Three updates in one morning. You’d think my life was interesting if you didn’t know better. Anyway, I was scanning across my online portfolio a few minutes ago. Below I am posting an image I put together weeks ago when I was soliciting a freelance position for a children’s book/tv show bible (which I didn’t get). I colored it in Photoshop.
During the year I have now been living in Los Angeles, I have spent a large portion of time unemployed. I have done various things for money ranging from Kinko’s to Graphic Design to Audience work to catering to internet surveys to puppet shows to ebay sales to now working in a bookstore (and I may have forgotten a few things). I have been registered with an extra agency since last summer. I have called their hotline numerous times, often daily. Mostly, reality television shows and especially things like The 5th Wheel were all they had to offer. Occassionally, there was a job I was interested in. One I did was an audience gig for a game show called Funny Money. So where is this headed? My point is they have never called me for work until a couple of days ago. They wanted me to do some extra work for a Rembrandt(the toothpaste I believe) commercial which I imagine would have paid fairly well. The problem? I now have a job and the precise time I would be at work is the precise time the production company would be shooting. I have been working this job for less than a month, I have been unemployed for spurts of 3-6 months while living here. What is the probability they’d actually call me when I couldn’t take the work? 1:3?
On the upside:
That same day I received the book Little Monster’s Bedtime Book by Mercer Mayer in the mail. I remember that book fondly from my childhood. It has been out of print for numerous years, but I found a used copy on Amazon.com recently and had to buy it despite my financial condition. I had been searching for a copy of that book for about 7 years. Now I own it again. 🙂
The Wonderful World of Public Access
Television is bad. The programming is mindnumbingly terrible, correct? Yet, therein lies an even harsher beast, the land of Public Access. Nearly anyone who can manage to burn images onto magnetic tape and find transportation to the studio can have a program on television thanks to Public Access. It has always done for television what the internet now does for everything: allow any shmuck to parade his/her creations across the airwaves. This is both fabulous and frightening. Horrendous things even worse than Flash intro movies on geocities websites can be found in the world of public television. There is, of course, the occassional gem if one wishes to wade through the morass of sediment and feces. Well, The Marvelous World of Moodoo will soon shuffle into the excretory mix. Perhaps we will be the gold nugget, but we may be no more than fool’s gold. Time will tell.
Monday night, the Moodoo Crew made our way to Adelphia Public Access in Eagle Rock. We had two hours to setup, shoot, and get out (although we sort of squeezed in an extra half hour). Using their studio and equipment we attempted to shoot our 30-minute puppet show. Anyone with any knowledge of video/film production knows this is a hefty ordeal. In the end, despite a camera problem with a DV unit Mike rented, we did shoot the entire show. Much of it turned out quite well. There are a number of pickup shots we need to make to cover up some holes. Despite the best efforts of our camera crew, shooting a mass of puppets and humans flailing about in close quarters is a tough job. It is impossible to always have the correct camera shooting the ideal shot. They did a great job regardless and only a few segments need reworking. Hopefully, one more session in the studio will lead to a final product. Then, we shall appear on Public Access. Hopefully, the pitching for a full-fledged television series on network/cable will begin soon thereafter.
Well, I made it. Thanks to Janna Knudson (of Moodoo Puppets) and William Stout, my girlfriend and I were able to attend Comic Con for free today. Unfortunately, we arrived later than I’d hoped and missed a lot of the events I was hoping to see: Neil Gaiman’s panel, Comic & Animation business panels, Kevin Smith, etc. Regardless, we still had a nice time and I got to attend my first comic convention and see San Diego in the same day.
The con was huge, but I don’t know if it was as big as E3. They are definitely close. I only spent a little time on the room floor and there was merchandise and artists everywhere. I attended a few panels. We saw a few short independent films including Batman: Dead End. This is a fan production shot for $30K featuring Batman taking on the Joker, alien, and Predator. It was very well put together especially considering the budget. The crowd went wild over this one, so much so they played it twice in succession. The only way to see this movie is at conventions because they can’t sell it due to the fact Warner Brothers owns the characters. Hopefully, it will leak onto the internet eventually. I also attended the Adult Swim panel where clips from the new season were previewed and various creators/VAs answered questions. Hopefully, next year I will spend the entire weekend at Comic Con. There is lots I’d like to see that five hours won’t cover. If all goes well, maybe I’ll have a booth.
As for William Stout, he is a great guy. Click his name and visit his website. Read the biography. He has an amazing history yet still manages to be a nice guy with no hint of ego. Hell, I’ve only met him twice and today he gave Jennifer and I some sandwiches when we stopped by his booth and spoke with us as if we were his friends. The art world needs more people like him.
I went ahead and released all 3 of the last Mr. Fourchinnigan strips today. This completes the Neighbaz story arc. I’m going to take a break from the strip. I’m going to be using my free time to try to get a comic together to submit to the Tokyopop contest. Then I’ll start new Chinny strips in September. I haven’t decided what the focus of the next arc is going to be. It may have to do with Chinny’s history before he was homeless, but maybe not.
What would you guys like to see in the comic-strip?
Tonight was the big show at the Derby. If you have never heard of the Derby, it is the club where Big Bad Voodoo Daddy performed in the movie Swingers. You know, the club where they get in free by going through the kitchen. Anyway, we performed the Marvelous World of Moodoo puppet show on a bill with Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang as well as the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players (whom we performed with at the Silverlake Lounge). The show went fairly well and Bruce McCulloch from Kids in the Hall(the best sketch comedy show ever next to The State) fame was in the audience. A reporter from Entertainment Weekly was in the Green Room interviewing the Trachtenburgs throughout the night. Those guys can draw a crowd. All-in-all it was a good night and it made me feel like the puppet show could be headed in the right direction.
The wonders of the internet. For a good while, my site would get roughly 500 visitors a day give or take 100. Lately, that hasn’t been the case. For the last month, I’ve been getting about 100 visitors a day or 200 tops. I looked at my stats for today and it shot up to nearly 800. The only reason I can see for this would be a link for CCS#3 I found here under 15 July. It’s funny how big a difference one little link in the right place can make.
If you are in Los Angeles:
Go to the Derby tomorrow night (16 July). We are performing the Moodoo puppet show at 8:00pm sharp. Be there or be a bitch.
A few nights ago, my phone rang at 1:00am. Being 1:00am, I thought it was safe to assume it would not be a telemarketer, despite the fact they are the only people that call me on a regular basis. I lifted the receiver. A rather heavy british accent emanated from the telephone. His name was Shaun. He lives in the UK and he digs my Flash work. We spoke for a while, he seemed like a genuinely good guy, and that was that. Sure it was a bit awkward, but it was kind of nice to know that regardless how insignificant I feel, there are actually people across the globe who know my name and my work and appreciate it the way I do a new comic on Wednesdays.
The downside of life: my A/C has been out all weekend.
I have returned. I got back to L.A. last night. I had a good time in Baton Rouge and Pensacola despite the mostly rainy weather and I now have a sister-in-law. My brother’s wedding was short and quick. It was on the beach and when it was over it didn’t feel like I had been to a wedding at all. I guess that is a good thing because some weddings can be a long drawn-out borefest. My niece is getting big. She is a cute happy toddler and pretty smart.
I found a pack of Transformers G1 playing cards at Target tonight for $1.98. Despite my financial situation, I bought them. They are pretty cool, although Optimus Prime is the 5 card. Why in the hell isn’t he the king?
I’m off to Baton Rouge and then Florida for my little brother’s wedding. See you bitches in a week.