RadVfx Journal

Comic-Con 2011

2011-07-18T20:10:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been anticipating this moment for a year. When me and my minions would attempt to take over the Comic-Con floor once again. Of course, this year, we've opened the mirror and let the invasion through. Yes, the Zombie Bunnies are coming!

They arrived this afternoon, and I was never sure that they would, but here they are. They look amazing and I owe it all to Kim (since I left their creation in her very capable hands). Come by and exploit their soft fluffiness! They are the cutest, fuzziest and deadliest you're likely to see.
We'll be at Table Q-13 in the Back of Hall B2, Aisle 1500. See you there.

Something's coming...

2011-07-08T14:47:00.001-07:00

Wireheads has something new that we are trying to get to Comic-Con 2011. Lots of delays, but it's looking possible right at the moment. Keep your fingers crossed.

Here's a peek...

L.A. Car Show 2010

2010-12-02T16:57:00.001-08:00

Just got back from our annual trek to the L.A. Car Show downtown at the Convention Center next to Nokia Center. Wow! Really cool to see all the new vehicles, new concepts, and hybrid/electric vehicles. Here are some of the things I saw:

Mitsubishi Electric -- 100 mi. range, approx. $20k

With 20% of Chrysler, Fiat is back!

Concept EV from Toyota!

Cool Concept from Nissan, see two below for inside.

Nissan Leaf Electric, 100 mi. range, about $25k

Inside of Nissan Concept, looks like Tron.

Cool looking Nissan Concept

Nissan Concept Convertible.

The original bathtub Porsche

2011 Porsche Boxter, about $45k. Sweet!

Martin... Aston-Martin.

Sweet looking Lotus!

Lotus Esprit, I think. -- around $45k

Hand-built Morgan, nice tootling up to Napa in this!

The Fisker "Kharma" Hybrid, hand-built. $$$$$!

New Hybrid Concept Jaguar -- I hope they make it!

Front 3/4 of the Jag-U-ar.

The Toyata Swagger Mini Van Concept

Kia Electric Concept car stuck back in a corner.

A new Volkswagen that's out next year (2011)

An Infinity Concept Hybrid

A Cadillac Urban Fantasy Vehicle

Another angle on the slice of cheese

2011 Granite Concept Vehicle from GMC

The 60 miles per charge, $41,000 Chevy Volt

This Transformer was giving me a bad time.

Finally, found Mini-land!

Sweet! A convertible John CooperWorks!

The new Mini CountryMan vehicle, Mini-SUV! 35mpg!

Another cool CooperWorks vehicle!

I was happy to see not one, but two Hybrids in the...

BMW exhibit. With a fully electric coming next year.

Not sure why you'd have to remind us it's "Active."

And Mercedes ode to a Fuel Cell. With no infrastructure,

How might fuel cell ever take off?

A beautiful V10 Audi R8, looking bad.

Another angle...

Legendary Big Daddy Roth's Mysterion Dragster!

A little Lizzy Flivver Feuler that I loved.

An entry from Automotive X to get 100mpg!

An electric Bathtub Porsche, about $45k! 120mpc.

And finally, the smart car Batman couldn't live without.

We had a blast seeing everything and watching the crowd when it got slow. Always a great and fun event. Can't wait for next year.

Stereo vs. 3D

2010-09-30T09:09:00.000-07:00

I've been working for the past two months at a company called Illuminate in Hollywood. Don't look for them online yet, they haven't opened the website yet.

But I wanted to chat briefly about the confusion of the term "3D." 3D has been used to describe motion pictures that need two projectors to show their movie. Typically, because there is a left-eye movie and a right-eye movie projected on the same screen at the same time. Now-a-days, we don't use the red and blue eyeglasses to seperate the two projections anymore, we use circular-polarized lenses to view 3D movie, like avatar.

They're "circular-polarized" so that if you tilt your head left or right, your eyes can still see the 3D.

The word "stereo" in our culture is most-often associated with whatever it is that you use to listen to music. Taken from the Greek word "stereos" meaning 'solid', stereo in music comes from the fact that there is a mix of the sounds available, one of two channels available of music for each ear -- left and right.

Quadraphonic sound was a stereo-system in the 60s and 70s that featured recordings with four channel mixes, and your ears would have fun with pans and dissolves that would float around the room.

But stereo, even from the Greek, means three-dimensional, solid.

Since I work with computer graphics and the work is accomplished with both 3D and 2D tools, using computer graphics to create two images becomes a little confusing.

"So, you work in 3D?"

"Yeah."

"Do you have to wear those glasses to do the work?"

"What?"

"You know, 3D glasses."

"Uh, no... I work in a simulated 3-dimensional system, creating realistic models in a computer."

"Yeah, but do you have to wear the glasses?"

"Uhm.... Let's start this again."

So, as you can see, the conversation can get silly really fast. Computer graphics was often referred to for a number of years as being the XYZ (3 dimensional) world created inside computers and put in movies.

Digital compositing (as opposed to the old optical film/chemical compositing) was largely a 2D system of working for the first 20 years of its life, but over the last decade there has been a lot more crossover and Digital compositing (or just compositing now-a-days) has started having more 3D tools inside of the code and it's now one of the principal tools used to create 3D movies after they are shot.

