Friday, May 29, 2009

I just got off the Norwegian Spirit a few hours ago.

She took me and my family to Bermuda and back, in case you were wondering where I was this past week. Right now, I'm just reading the thirty-something emails in my inbox.
Now, I already have the Chronological Animated Disney Canon set to be posted (kind of a dumb move on my part, I'll admit), but that's going to give me time to decompress after this adventure and get all the photos and drawings ready to share. I'll probably end up writing about the cruise somewhere in the middle of the Disney movies.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Happy Towel Day!

As you're reading this, I am having an excellent excuse to carry my towel around, which I will explain later. It's also why there won't be any other updates this week.

In the meantime, enjoy this fun essay about Tex Avery. And for those wondering what the true meaning of Towel Day is: Ye Olde Wikipedia.

Friday, May 22, 2009

AnimeBoston is this weekend!

More information at their website.

Alternatively, if you're the kind of reader who misses the Feederwatch Friday posts, and you can get WAAAAAAY up to Lubec, Maine, you may enjoy the big Downeast Birding Festival. It also runs throughout Memorial Day weekend.

Of course, if you enjoy birds and animation (if you're me, in other words), you'll want to try and attend both events. Unfortunately, I will not be able to go, but there is an excellent reason for this...

5.19.09 - "Arnolds At Sea" Fish Guy

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

My Little Pwny Part Deux: I Caught 'Em All :p

Part Une. (I failed French. Long, traumatic story.)

4.2.09 - Heart Throb's arrival

So when I last discussed my quest for a complete set of So-Soft Pegasus My Little Ponies (this is the cue for our male readers to turn back), I had succeeded in collecting seven of the ten. Here's number eight, Heart Throb, chilling by the sink after her arrival and subsequent bath.
Toys have a tendancy to arrive from Ebay in varying states of cleanliness, so it's nice to make yourself a kit. I usually just have to use antibacterial soap, shampoo, and conditioner for Ponies. Occasionally, a Pony will have some grime on her that is much more tenaceous, and that's where the toothbrush and whitening toothpaste are used for, if you were wondering what they were doing up there.

4.29.09 - The Usual Pegasuspects

Weeks later and with embarrassing pride, I got to take this photo (click for huge). In a matter of weeks I had finished my collection. And now I'm selling stuff to make room for them.
Let us pause and remember those who are currently going insane trying to get a complete collection of Twinkle-Eyed Unicorns...

Monday, May 18, 2009

"The Mind's Eye"

Thought I'd post something to make up for several recent posts which, taken together, could easily be misinterpreted as "Trish doesn't like CGI?!"
I seem to remember that there were several "Minds Eye" video compilations of early CGI shorts when I was a kid. There was no overarching story, just a thin excuse for CGI animators to experiment and have fun. The results were often very trippy and strangely beautiful. This short is one of my favorites and I was very pleased to finally find it again. Last time I saw it was at a defunct Museum of Science exhibit on special effects:




I also seem to remember that this same exhibit featured an animated music video for an old-school rap song with the chorus, "You know what time it is? You know what time it is, you know what time it is!" YouTube has failed me... sort of. You can hear the song beginning at around the three minute, ten second mark in this highly annoying and bizarre video clip. I'm usually the person who gets to say, "oh, the name of that barely-remembered movie/book/whatever was 'XYZ'", so it's frustrating when I can't remember something. It's times like these I wish the Ask the AV Club feature over at The Onion was still around. Where the heck did it go?

Friday, May 15, 2009

The Maine Comic Arts festival is this weekend

Official website.

This is rather different from the usual comic book convention. There won't be any dealers to browse or publishers to throw your postcards at. It's more of an opportunity to meet professional comic artists and illustrators, local and otherwise, and listen to them discuss the field. If you're in the Portland area, you should go. I probably will be in the Portland area this weekend and... I don't know if I can squeeze it in... (Trust me, this will make more sense later.)

