Luis’ Illustrated Blog

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

I was VERY grateful for our two day work week this week. I’ve been feeling burned out and the time off really helps.  This week I started on a new crew.  Time to start building up another show.

ART

I got working on my sister’s second logo this week. I told her I kinda liked what I had originally done with the logo in my first pass. She then told me she did also BUT she didn’t think the pose itself captured the Yoga pose quite right.  She told me it lacked the right energy.

I gave it another shot.  I even added a yellow “energy” wave to try to sell the energy. I pushed the pose as much as I dared and then after I was done I grabbed the drawing (I drew this on the computer) and I pushed it some more. This is what I sent my sister:

She told me she like it but she didn’t want the yellow so I took it out.  I then went in and cleaned the drawing up just a little bit more and it was done:

MOVIES

I’ve made no secret that I’m not a big admirer of the newest Star Wars movies.  They’ve kinda messed up Star Wars quite a bit.  I do enjoy watching  both versions of the Clone Wars Cartoons (the 2D ones AND the 3D). Especially because they are made by Star Wars geeks that KNOW what makes Star Wars cool. I happen to know that the Clone Wars guys actually argue with George Lucas over some of his lame ideas. They’re my heroes.

Anyway, one of the worst Star Wars movies ever made was The Phantom Menace. If you don’t believe that it’s a bad movie, watch the film below. If you DO think it’s a bad movie, watch the film below as well, it’s going to make you laugh. If you are interested in film making or storytelling and want to know what is needed to tell a good story, watch the film below as well.  It will learn you something.

WARNING: The following movie contains bad language but is darn funny:

MOVIES

I went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie starring Robert Downey Jr. as  Holmes.  I enjoyed it quite a bit.  I’ve read a few Sherlock Holmes stories as well as watched a few Sherlock Holmes TV shows and movies. The familiarity with the character’s previous adventures, helped me feel like I knew the back story of a lot of what is spoken about by the characters in this new movie. This new version of the characters  is very different and yet I still think it felt right.  Still, it was definitely a very  “American” Sherlock Holmes and Watson.  They acted more like cowboys than British gentlemen but then again, it DOES take place during the TIME of the wild west, so it wasn’t too inappropriate. In any case, I enjoyed the movie, and I hope they make more.

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THE SIMPSONS NEWS

With the help of quite a few extra people, we managed to finish the show on time and in good shape.  Such good shape that some of us had a small break during the day to relax after we finished our last scenes.  Those are the best days.

Now I’ve moved on to help another crew. Back to the grind stone.

FAMILY

This is a bit embarrassing.  Especially since I’ve known about this for the last five months but I’ve forgotten to mention it on this blog. I think it’s about time I let everyone know that Alesha is pregnant.  We just found out this week that it’s going to be a BOY! I’ve been so excited about this new baby since I found out she was pregnant.  To be completely honest, this is the first time I’ve been excited about having a baby.  The first two times I had a difficult time being excited because I was too busy being worried about it.  I didn’t know how we would handle a baby or what it would be like and all that.  This time around, I don’t have any of those worries. I’m very excited. Yay!

MOVIES

(This is a spoiler free review)

I went on a “date” with Munchkin this weekend and watched The Princess and the Frog. It was her first time at the movies.  She behaved incredibly well.  She got tired of being in the theater about half way through the movie but she didn’t complain.  She was a bit fidgety but she stuck it out.  It would be nice if there were intermissions on kids movies, so the kids can stretch their legs.

What did I think of the movie?

Overall I thought it was entertaining.  It felt good to see a 2D movie again. It felt very much like snuggling up with a warm blanket on a cold day for me.  I liked the main character in the movie very much.  My favorite character was the villain. He was done very well.  I like that he wasn’t super powerful. That his power came at a price. The setting was great and I loved the backgrounds in the movie.  It had really well composed shots.  There were lots of great moments in the movie and I didn’t even mind the singing.  In fact, I kinda wanted them to sing more for some reason.  I almost felt that the movie need more musical numbers.  The first song of the movie went off into a different art style and it looked fantastic.  I wished they had done that with all the musical numbers.  2D features, should take advantage of the fact that they’re in 2D and that they can get away with that sort of thing.

However, the movie did have some problems that bothered me a bit.

The main one is basically this: After a five year hiatus from 2D animation, the best Disney can come up with is more of the same?  Isn’t this the thing the got everyone tired of 2D Disney movies to begin with?

Also, from the start, BEFORE I even watched the movie,  I didn’t like the way the much touted “first Disney black princess” was being shoved down our throats only to spend most of the movie looking like a frog. Watching the movie, my fears where confirmed.  I didn’t like that at all.  ESPECIALLY since she’s so darn charismatic and likeable as a human.

I also had absolutely no idea what ethnicity the Prince in the movie had.  I still don’t.

And speaking of the other characters, there where WAY too many of them.  A lot of them could have been done without.  Especially Louie the alligator.  The firefly in the movie was the REAL secondary character of the movie. He actually moved the story along and had some of the most touching scenes in the movie.

My taste in animation has changed over the years, I thought this movie was WAY over animated.  The characters moved WAY too much.  It bothered me. Just about every scene was overly hammed up. There was very few, truly natural looking acting in the movie. I thought the main bad guy had the best animation in the movie.

