Stuff that happened this week:

• WBA presented a “Economics of Animation” seminar for all producers — with a rundown of how the  kids’ animation business works. Andy shared WBA’s production expense and revenue pie charts, including  tips on how to read the numbers on a TV ratings chart. Very interesting and valuable information.
• We found out that Chris Aguirre, an Art Director who works at WBA,  is a close friend of Blue Demon!!! (and he’s never seen him without his mask!) Wouldn’t it be cool if we could have Blue Demon on an episode of ML?
• We’ve been doing ML press interviews for various magazines.
• We’ve heard that the Mucha Lucha toys are now out there in Toys R Us stores. This weekend – we’ll have to go look for our nearest store…

• There’s a wacky commercial/promo on Cartoon Network people have told us about which we’re still trying to catch. In the promo, a real live kid and dog are dressed up as Rikochet and Masked Dog. We’d known about this promo for a while now because Liz had been making the costumes… but we still haven’t seen it!!! Curiosity is driving us crazy… (ML premieres on Cartoon Network next weekend )

• Last but not least, Fwak! has a new kids’ project in development with WB Animation - we had our first official brainstorm meeting today. This is going to be lots of fun. Our lips are sealed…

Cartoon Network’s new shows for 2004 (This year’s acquisitions include ML) And here is Kid WB’s 2004-2005 schedule.

Withoutabox.com has recently become a free service. You can register an account on their website, enter projects and create online presskits for each project, and submit to film festivals.

Ishkur’s Guide to Electronic Music explains, by means of text and audio samples, the difference between different genres of electronic music.

I’ve compiled a list of Lucha Libre links – see right side of page. It’s really a list bookmarked sites which we often revisit or send to people when they want to know more about lucha.

According to the weather report we have RAIN almost all this week. It is raining now, and will be raining tomorrow and the next day, which is very un Southern California-like. So at nights, we’re staying indoors, watching TV… currently digging VH1′s 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders series.

¡Mucha Lucha! premieres on Cartoon Network USA very soon. Check out the brand spanking new website. 

Cool photos taken at Lucha VaVoom at The Mayan Theatre.

And below is a flyer we picked up at the Blue Demon store on Melrose. Could be fun to watch!

Eddie has a habit of sticking post-it notes on my monitor. Apparently this one reflects my mood today:

*The video clips we’ve linked to are very low-res .mov files (the best I could do with my little camera, sorry!) - Each one is 30 secs and 3MB in size. Right-click to save to your computer.

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Lucha Libre in Compton
- Lili

First up, a bit about Compton. We’ve had everyone warn us about Compton. They say it’s not the place you want to go to especially at night – it’s shady, unsafe… kinda like South Central or Sydney’s equivalent – the infamous Redfern (where the riots broke out recently between police and aboriginal community). They say that Compton is the sort of neighborhood where you have a high chance of getting mugged, having your car stolen, seeing flaming trashcans on the streets and people shooting at each other.

Before we left the studio, Gabe and Tony were joking that we were going to die. Gabe: “If you die, can I have your squishy Rikochet doll?”

Then there was the $30 fee (very expensive for a lucha match in L.A., even more than Lucha Va Voom) and the 405 Freeway on a Friday evening (imagine moving at 5 mph for 45 minutes)….

For the love of Lucha Libre, we decided to take no notice of all the spooky stories and brave it out to Compton at 7.30pm. Hey we’re from the mean streets of Sydney after all, dammit!

An hour later we arrived on South Atlantic Blvd – a quiet dark street where nothing seemed to be happening.

Salon El Rey turned out to be an inconspicuous slightly decrepit (and small!)building with no lights, no banners. Save a small hand painted cardboard sign – LUCHA LIBRE… out on the front wall which you could all too easily miss. The parking lot next to the building was packed with cars. We drove around and around for about 10 minutes wondering if it was safe to park on the street 2 blocks away… What the hell, we thought. Everything seems so still and quiet… what could possible go wrong.

When we stepped inside the Salon El Rey building (via the inconspicuous back entrance) the heat and noise hit us immediately.The place was totally PACKED. There must have been at least 600 people in that small room (about the size of a small gym)- 99% Latino families – old and young cheering, shouting, moving around; all focused on the luchadores in the center of the room. We were late and had walked in mid-match … Unfortunately there were no seats left so they gave us a discount on the ticket and we stood.

Video Clip:  Audience inside the Salon El Rey. There were babies too! And kids holding up drawings/signs supporting their favorite wrestlers.

Not having a seat was really a blessing because it meant we were free to move around to get ourselves a good view. In fact, most people were standing and moving around. It was pretty awesome to be amongst such an enthusiastic crowd of people. Even in the restroom, everyone chatted to each other. The girl behind me in the queue was here because her grandfather made the masks and costumes for some of the luchadores…. how cool is that.