I also have more Pokemon to show you:

5.7.09 - Let me Continue to Show You My Pokemon

Not only do I have to figure out how to draw Rotom in this "realistic" style, I've also added a Gardevoir to my team (very nice if you hate Zubats and Tentacools.)
So... What do you think happened at the end of "Lost"?

Addendum: Regarding the question about Rotom's super-awesome alternate forms below.
You need an item called the Secret Key. Nintendo was nice enough to give this over their wireless service (meaning you didn't have to search in vain for a nearby Toys R Us) using the Mystery Gift option. Unfortunately, it was only available for a limited time. More information can be read about it here. There's still some hope; Nintendo ran the event twice, during different times of the year, after "Platinum" was released in Japan. Perhaps they'll give the North American traders another chance too?

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Yahoo to shut down Geocities "Later this year".

I got a nice email after asking exactly what "later this year" means when I got the news yesterday. "Later this year" means sometime in December. Probably.

If you've been paying attention to the Internet like I have for the past ten years or so, you know that this is going to be huge. Most of the Geocities sites that are still around are the first websites their respective owners made fresh out of high school or college and -in general- forgot about. A good quarter of the most useful websites I know as far as looking up the names of things I'm selling on Ebay and such are going to vanish completely simply because their owners stopped paying attention to them.

Unless you're me and you keep updating your cheap-as-free Geocities site. Then you got the news and a serious pain in the butt to contemplate. LaGremlin's site is... yeah. Given that I haven't updated it in more than a year, I think the wiser thing to do would be to simply move its worthwhile features here. So you'll get to read the Disney Animated Canon here over the summer.

On the other hand, I believe Nessie's site is worth saving (maybe not in its entirety, but I don't want to let it just die either). I like writing those reviews and I think it may be time for the Realm to be a Real Website. I just need to find an inexpensive host. Now I have a project for the summer. Yay.

In case you're wondering, yes, Ive got two very different online personas for two Very Different online communities. It made sense when I joined them ten years ago.

Enjoy the crazy Internet wilderness of sites like Quacker County while you still can!

"Lost" season finale tonight! (I love, love, love their fifth prediction.)

Monday, May 11, 2009

Quick thoughts on the rumor that the "Roger Rabbit" sequel may, after twenty gorram years, finally be happening.

The extremely vague news, in case you missed it (Mtv, sadly, as I couldn't find a better announcement.) My quick thoughts are:

1) WANT.

2) But it will be a complete and utter waste of everyone's time unless Richard Williams is involved.
At the very least, the very very least, hand-drawn animation. Please. That is all.
Seriously, I'm going to come right on out and flirt with controversy here: "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" is the greatest live action/animated film ever made. EVER. It blew my mind in a way "Mary Poppins" never did and it completely obliterated my preconceptions of what animation could do and what animation could be. Repeating what I'd posted earlier: we're living in a time when we're bored with neat, clean, photorealistic "whatever you want boom it's onscreen!" CGI. Now, as I said before, I like CGI. But I liked it one hell of a lot better when it used to be something really special. (Of course, that's probably because even something simple took a s**tload of time to do back in the day.)
"Roger Rabbit" has not only held up but still kicks the ass of any modern "effects movie" (how I hate that term) you throw at it.
And it's one of the movies that made me want to be an animator.
I could go on and on but, really, hand-drawn animation. K Thnx.

3) Of course, much like "Chinese Democracy" and the "Watchmen" film adaptation, I'll believe it when I see it.
On that note, a moment of silence for "Duke Nukem Forever".

In other news, I swapped in some different Pokemon...
5.2.09 - Let me show you my Pokemon again!

ADDENDUM: With regards to Mr. Austin's comment below. (I'd normally add a new comment of my own, but I need to provide some links.)
I apologize for not being a little more clear about all this. I was excited.
There have been rumors of a "Roger Rabbit" sequel since the first film was released, and a script for something called "The Toon Platoon" has been floating around the internet for years. More information can be read in this excellent Film Buff Online article. Film Buff also got a chance to review the "Toon Platoon" script.
Point is, this isn't your usual cash-in sequel, nor does it follow the more recent trend of, "LOL, let's recycle something from the 80s!" The "Roger Rabbit" follow-up has absolutely been the animation fan's "Chinese Democracy".
Actually, we really need a new analogy for this kind of situation. Because "Chinese Democracy"... um... yeah...