So, that has to be confusing.

Frankly, I think we, as a culture, need to move away from called 3D movies "3D". We need to start referring to them for what they are. They have a left and right eye projected on a screen and they are "Stereo Films" not 3D.

Then again, we should also stop calling computer graphics 3D as well, since it does 3D, 2D and 4D (yeah, that's another post).

I like calling it CGI (Computer Generated Imagery), but then again, I'm fairly Old School.

Carmel, Pebble Beach and Monterey Bay

2010-04-25T22:32:00.000-07:00

Carmel, Pebble Beach and Monterey Bay

"The greatest meeting of land and sea in the world."

- Robert Louis Stevenson

Being in the movie business is certainly not all glamour. One of the things you must learn to do is schedule time for the things that are important. Sometimes months in advance, I schedule time for my wife and family. As silly as that seems, work can certainly get in the way of a healthy relationship. Communication can easily break down, if you don't plan, plan, plan.

So, every year, we try to take time off to just "be" together and have the luxury of time away from our work-a-day world with, with any luck, little to no plans. How incredibly luxurious it is to wake each morning, and ask,"So, what do you feel like doing today?" We are so lucky to experience it.

And as has been since we first discovered it, we go to California's central coast to experience a different world from where we live. Only five hours north driving, it's a land that may as well be on another plane of existence, another planet.

Signing my name with my toes in the sand along Carmel Beach.

The tiny village of Carmel-by-the-Sea (Yes, that's it's real name)is a little hub of peace and quiet between the major California Cities of San Francisco to its north and Los Angeles to the south. Ocean Avenue, the main drag in the village of Carmel. The town is filled with little cafes, art galleries, and out-of-the-way alleyways to explore. Usually, one of the days we spend there is devoted to simply following our noses around the village. One of our early stops for the week is to Friar Tuck's, a little "coffee shop" stuck on the edge of what might considered town central. The comfort food served there goes well with the cottage atmosphere and the witty repartee of the chef, usually in attendance slinging hash and jokes from behind the counter in the middle of the small cafe. To me, it is such a part of my experience in Carmel that I can't imagine the place without it.

I often spend the first morning here reading the Sheriff's report and local headlines in the local news publication (is it a newspaper?) called The Carmel Pine Cone". The articles there are often similar to what I read twenty years ago.

And what would a visit to Ocean Avenue be without a trip to The House of Sweets?

Inside this small shop, the walls are packed with hundreds of amazing confectionaries, some made ther and some imported from other countries (notably, a lot of the British candies I see in the local tea shoppes and importers in Santa Monica)
Also, a visit to The Secret Garden down a quiet alleyway just down from Friar Tuck's in another must-do visit for trips to Carmel for us. After wandering the rock pathways around the old geodesic dome which houses the shoppe in the middle of the garden, bubbling fountains and tinkling bells, we make our way into the town's "woo woo" book shop, Pilgrim's Way. Often times, I can find gifts for friends there that I just never see anywhere else in my travels. I'd probably have to go halfway around the world to find some of the tiny, beautiful items that line the shelves inside.

hundreds of candied delights meet the eye

We rent a house in one of the local neighborhoods, trying to blend in with the locals. We walk whenever we can (which is anywhere in town), spending a great deal of our time there outdoors. The foggy mid-coast weather in August sits at (what I consider perfect) a chilly sixty degrees with only brief afternoon visits of the sun shining above before the fog rolls back in at the end of the day. The only downside to this weather is the obscuring of the amazing sunsets that can be experienced (from previous trips, not this one) along the trails along the bluffs of and white, sandy beaches of Carmel). The slow mornings can often turn into lazy, long mornings where creeping out into reality around noon is the norm.

Me, still in PJs, answering email and posts on the Wirehead's Forum. Ah... Vacation.

Another favorite of mine... Kim calls it "the only other thing you love besides Jack and me" is golf. Yep, spend a lot of time hitting it and finding it, but it's a great pasttime where your demeanor must change in order to maintain control. <- A good life lesson for all of us.

The village of Carmel butts up against its more prestigious (And more expensive) neighbor, Pebble Beach, just to the north. It's the host to numerous events throughout the year, including my favorite golf tournamnet, The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am"

The Lodge at Pebble Beach.

I have played golf at every course on the peninsula with the exception of the four private golf courses at which you must be a member or member's guest in order to play -- The Monterey Peninsula Club, Cypress Point, Tehama Golf Club, and Pasadera Golf Club; Some of them are probably about as friendly as their websites (those that have them). So, likely, I'll never play these courses. But of the public available ones, you'll find some of the best in the world.