As far as the story goes, I thought it was trying to say too much.  There was too much going on with too many characters and each character seemed to have two motivations for everything they did and they each learned two lessons if not three.  I was talking to a friend of mine at work and we couldn’t quite pinpoint what the message of the movie was.

But, I think the thing that bothered me the most was the whole frog thing.  I mean, I know that that’s what the movie is about, but I couldn’t help but think that there was another way for the character to have learned her lesson.  It seemed to me that, they started out with the idea of The Princess and the Frog.  Then, they thought it would be cool to turn it on it’s head as well as make it take place in New Orleans, which is fine.  Then they decided to flesh out the main character and her background. But once they did that, the character kinda took on a life of her own.  Suddenly they had this character that could really drive a story, a character who needed to “take over” the story.  She needed a specific story that was catered specially for her…only…they had this frog thing that they had started out with.  Instead of just letting the lead go her own way, they forced her to be in this frog story that they had originally created her to be in and it felt forced somehow.

Perhaps they over wrote the character.  I can’t help but compare this character to the one in Hayao Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle.  Both characters were enchanted into becoming something else, and through that enchantment, discovered what they lacked and changed to become better rounded people.  But in Howl’s Moving Castle the main character wasn’t charismatic or driven from the get go, so she grew into that role as the movie went on.  Meanwhile the lead in The Princess and the Frog, had all kinds of good qualities to begin with, it was overkill to have her learn the lesson she learned by becoming a frog.

I seem very critical about the movie. And I am.  I enjoyed myself never the less. It’s not a bad movie. I still recommend the movie because I know most people won’t even begin to think about the movie in the term I just laid out.  It’s an entertaining movie to watch and has a lot a really great moments.

Munchkin said she liked it.  Isn’t that enough?

ART

I finished the color pass on my sister’s logo. Here’s the final color:

My sister had specific colors she wanted. I was thinking of something a little different and it was interesting to have to get out of my “color comfort zone”.  I tend to use the same colors, over and over again.  It was a nice change for me.

MY WEB COMIC

For those of you who are missing my cartoons, I just thought I’d let you know that once I’m done with the logo designs, I’ll try to start them up again.  You also might be happy to know that I’m already on my way to producing an eleven page short gag comic starring The Black Terror Kid.  Once I start getting the pages finished I’ll start posting them here on the blog in their own page.

The writing is done, the thumbnails are finished and the pages are under construction.

Here’s a sneak peek at the rough version of the first page:

…and speaking of web comics…

VIDEO

I came by this the other day on Twitter (Follow me on Twitter).

When I look at this device, all I can think about is how I could apply it to comics or animation.  It would be so easy for people to read online comics this way.  As well as the way that the machine may revolutionize comic strips.  I think perhaps comic strips might go from being static images to animated images.  Instead of comic strips, imagine you get a Ghettomated cartoon like Jim Lujan’s.  If he can crank one out in a month, he can have it ready for a digital magazine no problem.

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THE SIMPSONS NEWS

Finished up my work with the last crew and started up on a new one. Religion is the theme of this show. Surprisingly not very  insulting.  I’ve seen a show this season that does have a very anti Christian joke in it (actually making fun of Jesus. I hope they cut that joke out). Yet this one, which is all about religion, gets away with the topic by only making fun of the people rather than the religions (or it’s founders). Wonder if anyone will care for it?

FAMILY/MOVIES

So I decided to see what Munchkin’s reaction would be to the movie Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki.  Keep in mind that she’s only three years old and the movie is REALLY intense.  Why would I even attempt to show her this movie? Well, I’ve tried showing her other dubbed version of Miyazaki movies that I own. I showed her My neighbor Totoro.

It didn’t keep her attention at all. I then tried showing her my personal favorite Miyazaki movie (if it’s in the original Japanese) Kiki’s Delivery Service and, again, she didn’t really care for it (I don’t own Castle in the Sky Laputa dubbed, so I couldn’t show her that).

So I pretty much gave up showing her Miyazaki movies.  Then, one day while going over my DVDs, she saw Howl’s Moving Castle and asked me if she could watch it. So I thought, why not?  It’s intense but I doubt it will keep her attention for long.  I mean, it’s about a young woman who turns into a old lady, for goodness sake. What could she possibly like about it?

Well, apparently, just about everything but the end.  She sat through most of the movie. In fact, she loves seeing the part where the main character turns old.  Why in the world does that movie keep her attention while Totoro doesn’t, is beyond me. So since she liked Howl’s Moving Castle, I thought perhaps I’d show her Spirited Away.

Both Munchkin and DANTE where glued to their seats! Dante too. He’s only a year and a half years old. They couldn’t get enough of the movie.  They watched he whole thing. From the moment they saw it, they barely blinked.

When it ended, Munchkin asked me to play it again. WHY?!

Here’s my theory: From the moment the movie begins, there is a sense of conflict to the situation the protagonist (a young girl) is in. Within the first five minutes of the movie, she is faced with having to choose between one fear and another (follow her parents into the scary tunnel or stay behind in the car alone with the creepy statue).

Her choices go from bad to worse as the story develops and she is confronted with one frighten thing after another.

