2007_08_01_archive

Darkness of "Little Mermaid"

Disney's "Little Mermaid" DVD has a great extra, a pencil test of the

scene where Ariel makes the deal with Ursula (this youtube link is for

the scene full color, still pretty good). Dark stuff. It's an evil

scene, the climax of which is downright violent(when she gets her

legs). This is what animation is capable of portraying, emotion on the

level of any live action movie, perhaps beyond. This may be the

greatest Disney Villain scene of all time. The problem is that nobody

ever explores that dark place, build characters around it and tell a

story from there. Why did they have to make the color and lighting all

bright and fuzzy? (thats why it's better to watch the pencil test

version). Imagine if Disney didn't have the whole kid thing attached

with it. I wish Scorsese directed that film.(btw supervising animator

for Ursula was Ruben Aquino)

Posted by Patrick Smith at 8:30 AM 6 comments

Labels: Influence

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Time Lapse of a Painting by Patrick Smith

Time Lapse of a Painting

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Here's a time lapse I did of a recent canvas. I tried really hard to

do this painting in one sitting, but we had to break it up into four

days. (well, there's actually a pencil drawing under everything that

took an additional two days). This painting, as well as over 20 other

works, and an installation of animation, will be exhibited in my first

solo show this September, here in New York, more to come on that. In

the movie with me is my fab assistant Noelle Vaccese, check her stuff

out here. The painting measures 36" wide and 72" high, I'm using

pencil, acrylic and enamel. If you're interested in a proper photo of

this or any other of my paintings let me know.

Posted by Patrick Smith at 9:32 AM 17 comments

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Pinocchio, Puppet, and Disney

I threw together these drawings for comparison (fairly bold i think,

putting my drawings up there with Disney masters, but anyway). And

next to that, somewhat related, is a great photo of Disney animators

John Ripa, myself, and Randy Haycock during a visit last year.

This famous sequence from Pinocchio really helped me figure out the

"burst" of the hand puppet coming out of the kids chest in "Puppet"

click here for movie. Disney films are just the best reference for

animation, if you're trying to figure out something, they've already

done it, and better than you could ever possibly do (and almost 70

years ago to boot).

These drawings are grabbed from a pencil test sequence re-shot a while

back by Andreas Deja, given to me by a buddy of mine at Disney. I have

2007_01_01_archive

Bjorn Jonsson 3D Planetary Objects

If you have not seen the planets and satellites of Bjorn Jonsson, it

is time to look. Bjorn Jonsson has highly realistic 3D renderings of

planetary objects available at his website. Many of the renderings are

done with a specialized planetary renderer, which he wrote for the

specific purpose of creating these images. Other renderings are

created with POV-Ray or by combining renderings from his renderer and

POV-Ray. More information about the software and process can be found

at his web page. Below are a few examples of his work.

Bjorn Jonsson 3D Planetary Objects

Bjorn Jonsson 3D Planetary Objects

Bjorn Jonsson 3D Planetary Objects

browse this space

2006_12_01_archive

Laser Blam

This looks pretty cool

It's the game that combines lasers with classic strategy. Players

alternate turns moving Egyptian-themed pieces having two, one or no

mirrored surfaces. All four types of pieces (pharaoh, obelisk,

pyramid and djed column) can either move one square forward, back,

left, right, or diagonal, or can stay in the same square and rotate

by a quarter twist. Each turn ends by firing one of the lasers

built into the board. The laser beam bounces from mirror to mirror;

if the beam strikes a non-mirrored surface on any piece, it is

immediately removed from play. The ultimate goal is to illuminate

your opponent's pharaoh, while shielding yours from harm!

They might have have lost me here, however

Yes, the game employs two class II lasers which are lower in power

than most laser pointers on the market, which are usually class

III. This means that although you still get the neat effect of

firing a laser to bombard your opponent's pieces, you will not get

the wow effect of seeing it melt or blow holes through the playing

field.

I wanted more blam.

# posted by Brian Dunbar : 4:18 PM

|

None of your business

Via Russ Nelson, an article about unschooling - where you not only

check your kid out of public school but you don't have any structured

instruction

The United States Department of Education last did a survey on home

schooling in 2003. That study did not ask about unschooling. But it

found that the number of children who were educated at home had

soared, increasing by 29 percent, to 1.1 million, from 1999 to

2003.

Experts assume that the upward trend has continued, and some worry

that the general public is unaware of the movement's laissez-faire

approach to learning.