Later on we saw Liz (promoter of Lucha Va Voom who was helping FMLL out on this show) who took us upstairs where we got a great view of the entire ring and crowd.

The amazing thing about this Salon El Rey event was the absence of separators/barricades between the audience and the ring. People mauled the luchadores on their way to the ring. At the end of each match, or in the intervals between the caidas, kids jumped into the ring and surrounded the luchadores to get their autographs. When the wrestlers stepped off the ring, big kids and small kids would start hanging out on the ropes and playing around inside the ring as if it were their own living room.Likewise, in this rowdy intimate setting, the wrestlers were constantly interacting with the crowd and taking their feuding all over the room. The crowds loved this of course. Everyone was moving with the action…

A cool moment (well, it was kinda scary too) was when Rey Misterio Sr. (rudo/bad guy) and El Santo had made their way up the stairs to where some of the audience was sitting and then took turns trying to throw each other over the railing. There – was Santo dangling over the edge… and Rey Misterio holding onto his leg, threatening to drop him. Packed in close around them, the crowds are screaming and trying to get in on the action.

It really was an awesome lucha libre experience. The fact that there was so much mayhem and rowdiness and NO security made the whole event felt really “raw” and “underground”. The wrestlers fought with passion. The rudos were really badass. (Like when Nicho/Psicosis dumped an empty trashcan over Santo’s head!!!)From the outside of Salon El Rey, who would’ve guessed what was going on inside.

Upstairs on the narrow corridor, there was a flap of tarpaulin between the luchadores’ “locker room” and where we were standing.At one point, El Santo and Blue Demon burst out from behind the flap and started fighting on the spot.I was literally less than 3 feet away from them.

Obviously Eddie and I had a great time. Of all the lucha matches we’ve been to (Mexico City, Tijuana, Frank n Sons, Mayan Theatre) we’ve never experienced anything as grungy, lively, interactive and raw as this… We’ve never been THIS close to the action and it was definitely an experience we recommend to anyone who’s into lucha libre.

Yes, even if it’s Compton.

When we left the arena at midnight, we felt that our money was more than well spent. Our car was still there – safely parked where we left it. We got home safe and sound. No muggings, no flaming trashcans

Who wants to come with us next time?

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P.S. These luchadores will also be wrestling at San Jose on Sunday 22nd Feb.

Check out these animal costumes! (…part of the dressing-up phenomenon otherwise known as Kigurumi or Cosplay) Some of these outfits & poses are pretty funny, like the ‘Sumo Wrestler’ and ‘Ape’ below… (linked from mr. pants)

Jetset records is cool. I’ve enjoyed listening to samples (.ram format) from most of their listed albums/LPs.Will have to order CDs from here very soon!

Animated music videos - thread at the Shane Glines discussion boards.

Searching for the Soul of a Wrestling Subculture - a Canadian magazine article

Two Upcoming Events:

• FMLL Lucha Libre event this Friday night! This is going to be awesome. With El Santo & Blue Demon versus Psicosis & Rey Misterio. We are going to try very hard to make this… 
• Polysics @ the Knitting Factory March 9th.

Two days in Las Vegas

We didn’t end up going to the Grand Canyon. After a whole day of walking (6 miles!) from one end of Las Vegas Blvd to the other and back again, we were pretty exhausted. The prospect of waking up bright and early the next morning to drive for 5 hours out to Arizona and back was perhaps too ambitious…

… from our room window at the Tropicana. Below was the pool area of our hotel.
Further out, we can see Excalibur (medieval-themed hotel-casino)

So we hung out in Las Vegas (this being our second time), and checked out sights we’d missed last time, which included several hotel-casinos and Downtown Las Vegas -THE place to see old-skool hotel/motel signage and more dancing neon than you could ever imagine.

We didn’t do much gambling… you could say our indulgences were entirely gastronomic. On Sunday we had lunch at Ah Sin (bad pun, yes) – an Asian restaurant at Paris. The desserts were to die for.

At Ah Sin:  banana coconut pie (above);
and vanilla sago which came with deep fried (warm!) lychees…

On Sunday night, we took Sander’s recommendation and checked out Red Square, a Soviet-themed restaurant-bar at Mandalay Bay, with a giant headless statue of Lenin and about a hundred different kinds of vodka-based specialty martinis with names like “Sputnik One” and ”Cuban Missile Crisis”. Our table was in a private room with red walls, gold mirrors and dark red velvet drapes. A rather expensive and decadent experience, but entirely worth it for a Valentines’ Day celebration.  In fact, the place felt more Tsarist than Communist…

The bar at Red Square is made of ice.