This movie puts the young girl in the most perilous and dangerous situations a little kid could possibly be in, and yet, she faces all the situations, fear and all, and not only begins to conquer her fears, but also begins to thrive.  The scary things, the dangerous things,  she faces them all in a believable way and becomes strong.  All those things, become less scary, less weird and she comes out ahead in the end.

I think both Munchkin and Dante related to a character that was confronting very scary things.  To them, everything must seem as scary as the monsters in the movie. Maybe to them, the world is full of giants and weird new magical scary things.  They must have empathized with the protagonist’s predicament from the start.  But then seeing her “handle it”, get used to it all and thrive must have really been the thing that kept them riveted.

Miyazaki captured the true essence of the old fairy tales in this movie. The type of story that isn’t watered down by making the perils a person faces so weak that it’s hardly a threat and therefore, not really worth telling. This movie is like a classic fairy tales that puts a character in a true life and death struggle where you either succeed and become a stronger better person in the end or die trying.

OR…maybe I just have weird kids. After all, Munchkin LOVES Batman, which I don’t understand because Superman is WAY cooler. I blame it on her mother.

ROLE PLAYING GAMES

For those of us who are broke, getting free games is awesome, so I thought I’d put up some Free Rpgs or board games that I’ve found on the net.  This week I’ll put this one up:

Risus: The Anything Rpg

Risus (Latin for laughter) is an extremely rules lite rpg.  You can download the pdf of the game off the site and the rules are six pages long. It was designed as a comedy rpg but as far a I can tell, most people use the game for more “serious” games.  It’s very versatile and has a very clever conflict resolution mechanic.  It’s also very easily modified to you own needs. It has a  fairly involved community that has made quite a few mods to the game already. Check it out.

BOARD GAMES

(Photos taken from www.boardgamegeek.com)

I’ve mentioned the game Qwirkle before in two posts a loooong time ago. I’ve been meaning to write a review of the game and I will the next chance I get.

The reason I’m bringing it up though is because, up until now,  the game has been difficult to find in stores. You could get it online but, often, that is just a pain (especially with the shipping cost) and some people don’t feel comfortable buying online (like my mom).  Nothing beats going over to a store, seeing a game, picking it up, examining it, buying it and playing it a few minutes later.

Well, now you can do just that.  Qwirkle is now being sold at Target stores in the U.S..  I discovered this on Tuesday when I stopped off at one to buy some diapers.  I always go the toy section to check out the toys and board games. You can imagine my surprise when I came across the game. It’s always exciting when a good “hobby board game” makes it’s way to the mainstream retailers.

Congrats!

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THE SIMPSONS NEWS

This is the second time I’m writing this since I lost my original version somehow.  I have to make sure to make a back up. This post is the MUCH ABRIDGED version of the original.

I’ve gotten permission to do overtime at work.  This is good since I need the money.  It’s bad because I don’t get much time to do anything else (like re-write my lost blog post).

FAMILY

Alesha finished the first draft of her story. I’ve been reading it and giving her my two cents.  It starts off really well and then it begins to get a bit rushed.  She needs to double her word count so it’s not a big deal.  She just needs to slow the story down a bit by adding more.  It’s fun to read.  We’ve been bouncing ideas back and forth on it. Once it’s done, maybe I’ll put up a chapter or two on the blog.

BLOG/PODCAST

Raul is at it again. Making himself a multimedia superstar. Check this out:

MOVIES

Alesha and I saw, Green Lantern: First Flight on Monday.  I rented it late last week.  I really enjoyed it. Not for the kiddies.  This is rate PG-13.

I’m also looking forward to the next animated movie DC is coming out with. It’s based on a great comic I own called Public Enemies. Take a look:

If you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.

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I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.

If you would like to have a text ad on my site, click on the red BUY LINKS button under the Archives list.

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Writing this blog is almost a part time job for me. Tips are most welcome.

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

Working late for two days straight again this week.  Need to make up the hours because I’m going to be missing a day of work to take care of the kids for a day.  My work load isn’t too crazy but the scenes I need to do are pretty complicated.  I’m working on a new crew right now. I’m helping out for the week. I’m not sure what happens afterward.  Hopefully I get put on a new crew.  Right now, the show I’m helping out on, is a show from last season.  This is their last week to ship everything.  I’m feeling the pressure.

FAMILY

Big day for Carolina’s family last Saturday.  Angelita, Carolina’s youngest daughter, did her First Communion.  We were all very happy for her.  Afterward we gathered at their house and had a First Communion party.  Munchkin had a fantastic time.  She had so much fun that when it was time to go, she left crying.

Meanwhile Dante and Alesha had to stay home.  Dante had a fever late last week.  He wasn’t doing very well at all.  Still, in spite of the fact that he was burning up, he insisted on sitting down to eat.  He also wanted to walk around and play.  He wanted so much to do what he always does, but the poor boy found himself not being able to do much.  By the end of the week, he was back to normal.  He just needed to spend at least one weekend at home without going out anywhere.

