaggy and Scooby)

Wow. So we have both walked past his Sydney office a million times and here we are meeting him in person, half way round the world. George chatted to us about how we got into animation, what it was like working with WB, … He is going to check out ¡Mucha Lucha! on Cartoon Network back in Sydney; and is apparently currently producing a ‘CGI penguins’ feature movie with Sydney’s Animal Logic. (Kill us now, Don Ezard!)

Above: Cool Samurai Jack painting behind the cocktail bar

An hour and a half later, it was time for The Matrix Reloaded screening. We walked down Figueroa street with Michael D. and Anna to the Laemmle Grand. By now, you must have read reviews all over the internet. Basically, the movie sucked. (and that was the consensus opinion amongst most people we spoke to). Lots of stunning visual effects and intense action sequences don’t make up for the incomprehensible storyline and way too much meaningless exposition. 

Eddie: Seeing The Matrix Reloaded makes me think I was way too hard on X-2.  I don’t think I’ve ever disliked a movie this much.

The WB Interactive party at Cafe Pinot downtown was a riot. Food, martinis and lots of drunk merry WB people. We were dancing until 1am.

With Jessica and John from Kids WB Network

And then, walking back to the LA Convention Centre, we realized we had no idea where the car was. There we were walking through the dark empty streets of Downtown L.A. (where everyone keeps warning us NEVER to go at night) searching frantically for the parking lot …  We finally made it back home at 2.30am.

This weekend is another biggie. Off to Las Vegas tomorrow morning. From Christopher’s “Guide to Las Vegas” (bedtime reading tonight):

What you have to accept from the get-go is that everything here is extreme and excessive. And it’s all about decadence. Once you simply ACCEPT this, you’ll enjoy all the tackiness, jackpots, broken dreams and gluttony like an old pro…

You’ll notive that there are no windows or clocks in most of the casinos; there is no difference between day and night. All indulgence, all the time. That’s the motto. There is smoking and drinking and gambling everywhere and anywhere (including church!) and no one ever says “Enough!”

And so we’re going to come up with a ML story set in Vegas, huh?

* No blogging until next week