The first tee looking down the fairway at Spyglass Hill Golf Club. Four of the local courses are managed by the The Pebble Beach Company which is currently owned and managed by Arnold Palmer, Clint Eastwood, and Peter Ueberroth. This time I got to play the The Links at Spanish Bay and Poppy Hills, home of the USGA's Northern California Golf Association. I didn't have my "A" game (as I haven't for about a year -- too much work, ya know), but it was a really enjoyable outting at both courses. I highly reccomend both as affordable, but wonderful courses to play.
These days, Kim and I have our son, Jack, in tow everywhere we go, and as a result, trips to the Dennis the Menace Park in Monterey and to the incredible Monterey Bay Aquarium are always welcome. Try not to confuse this aquarium with any other aquarium you have ever seen. It lies on the shoreline of the largest underwater Federal reserve in North America, where siting whales, seals and sea otters are daily events. They have a sister organization called The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute that is helping us all understand life in the Monterey Bay and throughout the oceans of the world. Here's a few shots from the Aquarium:
A view outside at the artificial large tidepool overlooking Monterey Bay on the Pacific.
The tidepool itself.
A circular tank where the waterflow keeps these thousands of sardines swimming along inside.
Another smaller tank with tuna swimming by (Yes, I was appreciating the "arty" quality of my digital cam).
underlit versions of jellyfish which often get their own hall for exhibits on the amazing invertebrates.
And last but not least, the HUGE outer ocean exhibit in the new north wing
I'm trying to give you an appreciation of the SIZE of this aquarium tank inside the building (Yes, those are adults with their faces pressed to the 12 inch thick glass).
And yes, it's dark, but here is a side shot showing the breadth of the tank. Wow. We don't always do this, but a trip south along the Big Sur shoreline is like no other. So, this year, we drove along highway one which travels along the lip of the Pacific Ocean. We were literally hanging over the sea on some of this cliffside highway. On the way south, we stopped at one of our favorite watering holes for lunch, Nepenthe (nuh-PEN-thee). Apparently, it's been there for a long time about 700 feet above the ocean, but with coastline views like no other place. Prices are decent and the Phoenix Bookstore next door is often worth the trip. Here's a few shots:
Inside the restaurant Outside looking way down at the ocean below. Outside the building. I believe the architect was a student of Frank Lloyd Wright's. Finally, after a week of time off, and no clocks to watch, it was back home. Where on days like today with sunsets like this, it feels like a pretty good place to be.
Taken off my back porch. Visit the central coast sometime in this lifetime. You'll want to move there, like I do. Now, I have to get cleaned up and get to a party. These 3 hour posts have got to stop! Ha ha, enjoy everybody.

Image Movers Digital is Closing

2010-03-13T12:04:00.000-08:00

Recently, I would imagine that a lot of us have been hearing from friends. Times are hard and some unimaginable things have occurred. A day or two ago, a friend of mine wrote that he, along with four hundred other plus employees were geing laid off and the company they worked for would be closed. Below is my response.

. . .

Yes, I've been hearing the news for several days now. Sorry that you and so many other fine artist-engineers are at the receiving end of short-sightedness by entertainment powers with greater resources than yourselves.

Just like when Disney Animation dismissed pencil-drawn animation as being passe and laid off so many dedicated workers from their facilities in Paris, Orlando and Burbank a few years back, I believe the day will come when those involved in such decisions will realize their dreaded mistake.

Unfortunately, for many of us, American Public Corporations watch their quarterly profits much more than they pay attention to building their own products in the eyes of the public.

It used to be that closing companies, laying off employees simply meant that a business plan didn't work out. Today, it means more than that. It means that the people running the company not only create poor business plans and should be replaced, but something much worse -- they have lost faith in the work that they create.

And that, is a tragedy that's getting noticed more and more.

The good news is this. We are talented Artist-Engineers. We have vision, faith and hope. We can build something from nothing, and we have an eye for spotting new technology and entertainment trends. Our bosses don't.

Hang in there.

Box-Office Formula

2010-01-30T09:45:00.000-08:00

Today's blog was inspired by Patrick Goldstein's "Is This a Box-Office Record with an *?" article in the Los Angeles Times this morning.

. . .

Mr. Goldstein, I agree that the system for ranking he All-time Box Office champs is flawed. The one we have can go on -- it has my permission, but it would be really pleasant to have the 'other' ranking.

But the ranking should not be based simply on attendance.

Here is the problem with that. Attendance based on the 'kind of release' -- re-release, released to the dollar-a-ticket movie theaters, re-mix, director's cut -- All of these releases that some movies go through actually have different dollar amounts associated with the ticket value based on when they were released and to what chains.

If it were possible, what would be best is to include the inflation amounts over time -- spending a dollar to see a movie in 1930 (if you could spend that much, back then for a ticket) supposedly would be equivalent to spending 20 to 30 dollars today to see the same movie.

So, ideally the list would come up with its ticket value, overseas and domestic, based on something like this:

attendance * ticket_value(depending on release-type) * percentage_based_on_inflation( based on year) = real money spent (compared to current year)

attendance * (ticket_value * inflation) = box_office

A * (TI) = BO

I'd LOVE to see that list.

Awards Season!

2010-01-24T20:55:00.001-08:00

Well, another annual Awards Season is upon us. We've spent all of the budget money from fiscal 2009, and now, it's time to review and see if we did anything right in spite of the Recession we're still in.

I can tell you right off the bat that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences could not have picked a worse year (Well, maybe 2001) for deciding to expand the nominees for Best Picture to ten from the traditional five. Recently, I reviewed all of the titles and off the top of my head, I could think of three that might be worthy from everything I had viewed in the last year.

With paper and pen, I improved this to five. With a review of all the screeners I had watched, I got this number to six. After some talking with other filmmakers, I realized that there were some pictures that I had not seen and did not have screeners for, so, I watched these. It didn't help.

