THE SIMPSONS NEWS
EDIT: (Okay, I’m keep the original post up but we are no longer accepting suggestions. Thank you all who participated. Hopefully some of your suggestions will be used when the show airs.)
Okay, so I guess this will be my last post reminding you about helping out the show. See the post: Calling all Simpsons fans, the show needs your help. Nethack and other Rogue type games for more details. This week, production began looking for the clips to put in the animatic. Luckily we had some suggestions from people inside the studio that we can work with (I made sure Josh Lama’s suggestion was in the pile they took with them). Once we are done with the first pencil test pass of the show, we’ll get to see how well the gag works . We won’t be done with that until sometime late next month.
Been working hard, getting my scenes done this week. I’m doing pretty well actually.
Usually, the week after Comic Con, (more on that below) everyone is talking about the Con and we all show each other our loot. Not so much this year. My friend Tommy did give me a copy of an artist’s sketchbook that he bought there and ended up not liking the drawings in it as much as he thought he would. I was happy because it so happens I almost bought that very book, but ended up changing my mind at the last minute. Cool.
COMIC CON 2008
Went to Comic Con last Thursday. Been looking forward to it for a while. I was hoping to have a very inspired day, like I did last year. I packed up a lunch, a bottle of water, took my back pack and I left my house at around 7:00am so I could be there around 8 or 9. I live about two hours away from San Diego. For the first time since I’ve been going, I took the 15 fwy south instead of the 5 fwy south. The biggest reason for this decision was because I live closer to the 15 fwy so it was more convenient. It was interesting. A little more scenic than I anticipated. Although I missed the hour and a half long view of the beach you get when you drive down on the 5 fwy (it’s purdy).
The Con doors opened at 9:30am. Got to San Diego around 9:00am. Parking, as usual, was a pain in the butt. Luckily, I was able to find the place I parked in last time easily enough. The fifteen dollars I payed to park there was like a punch in the gut though. Still, I was paying for the convenience of not going around for an hour looking for parking. I got out of the car and headed for the convention center. Didn’t take long before I was passing by stormtroopers and pirates, while trying to avoid the ninja turtles that where passing out fliers on the side walk. That’s when I realized that, once again, I had forgotten my camera. I’ve yet to remember to bring it. Lucky for me, my phone has a dissent camera so I took it out and prepared to take pictures. Unfortunately by the time I did so, I was stuck in the middle of an enormous mob of wall to wall people. It would have been great to have taken a picture of it but, since I was smack in the center, I couldn’t get a good shot of it without it looking like only a small handful of heads. The mob was there because it was attempting to cross the street to get to the Convention Center. After traffic cops herded us all across the street like a bunch of cattle, I finally made it to the Convention center.
As you can see. There were quite a few people already there and the Convention hadn’t officially opened yet. I managed to find the professional’s pre-registration area so I could get my badge to get in. Unlike last year, I actually remembered to pre-register. Last year it took me two hours in line to get my badge and I had to pay. This time, it took about five minutes and it was free. YAY!
After waiting ten minutes, it became 9:30, the Con was officially opened and we were let in.
Once again, as it always does, I got overwhelmed by the Con. I found myself just about right in the middle and I had to decide which direction I should go to start my trek down every aisle.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take a good panoramic shot of the Con for the above picture because I wasn’t thinking of making a panoramic shot. I’ll just say that, if you want to know what the other side you don’t see looks like, it’s just as endless as the side you do see.
I picked a side and I was on my way. The side I started in made me feel as if I’d suddenly gone to the wrong Con. I thought I was at E3 instead. It was all video games there. Lots of video games that will be coming out soon. I didn’t stay long. Most of the video games I saw, didn’t interest me much. A few of the cinematic videos of the games where really nice thought. They really caught my eye. The Warhammer Fantasy MMO video, for example, looked awesome. Why don’t they make CG movies like that?
In any case, I walked up and down the aisles for an hour or so when I finally came up to the Stuart Ng booth (the one with all the European comics) where I got inspired last year. I looked around and was horribly disappointed that I found nothing at all that caught my eye. That’s never happened before, and I left the booth pretty sad.
Except for a Dalek that was set loose on the Con floor to exterminate all life…
…nothing caught my eye in any of the rest of the aisles either, until I got to the center of the Con. That’s where all the big flashy shinny booths are. Lots of fun stuff to see there.
First, I happened to discover that someone just happened to have dropped an Iron Monger suit. It was just sitting there and no one was claiming it so I thought I’d take it. Problem is that the thing was too big to carry and when I tried to get into it, I found it to be trickier then I thought. .
Disappointed I walked on. Then I saw that, once again, someone had accidentally dropped a James Bond car in the middle of the Con. So again, I thought, since no one was claiming it, I’d take it home, but there was no keys in the ignition, so my plans were crushed.
That’s when I heard the Hulk yell at me. He was angry because he said I was trying to “steal thing”. I told him it was “finders keeper” if someone dropped things and didn’t claim them. He got angry at me. You don’t want to see him when he’s angry.
So I had a few more adventures at the Con with some other superheroes and a few Star Wars characters, but I think I’ll save that for next week.
TO BE CONTINUED…
MOVIES
WARNING: The following review of the new Batman movie contains spoilers. I really couldn’t talk about this movie without doing so. It has too many interesting moral things in it that I wanted to talk about. So if you haven’t seen the movie and you don’t want it spoiled, please do not continue reading. You have been warned.