CATHOLICISM

I went to get my lunch on Monday from the kitchen at work.  As I was walking back to my desk I overheard a conversation at a  table in the kitchen from my fellow co-workers talking about the whole Obama/Notre Dame thing. Of course, most of the people I work with are on Obama’s side of the debate; and of course, they saw it as a purely political thing.  “Conservative Catholics” vs. “Liberal Catholics”. Their conversation was also the typical anti-Catholic prejudice, you hear everywhere.  “Those Catholics don’t know what they’re doing, they have it all wrong, they’re holding on to ancient things that don’t mean anything”…etc.   It ruined my lunch.  All I heard was a couple of sentences but it got me sooo steamed up it just ruined my lunch.  I couldn’t stop thinking about all the things I would say to them and how I would say it.  How “I would SHOW THEM”.  How my arguments would make them look foolish.  How I would show how much smarter and more intellectual my view was.  How arrogant, heartless and mean an angry Catholic could be…which is, of course, the reason I couldn’t do it and didn’t do it.  I was too angry to say anything that wouldn’t have done more harm than good. It wouldn’t have been a conversion about the topic at hand so much as an exercise in arrogance and pride on my part.

I wondered though, if I HAD said something in a calm, collected, and charitable way, if they would have seen it as a political argument rather than a logical one anyway.  I wonder how much I would be able to say to them that wouldn’t have sounded as if I was politically “Conservative” instead of just Catholic.  Why is it that if you live your faith as it is taught by the Church  you are automatically “a close minded, ultra conservative, right winger”? Why is it that being unfaithful to your Church and faith is celebrated as being “progressive” and open minded? Yes, I understand that there are political Conservatives that are Catholics. I also understand that there are political Liberals that are Catholics. Yet, that really shouldn’t be the issue.  The issue should really be about whether you are a FAITHFUL Catholic or not. You shouldn’t put you parties or political views ahead of the dogmas of your faith.  If you do, it only goes to show which one of the two is your REAL Religion.  In the end, it just  made me sad.

MOVIES

I  used to like Star Wars more than Star Trek.  I thought that Star Wars, in general, was a bit more fun and Star Trek was a bit to “hard sci-fi” to be as fun.  Then George Lucas released his  Star Wars prequels and pretty much ruined the fun of Star Wars by making three movies that never actually captured the fun of the original three.

Along comes the new Star Trek movie and does to Star Trek what Lucas couldn’t pull off with Star Wars. It updates the Star Trek franchise, makes it fun, captures the essence of what made the original Star Trek work (the characters), takes away the dryness of Star Trek, adds some action and makes it cool to like Star Trek.  Yes, the intellectual parts and the hard science, that made Star Trek truly geeky, are missing, but what we get in it’s place is a good fun time.  Hopefully, some of the intellectual stuff will make an appearance in the next movies, for now, I’m happy with what they gave us.

BOARD GAMES/VIDEO GAMES

Haven’t written about games in a while so I just thought I’d write about a board game that will become a video game and some video games that have become board games.

• Dungeon Twister

Andy and I played a game of Dungeon Twister last Friday.  He beat me, but I think the game would have kept going. On hindsight I think we messed up a rule that would have changed the way we saw the last move of the game.

Andy really likes the game. He’s liked it ever since we played it for the first time months ago.  It’s a dungeon crawl-ish chess game with a modular board whose parts twist around. There is no luck in the game.  It’s all tactics and strategy. Here’s the Description of the game:

Dungeon Twister is a 2-player high level strategy game where 2 teams of adventurers with various powers are trapped in a dungeon. The board is composed of 8 rooms that can be moved and rotated by the players. Each turn, a player is able to spend actions to move around the dungeon, pick up and use items, battle with the opponents team, or turn and move the rooms of the dungeon.

The goal is to reach 5 victory points. Points are collected by moving adventurers out of the dungeon or by killing an opponent’s adventurer. Treasures are disseminated across the whole dungeon and will bring the adventurers well-needed powers.

Each player has the same characters, each with different powers. Some run fast, some fight or disarm traps. The cleric heals, magician burns everything in sight and the goblin is so weak that the simple fact of getting him out will bring you two victory points.

Combat and actions are managed via cards. To move, fight, heal or turn a room, you must manage action points obtained by playing cards. Those cards are not drawn but selected from a set of cards by both players. Both players have access to the same panel of cards at the beginning of the game so the game is really about managing the resources and adapting to the changing environment.

It has recently  been announced that a new version of the game is coming out called: Dungeon Twister 2: Prison. This version of the game will actually be different and yet will still play the same as the original and it will be “backwards compatible” with the original. It will be coming out in December. The interesting part is that the game will also be released for Xbox live through Hydravision at the same time.

• Skirmish Wars: Advance Tactics

A few years back, when the first Advance Wars game came out for the GBA, I bought it and totally fell in love with it.  I played that game once for an entire night.  I started playing it at around 7 or 8 pm, looked up after some hours had gone by and discovered the sun was rising.  It was just such a fun game.   I didn’t buy the new ones that came out after that, Mostly because (like the Street fighter games) the new games where pretty much, more of the same and I hadn’t (and still haven’t) unlocked all the maps in the game I have, and the original allowed you to make your own maps as well.  Theoretically I can keep playing the game without needing to buy a new one.  Besides, I haven’t played the game in a few years.