I will heartily reccomend that we return to the traditional five Best Picture availabilities for next year and stay there. It's worked well this long and frankly, I don't remember the reason for going to the double-five number. Perhaps a review is in order.

Anyway, keep your head above water and don't try to really watch more than three award shows this season. If you do, it's likely that your head will implode from all the vaccuous speculation and mind-numbing conversation about "who's wearing who."

Cheers.

Global Warming (Yes, it's still happening)

2009-10-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

You know, the term "global warming" should not be so confusing to anyone who finished Jr. High School, or Middle School in the U.S.A. or perhaps you might know it as your 8th year of education, when you were around 13 or 14 years of age.

Somewhere around that time, you learned about "closed systems" and how they worked in a vacuum (an environment where there is no atmosphere). You heard phrases like "things flow to the point of least resistance" and "chaotic motion results from heating". Your teacher may have even showed you one of those glass birds that dip their beaks in water and keep doing it over and over and over -- the beak gets wet, the glass in that location gets cooler, the liquid inside flows away from it, then slowly climbs back, again and again.

And yet, confusion is still there.

A cool day comes along and people sarcastically say, "Yeah, global warming. Sure." Just proving how unknowledgeable they have allowed themselves to become.

I heard a story from a close freind of mine recently, where he was riding home in a car near Houston, Texas from a dinner with his brother and his wife. It began to snow. Not a common occurance in Houston, and the wife sarcastically commented, "Yeah, global warming. Sure."
The snow had just proven that the "global warming" scenario was more likely than normal, and yet, she thought the opposite because it was cold instead of warm.

Let me explain. Maybe some of you have forgotten.

Space (or Outer Space, some may still call it) is a vacuum. There is no atmosphere. We have a planet that is surrounded by a crust of earth, water and an atmosphere that is approximetly 10 miles (eg. about 16 kilometers) thick. In this area, there is an abundance of life.

Our world is isolated from other bodies in space. As a result, Earth is a "closed system", existing in a vacuum. Closed systems allow heat and energy to exchange, but matter generally does not -- meteorites are relatively insignificant in our case.

Our local star (eg. the Sun), shines down on us as we orbit it. The Sun's heat, warms our planet at a relatively constant rate. Our atmosphere acts just like a "Greenhouse" where the clearer the atmosphere is, the less heat from the Sun is trapped inside the atmosphere -- more of the Sun's heat simply reflects back into space, if the atmosphere is clear.

If the atmosphere is less clear, more of the Sun's heat is trapped in the atmosphere, warming the atmosphere, earth and water.

When a closed system's temperature is raised (eg. warmed), the system becomes more chaotic and its physics less predictable. A simple demonstration of this would be to heat a pot of water. At first, the water's movement is fairly predictable. It just sits in the pan. As the water heats up, it's state changes and begins to simmer, then boil, turning to steam. The water's movement becomes more "chaotic."

The same thing happens with Earth's atmosphere, earth and water. As we add more carbon pollutants to our atmosphere, more heat from the Sun is trapped and the currents in the Oceans and the weather in the Atmosphere becomes more chaotic, more unpredictable. The weather we have always had will change, it will be different, as a result.

If you notice that the weather where you live has become different from just a few years ago (say ten or twenty years ago), then you are seeing the symptoms of global warming.

Everything about the weather will become more and more unpredictable as this continues. We will see greater snowfalls. We will see lesser snowfalls. We will see record colds and record heats. Where it has always been hot, it will get cooler and hotter. Where it has always been cold, it will get hotter and colder that it has ever been on record.

If you watch The Weather Channel at all, you have seen this happening everywhere in North America. Record temperatures, both hotter and colder have been happening every season. Over time, we will see that there will be a steady increase, but year-by-year, it may be cooler, it may be hotter. This is also part of the chaotic results of the gradual increase in temperature in our Atmosphere, Oceans and Earth.

Is that clear now? Do you get it? I hope so.

There are some possibly unwanted impacts to our world, if we ignore the steady rise in pollutants in our atmosphere, but this article is not about that. I'm just trying to get everyone to understand what "global warming" really is.

Dark Dramas

2009-10-01T09:08:00.000-07:00

On my morning drive to drop my son off at Highschool, I listened to an interview with the wonderful actor John Malkovich on National Public Radio. For those of you who might be interested, I will not repeat all of the story “spoliers” contained in the broadcast, but I wanted to mention the motion picture that interviewer, Renee Montagne, talks with Mr. Malkovich about, the movie “Disgrace.”

I will not be seeing this picture. I choose not to support this picture.

After hearing the gist of the picture in the interview, I've already decided that it is filled with emotions that I do not care to experience. Be it from my upbringing watching to many movies as a child, or my continuing vocation in motion pictures, I don't know, but I am effected emotionally by movies more than any other medium. My guard is let down. I give myself fully to a well-told story, and will weep and feel the regret of the characters that I identify with.

Two important items there:

“Well-told story” (in other words, nothing “takes me out of the picture” because of its believability.
“Characters I identify with” – I must believe in the characters decision-making ability. They must feel real and not manipulative.

