On animation.

So I've had an animated short stuck in limbo for a good long while now. It's a bit of crazy to talk about, but I feel I need to cast off the demons.
And that's just it. There shouldn't be demons, yet there are. It's always: "What if it isn't good enough?" or "Maybe I should redo this bit." and it stacks up to never getting done. (I've even tried to revisit it in the last few days and now my Flash has gremlins and won't let me publish for reasons currently unresolved.)
There's also the factor of it being a mirror. It's personal, you know? If it isn't great and well received... and it's a reflection of my psyche like art should be, then wham. Not the funnest punch-in-the-face.
I remember a day when I took a old girlfriend to Dallas to meet with the Peace Corps. She was going to go away and I knew I would probably never see her again, no matter our relationship at the time. I wasn't going to stop her from going just because of me. So she went to the interview and I went looking for a bar... at 10am in the morning. By the time she got out at 1pm, I was drunk, trying to drown AND hide my fear. She didn't go. I lost her anyway. The fear was not unjustified. I just didn't look both ways before crossing that street.
So the blind-side hit causes me to not get this short done. Not deciding is a decision. But the indecision is keeping me from finishing it and moving on to bigger things, because I can't move on until I complete it.
The skills need to be honed. They seemed sharp as a razor last winter when I had myself convinced I would finish the short by the deadcenter deadline. I didn't. Not because I couldn't, but because I couldn't face the finished product and what that could possibly mean. It's all me. Nobody did a lick of it. Maybe that's part of the problem. Maybe I need to find other animators to bounce ideas off of and get some collaboration going.
Meanwhile, I've got 1.2 minutes of a 2.3 minute short in the can. At 30 fps, that's only 4,140 frames to go.
In a paraphrased quote attributed to Chuck Jones, "Everybody has 10,000 bad drawings in them and it's best to get them out as soon as possible."
Since I won't post it if it isn't complete, I can only give this screenshot to offer any proof at all, if it's any proof at all.

Giant Robo

You did it. You finally did it. You blew it up. To 1:1 scale you magnificent bastards.
Life Sized Gundam

via: Danny Choo

Sometimes it's a wonder...

that some human beings ever have sex at all. Too funny not to post. I know nothing about this video except that it's true.
Somebody failed their charisma roll.

Yes. Have some.

Written by Harold Ramis and Dan Ackroyd. Voiced by Ramis, Ackroyd, Murray and Hudson.
Did they get Annie Potts? I sure hope so.

I remember going to the original movie for the first time and being so pumped... and then my sisters boyfriend got pulled over for an expired tag which made us so late we had to see it another time. Bob was right. That cop did have good eyes.

Send the Space Girl up here right away.

Awesome awesome awesome.
Babzark, robot of the 405. I'd call him a Ronin, but he definitely has a master.

You can't be hypnotized, you're a robot, silly.

Do you realize?

Time-lapse of the galactic center from this year's Texas Star Party.

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

>Okay City
>William Castleman

"You get paid for that sorta thing?"

It's a phrase that has found a resurgence in my everyday speech when I see someone doing something ridiculously inane for money. It's from a National Lampoon recording (I still have the audio tape) of "That's Not Funny, That's Sick" starring very young versions of Bill and Brian Doyle Murry and Richard Belzer. (NSFW of course)
The track where I was introduced to it can be heard here and it has stuck.
Where I've used it is in things like underwater UFO hunting where dudes float around the Bahama Islands in a decent boat with expensive sonar equipment while going scuba diving, working on their tans and slinging a lot of bull.
They get paid for that sorta thing? Enough to pay for all that gear plus bills and mortgage and drinks afterward?
It just makes me sad sometimes.

Robusteza Solitaria

Oh yea. If I had a movie, this would be in the soundtrack somewhere.

EELS - That Look You Give That Guy - from HOMBRE LOBO from EELS on Vimeo.

Holmes in the House

I've never watched House. I am a big fan of Sherlock Holmes, and I've been informed that the title character Dr. Gregory House is based off him. He is even played by a British actor, Hugh Laurie.
Dr. House lives in apt. 221B. His only true friend is Dr. James Wilson. Wilson, Watson. House, Holmes (homes). Hmmm. According to wiki, "both House and Holmes are forensic geniuses, musicians, drug users, aloof, and largely friendless."
As a precedent, I enjoyed Frazier not only because it was a spin-off of Cheers, but because I was already a fan of the Jack Benny show (I had eclectic tastes when I was younger. Not like now at all) and could see clearly that Frazier was a modern rework from the characters down to the signature Benny "cheek-take."
With a new Sherlock Holmes movie coming soon and several seasons of House to take in, I hope to enjoy months to come of Arthur Conan Doyle-inspired non-canon.

ambigramagain

here's another go. Not as successful as the last try, but it's a lot more involved.

I may cry.

via: Everyone on the internets.
Be sure and watch it in full res.

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