The thing that grabs you about Las Vegas is the trully awful trashy (mainly’80s )music that tends to follow you wherever you go. It’s everywhere - in the claustrophobic casinos or out on the street blasting out from speakers rigged up in the trees… And what’s worse, the stuff is on a loop.

A-Ha, The Knack, and possibly the worst piece of music ever written – ‘The Pina Colada Song’!

We did stumble across a great Auto Collections Exhibit at The Imperial Palace, which enabled us to undertake some valuable reference for our ‘Endsville’ project… In fact, we were seeing lots of valuable BG reference somewhere between Barstow and Yermo on Hwy 15…

Hey, did someone say ‘Tax Write-Off’????

Happy Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day! One thing we’ve noticed about being in America is that people celebrate their ”special occasions” very seriously here. Like Halloween, Valentine’s Day is a big deal for Americans. It seems almost obligatory to DO SOMETHING on Valentine’s Day regardless of whether you are having a new fling or have been contentedly-married for over ten years.

Which makes us feel like we should be doing something special together…

Back in Australia, V-Day is recognized, but is more of a low-key, novelty event. It’s meant to be fun, not something you sweat over. In contrast, we are seeing love-heart decorations and advertising in every LA store and restaurant. One is bombarded with display piles of pink romance-themed candy as soon as you walk into any supermarket. Stalls/tents with roses for sale have sprouted up on street corners and in gas stations. 

And couples have to act fast this time of year. All the good restaurants are booked out on Valentine’s Night. Forget going out to dinner with a bunch of friends or waiting till the last minute….

So what are we doing on  Day? We’re going to escape. On Sunday (when the hotel room rates drop back down, and the hype is over) Eddie is driving us out to Las Vegas. We are going to hang out for a night … then on Monday (‘President’s Day’) we are visiting the Grand Canyon for the very first time. Back to LA on Tuesday.

Nevada, Arizona… in two days. This will be very interesting…

(Left) My Valentine’s Day present to Eddie is a  Hecho en Mexico tortoise with cute wobbly head.

Gene Deitch screening

Another great Animation screening in Hollywood.  Tonight at The Egyptian Theatre, we had the great pleasure of attending the tribute to Gene Deitch, one Of Animation’s true innovators.

Amongst the films shown, were Cinemascope versions of his Terrytoons work; ‘John Doormat’, the inspired (and incredibly neurotic!) ‘Flebus’, ‘Clint Clobber’and ‘Gaston Le Crayon’.  Clearly, the influence of UPA is evident here in the stylised art direction.  What made these a real joy, was seeing the (instantly recognisable) work of old-guard Terrytoons Animator, Jim Tyer, whose scenes leap out and take over the cartoon.  The only disappointment, was the absence of Gene’s ‘Sidney The Elephant’ cartoons.

After screening twelve of Mr. Deitch’s works, organiser Jerry Beck introduced the man himself, who took part in a Q&A session with the audience.

At over eighty years of age, Gene Deitch is still involved in the production of animation.  He left us with a great insight; back in the days of UPA and the dawning of TV cartoons, Animation was about being as cartoony and abstract as possible.  The trend these days is for Animation to be more and more ‘real’ and lifelike. 

It’s a nice reminder of something that we all sometimes forget.  Here’s to the cartoons that are not afraid to remind us that they are, after all, just drawings… – Eddie

Photo Album update:  We have added more photos to our LA pics album. The newly uploaded batch starts at Randys Donuts. (then, click on the ‘Next’ link to see the rest…) There is also a new album with photos from  Keith’s Birthday Party 

Tokyo Qool: Nakano Broadway - Article with links to stores which we look forward to visiting… one day…

Los TeenAgers! - download the whole album (link from via J-Walk Blog)

Samurai Champloo is a new TV series by Cowboy Bebop director. 

Russel Crowe as Moe Howard? Oscar winner he may be, but he ain’t no comedian…

Chaos Generation weblog - Kirsten Lowe interviews Fwak. This zine is soon making a debut in print.

And don’t forget Lucha Va Voom this Thursday night at the Mayan Theatre! Featuring the magnificent Space Cadets, Los Gallineros (chicken wrestlers), Minis(midget wrestlers) and burlesque gals. If you haven’t been to a Lucha Va Voom, GO! There are still general admission tix available ($25) at Wacko or online. 

It has been a long month, but at last, the Mini Cooper is fixed! We can return the rental car tomorrow and take pleasure in planning our next road trip. Seeing that it’s Valentine’s Weekend and President’s Day (public holiday on Monday), most people would be out of town… We’re stil trying to figure out where to go and how much we can fit into three days.

We need a Lucha Libre Publication! - Eddie

With Lucha Libre as an aesthetic becoming more visible than ever, there seems to be a conspicuous lack of real, straight-from-the-source, English-language Lucha Libre reporting.