The picture, “Disgrace” I see as yet another film in a long-suffering, long-continuing series of motion pictures that have been made over the last decade. They are DARK DRAMAS. I identify these stories with a few characteristics:

They start in some depressive state – the main character is suicidal, the main character's child is dead or dying, the main character has committed some heinous act that is not forgivable, the main character is dying of some horrible disease.
The storyline gets worse from there and is never redeemed – in other words, bad things, perhaps expressed fears, come to pass and they just keep coming.
There is no redemption – nothing is learned, no lesson is taught, no light comes to the characters, they are condemed and might as well kill themselves.

Examples of such films have done well in the Academy Awards. The first film that comes to mind was “The Hours” released the year after the 9-11 terrorist attacks. I mention this because I feel that we as filmmakers have forgotten some things. We as a group, have forgotten how to make audiences laugh, without telling them the joke first a la The 40-year Old Virgin – “Oh, don't worry, it's okay to laugh. Everyone else is.” We have forgotten how to tell a great adventure story – Indiana Jone's latest? Please. We have forgotten how to tell a romance that shakes us to our core – Enchanted? Come on.

And the list goes on: Leaving Las Vegas, The Deep End, Crash, Rendition, In the Valley of Elah, The Kingdom, Doubt, Changeling, Revolutionary Road, Infamous, etc. If it wasn't for the Oscar consideration, likely, I would not know these names.

It seems like we are stuck, sending DARK DRAMAS to the Academy each Oscar season to get “Best Picture” consideration because, well, we have nothing else. The only emotions we feel “real” and “pure” about are depressing ones. Perhaps it has to do with where we are with our world. Every day, we question, “Are we doing the right thing?” “Are we worth it?” We are stuck in this great self-reflective merry-go-round, constantly looking in the mirror to see us frowning back at ourselves once again.

These are not emotions that I care to add to my already dramatic life. And IF I wanted to do so, I would do so by reading, where there is at least, a little filter that allows me to either skip ahead, or stop reading, instead of being brow beat into submission in a dark theatre, where my only regret later is that I actually paid for the abuse.

As filmmakers, is that what we want? Is that what we want to look back on the early decades of the 21^st Century and say, “This was our Best?” Certainly, we are supplying great fodder for future academics, who will, no doubt, writing endless papers decrying our support of such dramas as high art because of their symbolic relation to the end of Society – certainly we are coming to the last days? Well, of you listen to the rhetoric of fear from the Republicans, you must be certain by now.

Well, as a filmmaker, I don't want it. I consider making someone cry too easy, too benign. I want to really challenge myself to find great adventure stories that are believable, to find great romances that don't pander to the lower common denominator (yes, I know that is the accountants largest target, but I'd rather allow the audience to see just how intelligent they are instead of speaking down to them as so often happens in the movie house now-a-days)... AND to find the great comedies with common with and everyday humor that lies all around us like landmines of mirth.

Like my parents always said, “If it was easy, everyone would do it.” Filmmakers of the World? Challenge yourselves!

Los Angeles is a Desert

2009-09-27T11:59:00.001-07:00

Well, not entirely, but it's as bad as I have ever seen it. The United States was the birthing place of computer graphics. The Darpa Net, framebuffer from Utah, graphic rendering from Utah, so many developments it's impossible to list them all. Los Angeles as the place where a group of us geeks finally convinced (over a period of about twelve to fifteen years) Hollywood that we could use our technology to make movies. A former head of ILM once said at SIGGRAPH in a speech he gave about the business, "It was 1991, the year that "Beauty and the Beast" and "Terminator2" came out, and Hollywood finally said,"Ohhh! That's what you meant!"

By 1995, every major studio either had or was starting to hire hundreds of computer graphic artists (that mostly didn't exist, remember in 1991 there were only a few hundred of us world-wide). We were so scarce by 1996 and 1997 (the schools had not caught with or not gotten wind of the demand yet), that there were literally thousands of dollars available to artists just for signing a contract to work somewhere. Yes, for digital artists, that was a "fat" time, as in your wallet could get fat.

But, we as an industry had yet to learn (and we still haven't) the lessons of the Animation Industry (Also, by the way, Los Angeles or the San Fernando Valley was the birthplace of American Animation, until it, too, was deported by first, William Hanna and Joe Barbara's company in the early 1960s). Since the 1960s, there has been an irrefutable belief by Hollywood Producers that in order to get more for your money (or spend less on your films), you just take the work overseas.

On the spreadsheets, and powerpoint presentations, this looks true at first. But having started in production doing computer graphics in the Animation Industry in Los Angeles and having become fast friends with the world's historian of LA production, Tom Sito, in the late 1980s, I became VERY familiar with the failure of Business in America to keep their edge over foreign competitors. I was working at Filmation Studios (at that time, the last Animation Studio in America doing all of their production under one roof) when they were unexpectedly sold by Group W in the Fall of 1987. No, not to a competitor, but to be disassembled, selling all the pieces for as much cash as they could get. This was 18 months after Filmation had finished their run on 'He-Man, Masters of the Universe' and started a new series in the same line, called "BraveStarr." He-Man, the syndicated animation series for after school slots on televsion made over a BILLION dollars in on-air sales, commercial sales and ancillary market sales. It was documented in the LATimes during the Summer of 1987.