Just found out from the Purple Pawn website that someone has made a free print and play version of the game called Skirmish Wars: Advance Tactics.  They put it up on BGG  and I downloaded the pdf.  It looks great. They made the maps modular so you can create your own scenarios and everything. I’m so going to print it out.  I just need the figure out how “fancy” I want to make my version. I’m sure Andy will be up for a game. I just hope the game doesn’t take too long to play.

Above is a screenshot of what the original video game looks like.  Below is the board game version.

Just looking at the picture make me want to play it.  It looks so fun.

• FITS

From the mind of Reiner Knizia comes FITS.  It’s Tetris the board game. It sounds great.  He really came up with a great way to translate the game into a tabletop game.

FITS (Fill In The Spaces) is essentially a multi-player Tetris . Each player has an inclined board on which they place different polyominoes - like Blokus pieces, with three, four, or five squares. Cards are drawn from a pile to tell the players which piece to take. The pieces may be rotated and reversed before they slide down the inclined area to dock to other gaming pieces, but unlike Tetris cannot be slid horizontally once dropped. Scoring is based on quantity and configuration of squares left uncovered.

Unlike original Tetris there is no time pressure but like Tetris there is no player interaction as every player is engaged with his own board.

This game is now on my Wishlist under “Must have”.  Definitely looks like a game most people will want to play if I was to bring it out.

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THE SIMPSONS NEWS

Well, not much to report for this week.  Just working on finishing up the show on paper.  It’s good to be back drawing on paper but I miss the ability to  time my own scene and look at how it will work with the dialogue.  Still, it’s fine.  I’m having fun.  Hope this job lasts a bit longer ’cause I don’t want to be laid off anytime soon.

FAMILY

Dante has started walking now. He’s very proud of himself.  On Monday, he mostly did it between spaces that he could see a definite end point.  Such as, from the couch to the living room table, or from the living room table to  one of us.  If he would take a few steps and see everything  he might be able to walk to was more than ten steps away, he immediately would go back on his hands and knees and begins to crawl.

By mid week, he was confidently walking toward nothing, then he would look around, stop and walk in another direction. He would then crawl if he lost his balance. It’s great to  see him get more and more confident. It’s also darn funny to watch him walk too.  I’m sure  by Friday of next week, he won’t be crawling at all.

FAMILY

Munchkin has gotten into wanting to watch Superman and Justice League Cartoons.  I don’t know why.  She suddenly decided she wanted to watch them.  She went over to the DVD shelf, pointed to the Superman and Justice League cartoons, looked up at me an said, “Supaman, Supaman?”

I think her favorite heroes so far are Superman and Batman. She likes Superman because he can fly and Batman because…well…I have no idea why she likes Batman.  Maybe because she’s played with a Batman action figure before. I’m not exactly sure what she finds so entertaining about the cartoons either. This weekend she watched two seasons worth of Superman Cartoons and one DVD worth of Justice League cartoons. By “watched”, I mean, she had them playing in the background while she played with her toys. She would occasionally look up and watch for about five minutes before going back and playing.  Although, when she grew tired of playing with me or her toys, she would sit down and watch an entire episode. Even though she wasn’t watching them all the time, the moment one of the DVDs ended, she insisted on putting on another.

The cartoons are not anywhere near the kind of thing she’s used to watching.  They are very action oriented cartoons.  Lots of superhero fights in them.  Lots of life or death situations with many things at stake and very serious themes. Very complicated stories that would just go ever her head.  I think she has gotten used to watching action oriented cartoons from watching Disney cartoons like, Tarzan, Treasure Planet and Lilo & Stitch. Little by little, she’s learning the names of all the Superheroes in the show.  She now knows that Hawkgirl’s name is Hawkgirl. Although, every hero that talks with a gruff voice, she insists on calling Batman.  I find it funny and strange, yet I can’t help but feel a bit proud of her for being such a geek.  That’s my daughter.

COMIC BOOKS

Speaking of Superheroes, I was thinking of maybe buying Munchkin some Superhero comics because she likes the cartoons so much.  Lucky for me, both DC and Marvel have started coming out with kids comics.

Now you maybe saying to yourself, “Hey Luis, aren’t ALL comic books for kids? DC and Marvel ONLY do kids comics”.  To which I would reply, “You haven’t read any modern comic, have you?”  By no means are modern comic for kids.  In fact, if most comic would be given a movie rating, they would mostly be PG13 and up. Comics are full of sex and violence, and in many of them, the superheroes are about as immoral as the villains they fight. There are very few comics that I would say are “kid appropriate” and even those would be dealing with themes that would go over a little kid’s head.

DC and Marvel have come to realize that they no longer have comics that would appeal to young readers (and therefore are not getting new readers), which is the reason why they have developed a line of comics especially for them. This is great news for me, since now I have some comics I could get my kids.  So I was thinking maybe I’d get her a Superfriends comic and see how it goes.  Maybe I’ll take her to the comic shop next week and pick one up.

Guess I’m raising a geek.