Friday, May 8, 2009

Let's Finish Reading _The New Dinosaurs_ Aready!

Part the First, Part the Second. Let's just jump right in.

"Let's Read _The New Dinosaurs_" - Springe

It's hard to believe now, but Dromeosaurs weren't well-known by the late-80's. We'd only found a few specimens and the true nature of these animals wasn't yet well understood. In the pre-"Jurassic Park" world, Dromeosaurs weren't very popular either.

With that in mind, the fact that Dougal Dixon has only two speculative members of the fast-running, prey-chasing clade make a little more sense. The fact that one of them, the Springe, is a passive ambush predator makes a hell of a lot less sense. He lies by the river, pretending to have drowned, and attacks any hungry carnivore who comes along to investigate. The prey is impaled on one of his large talons. Yeah, I can totally see that working enough times for it to be your one way of acquiring food. And I can also totally see a 'raptor having the patience to hunt for food this way. :/



(Illustration by John Butler.) Come to think of it, Maniraptors as a group get totally shafted in
The New Dinosaurs. Most notably, birds barely get any attention at all. Thus we have the Gimp, a small, flightless theropod who got to the "feed on as many flowers in the rainforest as you can before sunset" niche before anything flight-capable did.

Can you imagine running into this animal in real life? I don't know if I would want to run away from it as quickly as possible or toss a Pokeball at it.

"Let's Read _The New Dinosaurs_" - Turtosaur

When I came upon the imaginatively-named Turtosaur (she is a descendant of armored sauropods like Saltasaurus), I felt the original illustration made her look more like a machine than an actual eating, breathing, pooping animal. Hence, Steampunk-ish Sauropod.



(Illustration by Jeane Colville.) Just reiterating how damn stupid the Wyrms are as a concept and a creature design. How does that not look awkward?

"Let's Read _The New Dinosaurs_" - Flurrit

If Wembly Fraggle and Tim Curry's hang-glider/cape-wearing character from "The Worst Witch" had a love-child, it would look like the Flurrit. She is a small theropod with wings made of flaps of skin. Once again, flaps of skin. Not feathers, flaps of skin. I've got no problem with this creature, she's just a sad victim of science marching on.

Or not, since we were well-aware of Archaeopteryx. Huh.



(Illustration by Steve Holden.) Seriously? Seriously. This is a Cribrum and... yeah. Australia is pretty much where Dixon starts to run out of ideas. To wit, the Cribrum's neighbor, the Gwanna:



(Illustration by Philip Hood.) I have absolutely nothing at all to add to this.

"Let's Read _The New Dinosaurs_" - Dingum

This is the Dingum. He is a normally unassuming, if strange-looking, theropod with a flashy crest on his head, a frill thing that pops up on an unlikely part of his body, and he defends himself with venom. This creature design is actually pretty cool, but I can't help but wonder if a different creature design team ever read this book...

As we leave Dixon's Australia, we meet one last pair of creatures. And they would easily be a shoe-in for the most WTF animals in the book (if there were no Wyrms):

"Let's Read _The New Dinosaurs_" - Kloon

This is a Kloon. She's pretty stupid-looking, but at least she's kind of ugly-cute.



(Illustration by Amanda Barlow.) The same cannot be said for her relative, the Wandle, who is a victim of yet another phenomenally ugly creature design. These animals are all flightless pterosaurs. Would you believe the Lank is actually less anatomically unlikely than they are? (In that he is a quadruped. That's the only reason though.)

"Let's Read _The New Dinosaurs_" - Clairvoyance?

So that we don't end on a bad note, let me point out Dougal Dixon's clairvoyance.