The horror - the public doesn't know! Someone, inform The Public!

"As school choice expands and home-schooling in general grows, this

is one of those models that I think the larger public sphere needs

to be aware of because the folks who are engaging in these radical

forms of school are doing so legally," said Professor Huerta of

Columbia. "If the public and policy makers don't feel that this is

a form of schooling that is producing productive citizens, then

people should vote to make changes accordingly."

Because 'The People' are much better at deciding how to run my life

beatles music across universe

blisspop dc fun 1 year anniversary bk

Blisspop DC, FUN 1 Year Anniversary BK, Space Cakes BK and more

I've been a big fan of Will Eastman and all of the good things he is

doing down in D.C. His Blisspop party is the big one, the monthly

rager that brings it all together at 9:30 Club (815 V Street NW) This

one looks like the biggest and best yet, so it's not surprising that

it's called Best Party Eva. 33HZ will play live, Dave Nada, DJ Meistro

and Mr. Eastman himself will spin all night and you should be psyched

for this one, District of Columbians! Sponsored by Scion and

brightestyoungthings.com, this should be a great night of indie dance,

hip-hop, disco, house, great band, great DJs. What the hell, best eva.

$12, all ages, doors at 10pm. Take a minute and check out the video

flier for this one, Pound for Pound goes viral:

-It's a big night in Williamsburg, nothing bigger than the one year

anniversary party for FUN at Studio B (259 Banker St) They've clearly

chosen their special guests for maximum Pound for Pound attention :

electro legends Egyptian Lover and Newcleus. I mean, seriously, this

is huge. It's not every day you get to take a trip back to the early

80s glory days, when machine music took over. Egg Foo Young of

Turntable Lab is special guest DJ with residents Rok One and Eamon

Harkin. There's also a NewYorkFuckinCity side room with DJ Elle and

IXL, all your musical needs you should be covered. Hosted by Roxy

Cottontail, presented 10 Deep, Re:Up Magazine and TTL, this is a

fitting celebration for one of the city's best weekly. Open bar from

10-11, $10 advanced ticket, $13 at the door, doors at 10pm, 21+.

Photobucket

-Great party at Hugs tonight that appears to be called Space Cakes,

not totally sure what the name means, but I do know that the DJs on

hand are some of my favorites from NYC. Nick Catchdubs, Star Eyes and

Rezound are joined by Seattle's Pretty Titty for this one. This one

should be a fun, laid back night, as all of these DJs will spin great

music from all genres. No cover, 21+.

-Still in Williamsburg, the Finger On The Pulse guys do their regular

thing at Royal Oak (592 Union Ave) Tonight's edition is a birthday

edition for Courtney featuring Heidy and Trebek of Montreal's Guilty

Pleasures and Weekends Never End and of course Never Forget and Terry

Diabolik. You know the deal, fun times, dancing, drinking, stop in

early or late or stay all night. No cover, 21+.

Photobucket

-If you have to be in the city, there's one top choice and that's the

Stop Progress party at APT (419 W. 13th St) where resident Max Pask is

joined by DFA's Mock and Toof in the basement. Those names should have

you already super psyched, so I won't hold you back. $10, 21+,

awesome.

-I'm amazed at how much LA loves to do it big. Each night seems to

have another massive party featuring some of the best of the local

DJs. Tonight, it's the Hype LA party at Robertos (686 N. Spring St)

with resident DJ Don't Believe The Hype being joined by guests DJ S!n

and Hyphy Crunk in the main room. The side room is held down by guests

Disk Jo Slim, Dmndays and Bul!m!atron. Expect big music all night, new

ravelectro, Bmore, indie in both rooms. RSVP at the going.com site for

$5 admission before 10:45, $10 otherwise. 18+, doors at 10pm, goes

until 2am.

-The Mute party at the Proof Bar (215 N. Broadway) in Santa Ana has

been a really consistent party, bringing in quality DJs week after

week. Tonight, they host My! Gay! Husband!, who we mentioned earlier

in the week. The Iheartcomix dude is definitely worth checking out, he

will help DJ Legit, DJ Ben N. and Rockberry take this to the next

level. Doors at 9, no cover, 21+.

-Let's end with one of the most consistent parties anywhere, the

Lights Down Low party in San Fran. Tonight at the 222 Club (222 Hyde @

Turk), things are going back on some War Games 80s computer nerd shit.