MOVIES

(The following, is a spoiler free review of the Watchmen movie)

Alesha really wanted to go watch Watchmen last weekend, so we did.  I didn’t own the Watchmen comic until a few weeks ago.  I had read Watchmen in high school when a friend of mine had lent me his copy. I remembered the book, so I knew what it was all about.  At the time I read it though, I didn’t really truly “get it”. The book is very deep and brings up a lot of philosophical questions about human nature and the problem of evil.  It’s also one of those comics I was talking about above that are in no way meant to be read by kids.  It’s a very “Adult” book.

Alesha wanted to see it because she had heard so much about the comic.  Which in turn, made her bug me to go buy the comic so she could read it, which she did, after I bought it.  She enjoyed the book and then got even more excited about going to see the movie.  I began re-reading the comic myself but only got half way through the 200 or so pages before we went to see the movie.  As of the time of this writing, I’m still making my way through the rest of it.  Taking my time, in order to “soak it in”.

So what do I think about the movie? Well, I thought it was an incredibly faithful rendition of this epic comic book. I’ve read many reviews of the movie that say, they didn’t like the protagonists.  They where all unlikeable.  Well, that’s because the protagonist in the book where not very likable either.  In fact, the protagonist in the movie where far more likable than their book counterparts.  Watchmen is not a movie about good, superheroes. It’s a movie about messed up superheroes that are really screwed up in the head.  Many people hate what they call the “juvenile view on humanity” the movie has. I saw one person say it was a “hippie movie”. I think it’s great that it pushes people’s buttons.  That’s why the book is so interesting to begin with. I also read a review of a guy who took his son to go see it. He left the theater very upset and even told the theater owner that he should be ashamed at playing the movie.  Which I think is ridiculous.  The movie is rated R for a reason.  Why blame the theater owner? It was the father’s responsibility to find out what the movie was about before taking his son to go see it. Especially if it’s rated R. He shouldn’t blame anyone else.  I think he thought it would be okay to watch because it was a “superhero movie”.  Well, wake up.  Comics aren’t for kids anymore dude.  Watchmen (which was written in 1985) was one of the comics that where responsible for making the comic medium grow up.

Do I agree with the world view the book and movie puts forth?  Not completely, but I will say that part of the view point put forth, is no different than what Blaise Pascal puts forth in his book Pensées.  Of course, Pascal’s solution to the problems is much different and much wiser than it is in Watchmen. The solution to the problem put forth in the movie is quite evil and would be, at best, temporary.    I think that perhaps most people just don’t want to be told that there is a problem at all, or at least, be reminded there is.

So what’s the movie about? It’s a murder mystery. In an alternate 1985, where Nixon is president and America won the Vietnam war (thanks to one of the superheroes in the movie), someone has killed a superhero (the Comedian) and another hero (named Rorschach) is trying to figure out why.

There is a lot to this movie and I recommend it.  BUT it’s by no means perfect.  If I have one real complaint about the movie it’s that the violence and sex in the movie is gratuitous.  The comic was pretty violent, so I expected to see the atrocities in the book, but I didn’t expect them to be enhanced. Nor did I expect them to add more violence when there was no need to. The stuff in the book was bad enough without adding more.  Also, the book had sex in it but the movie seemed to relish in making the sex scenes go on forever. Both these things where unnecessary and just plain took you out of the movie.

Oh, and one more thing…having read the book, I expected this, but if you haven’t, this might take you aback.  There is a character in the book named Dr. Manhattan, who is a super being. He stopped being human a long time ago and therefore no longer feels shame, or embarrassment,  nor does he feel heat or cold. This means that, whenever he’s not out in public, he’s naked and, just like in the comic, he is shown in “all his glory”.  Most people I talked to at work said that the audience they saw the movie with, didn’t react at all to this, but the audience I saw the movie with, had some giggling girls/women in it and I heard a friend of mine say he heard some guys giggle in his theater.

You’ve been warned.  Remember, this movie is rated R.  You want to know what you’re getting into before watch the movie? Read the comic.

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THE SIMPSONS NEWS

Finished up the board-a-matic this Wednesday. Today I start helping out other crews.  In a couple of days, we’ll be back on the show for the final pass.  There’s going to be a lot of work to do.

I’m so glad I have a job still.  The season is slowly coming to a close.  Not looking forward to it.

FAMILY

I have a new nephew! My brother Juan and my sister-in-law Deborah had a baby boy this Tuesday!  Hurray! I’m soooo happy.  I think Deborah was in labor for like two days. It was really difficult.  She went through a lot.  My brother said it was the most trying time he’s ever been through.  My mom was is prayer mode the whole time.  I pray a bit as well. It definitely is exciting though.  As of the time of this writing, I haven’t actually met the little boy yet.  Can’t wait.

Babies are so great.

FAMILY

This weekend was Valentines Day.  Alesha and I celebrated it on Sunday instead of Saturday.  We did this for two reasons, one, because that way we might have a chance to get my mom to take care of the kids without stepping on any Valentines Day plans my parents might have; and two, so that we could avoid the crowded restaurants and traffic all over.

It was nice. Alesha and I hadn’t gone out like that in a while and it was a good change.  The kids love having my parents over also.  Alesha and I went to a restaurant next to our housing community and then we went to the movies. We had fun.