Sure there are Mexican Lucha mags such as Box Y Lucha available – and these are a great source of info whether you can read Spanish or not – but it seems we’re missing a lucha magazine that bridges the gulf between sport and popular culture; between the CMLL/AAA federations in Mexico and Lucha Va Voom. We are missing a magazine that speaks clearly to both diehard fans and newcomers.

For a long time now, there has been a magazine out there that achieves this – the legendary From Parts Unknown. FPU is the perfect mix of Masked Wrestling Pop Culture and Lucha news. It hasn’t set itself up as reporter of results and events, it manages to get the right blend of Santo movies and the sweaty happenings between the ropes down south.

With there being such a long time between FPU issues, there is a real need for a lucha publication to step up and fill that gap… 

Lucha Libre means different things to different people.To some it’s the schlocky, Lucha-as-freakshow-entertainment spectacle that is Lucha Va Voom.To others it’s the authentic Mexican experience, where matches are three falls, with passion and intensity coming from audiences made up of old and young. On top of this, there’s Revolution Pro, AWS, FMLL and other hybrid independent promotions in SoCal, where unknown masked wrestlers give their 200%.

And then there’s Rey Mysterio and WWE…

    

Images: Rey Misterio video cover/WWE;
Masacarita Sagrada & nurse ©Bob Debris/Lucha Va Voom; 
ring action © Rosalio Vera/CMLL website

As a devotee – as a fan of Lucha Libre, I would love to see a publication that can encompass all these things, and do equal justice to each.

Lucha Libre should never forget its roots – and its roots are still on display, Friday night in Tijuana, or at Arena Coliseo or Arena Mexico.

The world needs a publication that can help achieve this; whether it’s an actual book, the continuation of FPU – whatever. Just something so that when a ‘Time’ magazine or ‘The Face’ references Lucha Libre, there is something else out there that can help give the full story…

Lili: We were at Keith’s birthday last night. Lots of fun -  food, great company, Christa dressed as a furry ’Abe Lincoln’, and masked piñata bashing. This morning Eddie and I started talking about From Parts Unknown magazine (which Keith publishes) and the huge part it has played in our lives/career. Hence this post…

There used to be a comic bookstore on George St (Sydney) called The Land Beyond Beyond (now closed down), which was where I first happened upon Issue 3 of FPU magazine.

It was 1998 or 1999 - I can’t keep track of time anymore - and I had bought this issue of FPU as a surprise Valentine’s Day present for Eddie (along with a Bill Wray comic book). That was our very first Valentine’s Day together.

When he opened up the brown paper package, his eyes lit up. The rest of the week, Eddie was jumping up and down like an excited kid, showing off this rare gem to everyone around him. (Masked Wrestling Pop Culture, huh?) A new world opened up from that moment on.We started digging around for more info about lucha libre, searching for more FPU issues, ordering lucha videos from the USA (online) and designing masked wrestlers for a kids’ cartoon idea… The rest is history.

So back to FPU – we are ever so grateful for this great publication. Lucha Libre is obviously really hot right now and I agree with Eddie that the world needs the sort of information that FPU excels at dishing out.

I think it’s important to keep a perspective on the bigger picture - distinguishing between the Mexican sporting tradition and what “lucha” signifies in American popular culture.  

So, Keith…Thank you for FPU and (nudge nudge) we look forward to the coffee-table From Parts Unknown compendium!

This week:

Here at WBA, we’ve just had a crew screening of one of the funniest ML episodes this second season!

The episode is called “Churro Overload” where The Flea gets obsessed with churros. The character acting is hilarious with awsome storyboards by Greg Colton and animation by Bardel. We’re adding this one to our list of favourites! Unfortunately we don’t have the exact date that it will air on Kids WB, so stay tuned… *update: It COULD be on this Saturday morning 10.30am LA time…

Other Mucha Lucha-related news: At last we have a new story editor -  Welcome aboard Tom Sheppard!  Eddie has received an email from Tazz of WWE Smackdown! It’s nice to get positive feedback from people in the wrestling business. And on the subject of lucha, Happy Birthday to FPU publisher – Keith Rainville! Will post photos after tonight’s party. Hopefully Mr. Unknown will be there, too .

We were at the Gary Baseman show opening last night. (Memo to self: Go see Teachers Pet.) One great thing about being in L.A. is being able to put human faces to names we keep hearing or reading about. For instance, Robert Williams was there.We’ll be going to that  screening of Gene Deitch shorts on Tuesday night.  Mr Deitch himself will be there.

Recent discoveries: A Mexican website selling El Santo/Blue Demon comic books; and this SHINDIG! record (bought only for the cover) from last weekend’s Pasadena City College Flea Market.

We can’t read the small writing (signature) at the bottom of the cover. Bob someone?