Laromlab brings along his Commodore 64, Atari, laptop and samplers to

create computer music, which fits well with the name of the guest DJ,

Commodore 69. Residents Sleazemore and Rchrd Oh will smash computers

and melt your faces with dirty dance music. Parker Day takes the

photos, you need to be a part of this party.

posted by Jack at 6:08 PM

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2007_05_01_archive

Hackety Hack

Speaking of kids, I set the older boy up with Hackety Hack. Why not -

I'm working my way through a 'grown up' Ruby tutorial at the same

time.

- What's that?

You said you wanted to learn HTML - try this.

- Ok.

Ten minutes later he's further ahead than I am and he's a) enjoying

himself* and b) he's learning. Oh and c) he may have found out that

computers do more than just toss content at you - you can create with

them.

Hacking trumps playing Neopets any day.

*How do I know? I hear clicking followed by sotto voice 'cool's and

'wow's.

# posted by Brian Dunbar : 6:47 PM

|

Fight the tide

The local schools have a good reputation and, by all accounts, are not

so bad at the education biz. Why home school? Well ..

Inside the school, I felt the same cold grim feelings I had the

last time I'd come here - even empty, the place bristles, somehow.

A couple of students walked past, and I silently counted to see how

long it would be take before someone deployed the Effenheimer, or

the dreaded Mother Effenheimer. Three seconds. I'm not in favor of

having nuns patrol with nail-studded two-by-fours, but on the other

hand, I am. Or least some authority figure around which the Youts

would feel compelled to display a civil tongue. I was talking with

one of the neighbors at the bus stop; she'd been to the school last

week, and one of the stuecadents hit on her.

My child is not going there.

This is why: because a school that excels academically, where the

students are polite and well-mannered is becoming not, perhaps, a

rarity but certainly a cause to pause and say "Will you look at that".

The way it should be is becoming an exception. I can't fight the tide

but I can take my kids to high ground.

Cross Posted to The Daily Brief.

# posted by Brian Dunbar : 6:33 PM

|

Constant Conflict

Constant Conflict

Ralph Peters

It is fashionable among world intellectual elites to decry

"American culture," with our domestic critics among the loudest in

complaint. But traditional intellectual elites are of shrinking

relevance, replaced by cognitive-practical elites--figures such as

Bill Gates, Steven Spielberg, Madonna, or our most successful

politicians--human beings who can recognize or create popular

appetites, recreating themselves as necessary. Contemporary

American culture is the most powerful in history, and the most

destructive of competitor cultures. While some other cultures, such

as those of East Asia, appear strong enough to survive the

onslaught by adaptive behaviors, most are not. The genius, the

secret weapon, of American culture is the essence that the elites

despise: ours is the first genuine people's culture. It stresses

comfort and convenience--ease--and it generates pleasure for the

masses. We are Karl Marx's dream, and his nightmare.

Secular and religious revolutionaries in our century have made the

identical mistake, imagining that the workers of the world or the

faithful just can't wait to go home at night to study Marx or the

Koran. Well, Joe Sixpack, Ivan Tipichni, and Ali Quat would rather

"Baywatch." America has figured it out, and we are brilliant at

operationalizing our knowledge, and our cultural power will hinder

even those cultures we do not undermine. There is no "peer

competitor" in the cultural (or military) department. Our cultural

empire has the addicted--men and women everywhere--clamoring for

more. And they pay for the privilege of their disillusionment.

American culture is criticized for its impermanence, its

"disposable" products. But therein lies its strength. All previous

cultures sought ideal achievement which, once reached, might endure

in static perfection. American culture is not about the end, but

the means, the dynamic process that creates, destroys, and creates

anew. If our works are transient, then so are life's greatest

even life itself. American culture is alive.

Cross Posted to The Daily Brief.

# posted by Brian Dunbar : 5:42 PM

|

Early morning ramble

Ilkka is taking Disney movies way too seriously.

After the flashy start, the underbelly of this society of cars

slowly revealed itself as the cars, apparently with no free will or

choice of their own, obsessively kept simulating many aspects of

human society that simply make no sense for sentient automobiles.

Their physically very mobile society is very rigid with no real

social mobility, since everyone is pretty much born (how?) to his

place in society and cannot really aspire to become anything else.

As the young hotshot racecar is stranded to the small town that was

bypassed by the Interstate highway and therefore no longer gets to

extract monopoly prices and quality of service from the

cross-country travellers, we kept making hypotheses and asking

questions such as "Why did the train like bubblegum so much?"