I must also direct your attention to Dixon's website. And, of course, to good old Specworld. And to this recent Scientific American Article about The New Dinosaurs. And to this even more recent Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs post, which showcases unusual alternate art and names for some of Dixon's animals.

Phew! What should I read next?

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Let's Continue to Read _The New Dinosaurs!_

As in Part One, this post will be illustrated with crappy photographs of the illustrations from the book. But it will also include some of the watercolor drawings I made as I was reading (as usual, click for big). Some of the more bizarre animals were too strange not to parody. Once again, we're going in the order you meet them in the book.

Lank!

I am sure you remember the Lank. When I drew him all those months ago, I noted that he was the second most anatomically unlikely animal in the book - if I was remembering things right, as I hadn't read it in a while. Now that I have just read it, I can say with some confidence that the lank is the FOURTH most anatomically unlikely animal in the book.

"Let's Read _The New Dinosaurs_" - Wyrm

This guy right here is the most anatomically unlikely animal in the entire book. He's a Wyrm. He's an armless, tail-less, long-necked burrowing creature who for some reason has retained stumpy little baby legs. And he is descended from swift-running, long-legged, long-armed, long-tailed small theropods.

This thing only makes sense if there were no other more qualified long-bodied burrowing animals at all available in this world to fill the niche. (It'd still look awkward, but it would be slightly more believable.)

"Let's Read _The New Dinosaurs_" - Gestalt Queen

Next up is the Gestalt. It seems like every one of Dougal Dixon's speculative biology books has at least one vertebrate that has adopted a colony or hive-like lifestyle. Some, like the Gestalt, even go so far as to have one baby-making Queen (pictured) and dozens and dozens of workers. At least the Pachycephalosaur-descended Gestalt isn't as unappealing as the Hivers (ant-like humans) from the already very disturbing Man After Man.

Our next animal brings us to my unofficial Dougal Dixon Speculative Biology Book Drinking Game. Anytime you come upon the following adaptation in an animal, take a shot:

Honestly, this is particularly bad in The New Dinosaurs. Every other animal in the book is, like, 30-60% fat rolls.


(Illustration by Jeane Colville.) The above rolls of fat are from the Coneater, who is fairly typical in appearance for one of the "fatty fat fat" animals in the book. She's an ornithopod who wanders in vast herds through the coniferous forests eating pine cones, which is perfectly fine from a conceptual standpoint. But it's bizarre to see such a fat animal with such dainty lil' feet. Especially in the inset where she's reaching up to eat - while raising one leg and her tail in the air as if she wants to put as much weight on one foot as possible.


(Illustration by John Butler.) These are Crested Sprintosaurs. Plains-dwelling, stumpy-tailed, antelope-like hadrosaurs. And they win my No-Prize for possibly being the most unintentionally ugly creature design I have ever seen. I never liked the look of these creatures, even as a kid. It's the guy in the upper-left that really gets to me. The eyes. The mouth. The hair!

On top of that, they now remind me of somone else...

"Let's Read _The New Dinosaurs_" - Sprintosaurus

(Shudder...)

"Let's Read _The New Dinosaurs_" - Balaclava

This is getting to be a little longer than I expected. I'll stop arbitrarily at this fellow. He's a Balaclav, an ornithopod of the snowy mountains. And he is the third most anatomically unlikely animal in the book. He's got thick fur on his noticeably skinny legs and his tail - and no, I am not making that odd "forked" effect up. In the original illustration, he almost looks like a tripod. And, of course, he has rolls and rolls of fat protecting the rest of his body from the cold. This is another creature design that is downright ugly. Poor thing.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Let's read _The New Dinosaurs!_

As I promised I would way, way back in January.



Now, let me state right out: I'm not going to point and laugh at Critique Dixon's science. (I'll leave that to Richard Dawkins and others.) This book was published over twenty years ago. The creatures were very likely invented well before that. And science, as we all know, marches on. Just one example: Yeah, there was lots and lots of speculation. But honestly, if the number of jaws that dropped when Tianyulong's discovery was announced is any indication, nobody - NOBODY - could have seriously imagined a downy dinosaur who wasn't a theropod.