Monday I stayed home with the kids and Alesha went to the Dentist and had lunch with her sister.  I believe she also went shopping. Meanwhile, at home, I was really tired and it was all I could do to keep up with the kids’ constant demands for my attention.  I LOVE my kids, but sometimes I just need a small break to get my strength back, and they didn’t want to give it to me.  I didn’t do much resting at all that day.  By the time Alesha got home, I had just put the kids to bed and I was completely fried.   Alesha took pity on me and played a game of Magic: The Gathering with me (which she won). It helped a lot.

MOVIES

(Edit: got the name of the movie wrong. It was pointed out to me on the comments, so I fixed it)

The movie Alesha and I went to watch on our Valentines date was the movie Coraline.  This was the second time watching it for Alesha.  The movie was in 3D and I must say, I was impressed by the technology.  The movie was based on a novella by one of my favorite authors Neil Gaiman.   He was the reason I wanted to watch it. It was directed by the director of Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach, Henry Selick.  Both those movies where interesting but not really something I would say where all that great.  The motion capture in those two movies is the best part of those movies, unfortunately the stories where not quite as gripping as they could have been.  Not so with Coraline.

I loved the movie.  First, because the story was great.  It was really fun and interesting. The Character designs were great.  I loved the motion capture animation in the movie.  It’s NOT computer generated.  Motion Capture is the animation technique of sculpting figures over wireframes putting them on a miniature set and moving them a little, then taking a picture, moving a them a little again, then taking a picture, then moving them a little again and taking a picture…etc. Old school.  The movie benefits from it. Best of all, this movie HAS NO SINGING, which, as much as little kids like it, more often than not, gets in the way of the story in most modern American animated movies.

Again, I will say that the story was the thing that made the movie worth seeing.  It’s the reason I like Neil Gaiman’s work.  The movie shares some similarities with other movies that I’ve really enjoyed: Pan’s Labyrinth and Spirited Away.  If you’ve enjoyed these movies, you may very likely enjoy Coraline.  Coraline shares some of the intensity of both these movies as well as a girl hero and her ability to use her wits to figure out ways out of magical perils. I won’t go into more detail than that in order  to not spoil the movie. If you watch the movie, you will see what I mean when I compare Coraline with those other movies.

I highly recommend this movie.  I will put this one disclaimer on it though, if you have a kid who is easily scared, don’t take them to watch this movie.  It’s a bit creepy.  After all, fairyland is a very alien world that follows it’s own rules. There aren’t many people who enter it, that manage to come back out.

Below is the teaser trailer to the movie. I chose it over the actual official trailer because the official trailer is one giant spoiler.  Why watch the movie is they give away all the surprises? The teaser is sooo much better.

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FAMILY
Before I write anything else, I would first like to ask for your prayers. My daughter’s Godfather’s mother is very sick and maybe dying, It’s a very difficult time for them right now and I would please ask you to keep him, his mother, and their family in your prayers. Thank you.

THE SIMPSONS NEWS
Last Sunday, the second show I worked on this season was broadcast. I didn’t watch it because, to be honest, I always forget the show is on. The show was mainly about Homer and Flanders teaming up to become bounty hunters, while the “B” plot has Marge getting a job in an erotic bakery. In any case, my co-workers who saw and worked on the show were really disappointed in the show. It turns out that the show was overwritten which means that it was two minutes longer than it should have been. In order to be able to air it, the show had to be edited down. This meant cutting quite a bit of content. The result was that a lot of the best gags were lost. For example, the show has a sequence that spoofs The French Connection. In the cut we saw, it goes on for a while as Homer almost runs over all kinds of people, but in the version that was aired, they cut the sequence down so that he only runs over one person and then it ends. There was also a great running gag with Chef Luigi that was cut completely. There where a lot of things like that, that were cut. Not only that, but during the retakes processes (which is the processes where they fix all the mistakes the colored version of the show has. And sometimes, where they re-write gags they think they can improve) they re-wrote some fun silly gag with an angry Leprechaun and replaced it with the Hulk instead. That really stunk because that was one of the crew’s favorite gags. Sometimes the writers, re-write stuff because they don’t think it’s funny but that’s only because they’ve seen the gag too many times. To everyone else, it’s still fresh. This happens just about every show. Sometimes I think the writers should watch a show with an audience so they could see what gags are working and which ones are not. There are gags that, we at the studio laugh our heads off, that they cut just because they don’t think it’s funny anymore.

I think the thing that has me most bummed out about hearing how much of the show was cut, is that fact that no one is going to get to see these gags but us in the studio. It MIGHT come out in the season 20 box set but I’m not sure it will. So far, not everything that gets cut gets put in the box sets. In any case, it’s just disappointing.

FAMILY

For picture of Munchkin with teeth bigger than her head, click here.

FAMILY
Well, Munchkin is no longer obsessed with Snow White, she’s obsessed with Sleeping Beauty instead. I decided to show her the movie to see how she would react to it. I wanted to see if the movie would caught her attention like Snow White did. It was actually kinda funny because when I put the movie in, and the movie began to play, Munchkin had a frown on her face. She was looking at me and at the movie as if she didn’t trust it to be any good. This suddenly made me feel responsible if the movie failed to entertain her. So I sat there watching her watch the movie wringing my hands anxiously, hoping she would like it. It was very silly. She pretty much kept the expression through out the entire movie. When it was all over, Munchkin stood up, looked at me and asked me to play in again. Now she asks to see the movie every chance she gets.