But Business through away the goose that laid the golden egg. Hanna-Barbara did the same thing in the 1960s, when the networks were pressuring them to lower the costs of the runaway hits, the prime-time shows of 'The Flintsones', and 'The Jetsons', both take-offs on Jackie Gleason's "The Honeymooners" a fine American show. The exported the painting and camera work to Japan, thereby creating jobs in Japan and laying off hundreds of artists devoted to the company in the San Fernando Valley. The Network got it's profits up. Bill and Joe made even more money, and the artists who created the show got laid off.

Business as usual, you say? So, you really feel that there should be an elite of the very rich in the United States? Because business as usual in the U.S. absolutely builds on this idea.

Think about it. The creatives create it. The businessmen profit from it, and deride the artists for being so stupid as to lose control. It's happening again, right in front of your eyes, with the computer graphics business and the visual effects business. Someday, it will be considered silly to make movies in Hollywood, if business has its way, and so far, nothing is stopping it from doing exactly that.

"At Risk" Living & California's Disaster Budget

2009-09-02T06:59:00.000-07:00

I was listening to the radio on the way back from the Airport this morning. They were talking about how the state budget for fighting fires has reached $108 million only two months into California's fiscal year. I believe the total state budget for fighting fires for the year is somewhere around $160 million. So, with ten months yet to go, we have used up 67 % of the yearly budget for fire disaster.

California already can't afford the way it lives. Past legislation has caused the California of today to teeter on bankruptcy year after fiscal year. The mistakes of the past need to be rectified in order to make the state's budget behave in a more reasonable fashion. Expense often comes with risk, but the risk-takers are not paying for it.

What is the real cause of the disaster expense? Okay, you might say the fires. Yeah. But regardless of the fires, the money has to come from somewhere, right? Currently, the money to fight fires in California is coming from everyone who pays taxes, but is that fair? Afterall, most of the homes in California are not "at risk" of being burned due to mountain-side scrub brush fires or forest fires. Most of us do not live in such areas. Most of the developers have not built in "at risk" areas.

Developers build in such areas for two reasons: one, the view might be scenic (it's near or in a forest on the side of a mountain) -- two, there is no new land to build on anywhere else -- the flatlands have all been developed years ago. So, as a developer, eager to create income from the expansion of populations in and around Los Angeles, San Francisco or San Diego, if I want to build something new to sell to the public, steep hillsides near or in a forest is all I have left.

Permits to build in any area are granted by some state authority, so let's assume the state has said, "You've met all our demands. Go ahead and build in this 'at risk' area without providing the state with any guarantees of monies or other compensation if fires are to come any time in the future."

Then, the homes are built. Suburbs are built. Thousands upon thousands or homes are built in 'at risk' areas. Now, if anything burns, it will be at the cost of the tens of millions of homes that do not occupy these 'at risk' areas.

The homeowners build in the 'at risk' areas. They pay their fire insurance at premium prices (Hey, the Insurance companies know what might happen, even if the state doesn't). The fires come and go, and sometimes, the homeowners in the 'at risk' areas get paid to rebuild their homes by the insurance companies. Of course, built right back in the 'at risk' area again, and with no requirements of fireproofing the home any better that it was during the last fire.

So, LOTS of money is being paid to the insurance companies by the homeowners and possibly even by the developers of the 'at risk' homes in the mountainside communities, but none of the money is going to the state. You remember the State, the group that gets to pay for fighting the fires when they come? Notice I didn't say "if." That's a word that the insurance companies use to make LOTS of sales.

I propose that a more fair system would go like this: If you wish to develop or build in what the State designates as an "at risk" area, then monthly stipends must be paid to the state to fight the fires that will eventually come. You can decrease your stipend, if you maintain the brush cut back from structures to a given distance, but the stipend will be paid to the state to fight the fires if you continue to live in an "at risk" area. After all, it is your choice to live there, no one if forcing you to live there, and with that choice should come an added responsibility.

And this should not be just for those of us who reside in "at risk to Fire" areas, but for any and all "at risk" areas -- at risk to flood, at risk to mud slides, at risk to earthquakes.

Only then would the cost of fighting the disasters be equitable. Otherwise, all of us bear the cost by the risk that a few require. Yeah, putting the cost over all of us makes the cost less for those who are "at risk," but isn't the point of doing that to discourage from developing and living in the "at risk" areas?

Yes, it is.

Comic-Con 2009 is in the rear-view!

2009-07-27T10:02:00.001-07:00

Well, another sun has set on the thunderous foot prints that roamed the San Diego Convention Center for five days in July, 2009.

Comic-Con has come and gone. But with great gusto! What recession? Maybe some things have been scaled back, but not at Comic-Con. It seems like it was bigger and better than ever. If you weren't there and needed to be for business, you blew it, man.

I haven't heard what the numbers were, but the show sold-out two months sooner than it ever had, and the by look of things, next year is already looking to beat that mark. I spoke with one of the Staff in charge of CCI (Comic-Con International) and he said that next year is already off to record numbers for exhibitors.

I heard that there were 125,000 attendees. It seemed like ALL of them were there between the panel and other presentations on Saturday. The hallway in front of the Wireheads' Booth was always crowded, in particular when some panel or class would let out from the rooms above and the bodies would flow down the 2 story escalators and on the the floor of the Exhibition Hall. There would be no room at all to roam for the first 10 minutes, then it would lighten up as half of the people made their way towards the movie booths and the big name comic booths.