All of Dixon's speculative dinosaurs have a furry body covering. But the first weird thing I noticed was just that: they are covered in fur. Not feathers or down, fur. It looked weird then and it looks weird now, but I guess you can pretend it's all pycnofibers, down, dinofuzz, or whatever.

There are also a fair number of classification SNAFUs. It wasn't very long ago that all small theropods were classified as "Ceolurosaurs" and all the big ones were classified as "Carnosaurs". (In hindsight, this makes as much sense as putting Ocelots and Foxes in one category and Lions and Wolves in a different category.) It's going to be a little harder to ignore this but I'll try.

I'm approaching this book strictly from a creature design standpoint. Which animals still look plausible and which ones don't hold up? We'll start with the animals who are still pretty cool. As with each of these posts, the animals will be listed in the rough order you meet them in the book.

(NOTE: In case you are heading over to Amazon to read along with me, make sure you don't confuse The New Dinosaurs by Dougal Dixon with The New Dinosaurs by William Stout. Not that Stout's book isn't awesome in it's own right, but couldn't he find a better name for the reissue?)

(Illustration by Philip Hood.) The Bricket was my favorite animal in the book the first time I read it and she remains my favorite. I still draw hadrosaurs that look like her to this day. I also love those stripes on her tail. Bricket wins my "Most Plausible" award.

(Illustration by Philip Hood.) The Northclaw's biology is a little dubious. He looks like what happens when you write your book during a time when Baryonyx is stuck in with what we now classified as Maniraptors. Because they all have large talons. So they must be related. Yeah.

Anyway, asymmetry is always fun to see in creature design, and this badass is no exception. I'm not sure about the main weapon being attached to a long, skinny modified hand bone though.

(Illustration by Steve Holden.) The Cutlasstooth is even more badass. This guy was another favorite of mine when I first read this book and I ripped that facial structure design off many times in my algebra notebook.

Then I started wondering exactly how he's supposed to chew...

(Illustration by Denys Ovenden.) I'm ending this post with a Pterosaur. I can't tell you how many times I've drawn creatures with Harridan-style "false feathered" wings. I'm not sure how aerodynamic this would actually be, but it looks cool.

So we've covered the animals who still look cool. Next up, the animals who made me say, "WTF?"

There are, as we shall see, quite a few of them...

Happy "Star Wars" Day! Funny, I had to be reminded about this by the other blogs in my watch list, yet I have a post for Towel Day already written and ready to post. Huh.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Great Arceus! I almost forgot to mention that tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day!

So visit your local comic book store (I'm not sure if other bookstores are participating) and pick up a new book to read absolutely free. Some stores will also have other special events, so be sure to check their websites. The whole idea behind Free Comic Book Day is to promote literacy, encourage people to shop locally, and support artists and authors. But most importantly: it's about FREE COMIC BOOKS! Who doesn't like free stuff?

You don't like free stuff? You're weird.

I am near the beginning of "Pokemon Platinum". Because I am a dweeb.

Let me show you my team for the first boss battle in the game (Roark's Rock Gym). Click for big:

4.29.09 - Let me show you my Pokemon!
I've since swapped in some different creatures and I'm currently exploiting that poor chick with the Pink Nightmare to level grind in Eternia ("Where's He-Man? LOL!") Forest. I'll draw the new team once my Magikarp reaches Level 20 and ceases to fail at life.

This is old, and it took about five minutes to draw, but it's cute:

Fun in the Backyard! - Chapter the Fourteenth

You know, I'm tempted to redraw this in spite of it's popularity.

Or because of it. It's not good when one of the most popular items in my online portfolio is also one of the sloppiest. Carson's expression was an epic win in the line art in the third panel but with the marker it just looks like a big blur.

I'd keep the original up, of course. I'm just wondering how people would react.

On a completely unrelated note, I laughed way too hard at this.

Next week: A big damn three-part review of Dougal Dixon's The New Dinosaurs! You know, like I promised way, way back in January.