The things, she likes about it, really surprise me. For one thing, she loves the music. That’s not as surprising so much as the fact that she loves to listen to the orchestral part during the opening credits. Since the movie is old, it has the credits at the beginning of the movie with a sampling of the music that will be played through out. Munchkin loves to sit there and listen to it. She smiles, listens and turns to me with anticipation during that opening. Unsurprisingly, she gets up and tries to move and dance like Princes Aurora in the forest but what surprises me is during the times that Maleficent in on screen, she doesn’t seem to get very scared. She’s completely fascinated with all the fairy tale elements in the story, including the exciting finally against the dragon.

For my part, I’m glad she wants to watch this movie. Why? Well I’ll explain myself below…

MOVIES
Sleeping Beauty is by far my favorite “girl marries prince” Disney movie. It’s an amazing movie to look at. I can’t help but admire all the artwork in every scene of that movie. The art direction is simply amazing. The background paintings are drop dead gorgeous.

The animation, by “The Nine Old Men” is masterful. The music by Tchaikovsky is beautiful. The character designs are great, the consistency of the drawings of the characters is remarkable (a major flaw in modern 2D Disney movies). The fact that every line on all the characters was hand inked, with different colored inks, on different parts of their bodies, onto a cell is just mind blowing. The bad guy in the move is one of the coolest bad guys in the Disney pantheon.

The dragon she turns into is sooo awesome and the design is simply amazing. As little as we get to know about Prince Philip, he comes across as really cool. Even though he had A LOT of help fighting Maleficent from the good fairies, he still comes across are very heroic. Not only that, but the iconic symbolism of that fight is really great.

I mean, he’s protected by The Shield of Virtue and he fights with The Sword of Truth and with it he slays a dragon. It really calls to mind Biblical passages:

7 And there was a great battle in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the

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THE SIMPSONS NEWS

Went back to work earlier than expected. I got a call last week asking me if I could start this Wednesday. It seems that a show needed some help because an artist was going out of town or something and they need a replacement for the rest of the week. I agreed to come in so I started work. From the moment I got to my cubicle I had work. It was waiting for me on my chair. I didn’t really get a lot of time to settle in. I saw the work load and knew if I stalled, I wouldn’t be able to get it done, so I rolled up my sleeves and got started. An hour or two later, my director got into the office. He told me he left me the stuff and just wanted me to get started on it without any need to talk to him about it. I was way ahead of him. Not exactly the back to work experience I was hoping for.

The funny thing about being back to work this time around is that I got that weird nervous feeling that I’ve only gotten, when I was younger, on my first days back to school from summer vacation. That’s never happened to me before. Why do I feel like that now?

MOVIES

Do to the fact that both my wife and I were out of work and we had some crazy bills to pay last month, we haven’t really been buying things or going out at all. This meant the we hadn’t seen any of the new movies we really wanted to see that have come out lately. Well, since I was going back to work, I thought it would be a good idea to go watch as many movies as we could before I went back. So earlier this week I saw three movies, Hancock, Kung Fu Panda, and The Incredible Hulk (in that order). So I’ll do a really quick review of all the movies, beginning with:

Hancock

The movie was entertaining. I enjoyed it quite a bit. The biggest flaw I had with this movie was that you just about get the whole movie just watching the trailer. Fortunately the trailer leaves out one big twist that actually made the movie enjoyable. It’s a fun popcorn movie. I recommend it.

Kung Fu Panda

I loooooved this movie. First, because I love Kung Fu. Second, because I know Kung Fu. Third because it was funny and fun. This is the type of animated movie I wish was made years ago. Why hadn’t anyone thought of this before? It’s the type of movie I wished I’d worked on.

It had some really cool things going on. The style of the opening dream sequence was just awesome. one of the highlights of the movie. Watching the movie really made me want to go back to study kung fu again sooooo bad. I miss it. Haven’t done it in years. Go see this movie cause, I want a sequel. Which would probably happen even if it bombs. It’s a Dreamworks movie after all.

The Incredible Hulk

Exactly what I expected. Waaay better than the first Hulk movie. Compelling story even when the Hulk wasn’t on screen. It was fun and exciting. I still liked Iron Man a lot better. Still I liked this movie and I love The Avengers teasers that Marvel Comics is putting in all the movies. I tend to get more out of these movies than most people do because I read the comics and they often put a lot of “inside information” for all the comic geeks through out the movies. It’s like what was done with the Lord of the Rings movies. If you read the books you got more out of the movies than if you didn’t.

I highly recommend you read the Marvel Comics so you can join the fun, otherwise you just get annoyed by it. It’s easy to do too, it’s not like you have to read a novel or anything and they are fun reads.

Now we just have to wait for the Thor movie, The Ant-Man movie and the Captain America movie and we’ll have just about all the Avengers.

MY WEEK

Do to the crazy week I’m having, I really didn’t get time to draw. I did this quick doodle at lunch. I felt like drawing something different for a change. The lesson I got from drawing it? I need to go back to figure drawing class. It’s been a long time and apparently I’m really rusty.

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Writing this blog is almost a part time job for me. Tips are most welcome.