The opportunities were everywhere for creative-types -- publishers, artists, producers, distributors were all over the place and easy to talk with. In fact, I would say most were expectant -- they wanted to chat about what they and you were doing. I met Terry Moore, the creative talent behind "Strangers in Paradise" and the new comic "Echo" which was just optioned by Lloyd Levin, producer of the "Watchmen". We chatted about story and where Echo might go with its ending. So far, Echo, is issue 14 into a 30-issue run. I couldn't believe that I got to talk story with Terry Moore - somebody pinch me. Sunday afternoon on day 5, while I was standing in the exhibitor registration line to register Wireheads for 2010, I asked the guy in front of me about the paperwork. We introduced ourselves as fellow webcomic authors and discovered I was face-to-face with the writer/artist of the hilarious "Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal's" Zach Weiner! I gave him the Google for Wireheads approach since neither of us had business cards at that moment and hopefully, he'll get to check us out.

Also, I was totally intrigued by the Steam Punk-styled weaponry on exhibit and for sale at the Weta booth, so I asked about them. Turns out, that Weta is FINALLY going to create their own content! It looks absolutely awesome! I chatted with one of the creators, Greg Broadmore, and found out new things. More to come on that at a later date. (Yes, it's a secret).

Next door to Wireheads -- To the West, was the fabulous creator Artist/Writer Randy Reynaldo and his Rob Hanes Action/Adventure comic -- Think a grown-up Johnny Quest working for an international, military Security-for-hire group drawn and presented in a "Terry and the Pirates" style. Yes, really cool stuff. You should check out Rob Hanes. You can see a glimpse of Randy in the Wireheads' booth photo above.

To the East of Wireheads, was Charles, a new neighbor who was publishing some books of fabulous artwork and inking from the 70s, 60s and before. Also, signing in his booth for four days, was none other than Leonard Starr, artist/creator of "Mary Perkins On Stage" and the artist who breathed life back into Lil' Orphan Annie in the 80s. Above and to the left is Leonard and I in a pic next to the Wireheads booth. Leonard's a cool guy, easy to hang with and I hope his back gets all the wonderful care that it needs. Cheers, mate!

Across from us, was 'Pirate Cove', that's the author, Joe D'Angelo, across the way from us. He and I have been neighbors at Comic-Con for two years and last year at Wonder-Con in San Francisco. Great guy and also works in the industry.

I had little time to run around the floor and flitting about from booth-to-booth created as many questions as it revealed information. For example, the blonde in the suit who handed me her Stark Industries business card. Yes, Stark Industries had a booth. Aren't they a made up company that works only in Iron Man stories, or...?

Got to see the new BioShock2 trailer and a little of its gameplay in a walk-through by one of its creators. Looks pretty damn cool. True to BioShock, but with new revealing information on the old story. Good job, guys.

Wireheads did well at the show. We hit our 2008 numbers by Friday and set a new mark for next year over the weekend. Yes, everyone smiled as they read the words "Zombie Bunnies" on our booth, and laughed at the explanation. The Life-Sized Zombie Bunnie, ZB, did his work throughout the show, attracting people from aisles away to find out more about his coolness. Expect to see a LOT more of ZB and his minions in the near future. Stay tuned...

I absolutely LOVED the fans that came by. One woman on the first day asked, "Is this the latest book?" Upon my answer, she grabbed it, opened it, grinned evilly and laughed at her friend. She said in parting, after buying lots of stuff (Bless you!), "No one gets by me at work after I've read Wireheads!" Ooo, I thought, a new slogan! Another had her picture taken with me, bought stuff (Bless you All!) and told me that Wireheads was one of the few comics she bookmarks at the top of her browser. Makes me feel all tingly inside. We is loved. Yeh! Many, many, many more fans came by and laughed and paid respects. This was beyond cool. You guys were great on a scale of awesomeness. Yeah that makes no sense, but it does convey the depth of my feeling.

And to round out the Comic-Con report, nothing would be complete without a smattering of the cosplay-types that came by the booth! Here they are:
Naturally, the Star Wars cosplayers were out in Force! (Ouch, that hurts). They were constantly roaming by. I lost count of how many legonnaires, Padme's, Lukes, Wookies, etc. walked by the booth, but not the Slave Princess Leia's -- I counted seven smoking hot Leias going by. Hopefully, I didn't miss any, that would be such a pity. Here's one representative. Exciting, no? And this year, apparently, there was a 'Steam Punk' side-convention to Comic-Con. I asked these two nice ladies about it because I had seen so many of their ilk among the crowds this year and didn't recall anything in particular, movie or otherwise that warraunted their presence. They told me of the side-convention of punks and that they were a group who revelled in the "Nineteenth Century, Time-Travel, Victorian Adventurers of all types" with movies like 'Steam Boy', 'Time Machine', 'Time After Time' and others influencing their style and predilection.
Naturally, right after they left, a large life-size bunny in full Steam Punk regalia stopped by, looking at my bunnies and wondering aloud about Zombies. Okay, there's a bit of everything there at Comic-Con.
And, to prove that point, here's a few more that stopped by -- Green Lantern and Wonder Woman.
Nuala and Nuada of 'Hellboy 2' fame.
Kiki of Studio Ghibli's 'Kiki's Delivery Service.'
A Marilyn Monroe-type across the hallway, and a 'cheeky' onlooker. This guy had a cool ride-around with this giant Dragon head sculpture on the front of it. When he finally drove by and stopped for the picture, he was so close that I had to back against the back wall of the booth to get it all in. I said."Wow! It's so big!" He exclaimed non-chalantly,"I usually like that when the women say it." Cha! And away he wentA smokin' Julie Newmar-style Catwoman with claws and stuff. She was the best of the many catwoman wandering the hall. Nice.And lastly, a super-heroine yet-to-be-names, but certainly worth a photo. Queen of the Latin District? Mardi Gras Woman? The Cleavage? Ah, I'm sure you guys could do much better.

All-in-all, it was a great Con. I really had fun. Only got grouchy on Saturday night (Yeah, I can be a real grouch sometimes.), but it's in the books now, down the road back to Lala-landand time to follow up with all of those whom I said I would. Enjoy! And see you all at Comic-Con 2010 next year!

Cheers.
- Jimbo

Comic-Con 2009

2009-07-21T18:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, finally leaving for the Con tomorrow morning. Have to get the booth setup and operational by 3pm for Premiere Night. Excited. I think half-the-webomic world is headed for San Diego right now. Been following several tweets from Sohmer (LICD) and Jennie Breeden of Devil's Panties. (I think she's still stuck trying to get a flight out of Atlanta) so far.

Anyway, I have a couple of booth helpers this year, so with any luck, my time at the table will be a bit more limited than in other year's past.

I need to get in touch with "John Boy" and a few other artists I met on Artists Alley a couple of years back and talk to them about pitching comics. Yeah, something new for me, but a Director I like working with and I have a cool story that would rock as a graphic novel.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to it. Should be great fun!

Comic-Con 2009 Prep

2009-07-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

So, I'm prepping for Comic-Con. It's going to be in San Diego, California between Wednesday afternoon, July 22nd, and Sunday evening, July 26th. Wireheads' booth will be in the Small Press Pavillion against the back wall of the hall at table S-13. You can find our listing on the Comic-Con site here.

By "prepping", I mean, I'm spending most of my Summer Days working on marketing and merchandise. The new book "Wireheads: Through A Zombie Bunnies' Closet" is now available at Lulu.com and soon to be on Amazon.com. That was last months' chore. Now, it's onto other merchandise.

I will have new zombie bunny buttons, the new book, new t-shirts as well as a Life-Sized Zombie Bunny at the show! Come by and get your picture taken!

Cheers.

Stars Lining Up for MJ

2009-06-27T19:53:00.001-07:00

Now I've heard that the "Stars" are lining up to take over the European Concerts for Michael Jackson. It will be interesting to see if the management company putting all of this on (AEG) goes through with this. I suppose it is in their best interests because they could potentially save a lot of money and possibly recoup a lot of their initial expenses, but you know Show-Biz. Someone will likely mess up and who knows what might happen next. Sure to be a Media-Fest, though.

The King of Pop

2009-06-26T12:24:00.000-07:00

By now, the world knows that Michael Jackson has died. It's amazing that such a HUGE endeavor -- 50 concerts sold out months in advance, staging, film, publishing, recording and all of the ancillary businesses -- would bascially be relying on the performance of this one man. I suppose one might assume, "Well, he's done it before.", but that was twelve or more years ago and there's been a lot of water under the bridge since then. I was in Dodger stadium, what was it?, 1983? to see the Victory Tour -- one that Michael, at the height of his fame, did with his brothers. They performed as the Jackson Five again on stage and sang backup to Michael with all of his Thriller hits. It rained almost the entire time, but no one left. And if you weren't standing on your seat the whole concert, you missed it.

Heartbreaking, tragic... But, hopefully, memories of triumph and pushing music, performanc and fashion to its limits. We'll miss you.

Under Construction

2009-06-26T11:37:00.000-07:00

As some of you might see today, the site is undergoing some significant changes. Don't worry, everything still works and hopefully, by the end of all of this insertion, embedding, html-ing, the site will be much more communicative than it was when I set it up three years ago. Still have a ways to go, but the good news is, I finally have the time to do what I've wanted to do for the last year. Wish me luck! And let me know (now that you can) what you think of all of this (or if you have any ideas to share) by commenting or twittering me back.

Cheers!

A Second Post for Testing

2009-06-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, I think I just about have this formatted correctly, so I am going to create a little longer post for testing the scrolling in the window. I'm not sure how to limit the scrolling, because after a while the scroll bar might get way too small to use, so I thought I'd better see if it works at all first. I would be nice if the posts would simply go to a 2-line intro limit after the most recent post, so that the blog of all sequential posts would be listed short in the window and you'd have to go to blogger to comment or read older posts. Maybe that is somewhere in the formatting.

TEST

2009-06-25T19:00:00.001-07:00

This post is a test of my new Blogger setup for embedding this stuff into Wire-heads.com. Let's see if I can make this work and be attractive for my page.