I saw the movie Batman the Dark Knight on Wednesday of last week. Overall I liked the movie. It felt like a modern Batman comic book instead of what people think Batman comic books are like. It was very smart and I liked the moral dilemmas presented to the characters through out the movie. One thing that all superhero movies should do is exactly that (have big moral dilemmas). Superhero stories are best when they are morality plays (like Westerns and Samurai movies). I don’t know why people making superhero movies don’t get that. The first Superman movie would have been much much better if they had left Lois Lane dead. Turning the world backwards in time was a total cop out. Same with the first Spiderman movie. Mary Jane or a bus full of kids? I’LL SAVE THEM BOTH, TA DA! Stupid, very very stupid and shallow too. When this Batman movie presented a similar dilemma, it did it right. I was happy with that. There has been a consistent depth to the latest two Batman movies that I’ve really enjoyed.
The Joker was finally done right. He was just like the comic book Joker. About time! Heath Ledger was great in the role. I don’t know how they could possibly cast another person to play the part. That’s going to be tricky. He was really great.
Great action in the movie, great cast. I liked Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent, he came across as very heroic. I hope that Two Face isn’t dead. He was very cool (in a bad guy way). Having the Joker “create” him was a very interesting take.
There is so much to like about the movie. It’s great. You can sit down and analyze the movie and get a lot out of it.
The Movie also brings up a very interesting point about Batman. Is Batman an effective hero? According to the movie, he is not. His use of fear and violence to solve problems doesn’t actually help the city, it merely causes more fear and violence. I will say this though, at least they finally made a Batman movie where Batman doesn’t kill the villain. That’s something I hated about the Tim Burton Batman movie. In that movie Batman murders the Joker, which of course makes him just as bad as the Joker. Not in this new movie. They get Batman right…well…almost.
Having liked so much of it, I did have issues. Some of these issues where clarified after I talked about the movie with some friends of mine at work. I thought the movie felt long. A friend of mine thought this was because it was not written and edited cleanly enough. It wasn’t a lean movie. I’m not sure if I agree with him though. I would need to watch it again to make sure. I personally think that part of the reason it felt long was that it had a very unconventional structure. I don’t know how many Acts the story had but sometime midway through the movie, every time one ended and another Act began, it felt like the movie should have ended there. As a viewer, you never had the ability to anticipate the movie’s end and it made the movie feel really long. Again, I think repeat viewings of the movie might fix this problem.
Okay, now for my biggest problem with the movie. I propose to you that the movie was pretty much about the hope there is in all people to do the right thing. In spite of the fact that through out the movie, many people fell into the Jokers “morality traps” and chose to do an evil in order to produce a good (which is a BIG no no). In the climactic “morality trap” of the movie, the people of Gotham on the boats ended up doing the right thing. This showed the Joker that the people of Gotham are not animals but humans capable of making good moral choices. If that’s the case, why throw it all out the window in the last five minutes of the movie? What I mean to say is, why didn’t Batman and Commissioner Gordon have any faith in the people of Gotham when they found out the “truth” about Harvey Dent? Especially since only a few minutes before, the people of Gotham proved they could face dire circumstances with flying colors. It seemed really forced and unnecessary. Not only that, but the movie did a lousy job of making you feel that Harvey Dent was seen as a great hero by the people of Gotham. The characters kept, telling us he was, but never actually showed it (like they did with Batman and Gordon’s son). So not only did it feel forced to me, but then they added insult to injury by scandalizing Batman and Gordon by having them lie to the public. To me, story wise, it came across as if Batman and the Joker had exactly the same view of humanity. Are the people of Gotham so weak? They live in Gotham for goodness sakes! Out all the places to live, that city should produce the strongest of people.
Did the Joker win in the end? I would propose to you that the answer is, “yes” but not for the reasons the movie itself gives. I propose that the Joker would not have won if the heroes would have had faith in the people of Gotham to deal with the truth. Since the Joker managed to break the heroes’ faith in people completely, they chose to compromise their virtue and decided to deceive everyone. This is suppose to make Batman seem heroic and tragic. I propose that when the situation is looked at objectively, without the dramatic musical montage and voice over, it just makes Batman, look like he wants to be a martyr, just to be a martyr. “Oh look at me, I’m such a tragic hero.” This guy has major psychological issues. I didn’t buy it. It didn’t work for me.
Obviously, the reason they ended the movie that way, was just so that they had an established conflict for the start of the next movie. They could have come up with something more consistent to the story of the movie than that.
Okay, that’s my rant. Still, I trully loved the movie. I just left the theater very angry because of those last five minutes. I think I left the movie theater far more energized and excited after seeing Ironman, in spite of the fact that Ironman was nowhere near as smart and wore it’s themes on it’s sleeve. But then, the Batman movie was not meant to fill you with happiness and joy. It was meant to be a great morality play.
COPYRIGHT PROTECTIONS
Yesterday the Orphan Bill was almost Hotlined. Luckily enough people called their Senator and put the Bill on Hold temporarily. I received the following e-mail explaining what happened:
FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP
Senate Orphan Works Bill Put “on Hold”
We’ve just received word that the Senate bill has been put “on hold.” In fact, there appear to be multiple holds on it. Senators who “hold” hotlined bills do not have to identify themselves nor give their reasons for holding it. Holds are temporary. We don’t know how many of you contacted your Senators on such short notice this afternoon, but many, many thanks to all of you who responded so rapidly.
Most people are unaware of the process called hotlining. In the past it was used to pass non-controversial legislation, but increasingly, it’s being used to pass bills whose sponsors don’t want to see debate. An excellent article in Roll Call explains the process. Here’s an excerpt:
Senate conservatives are upset that the leaders of both parties in the chamber have in recent years increasingly used a practice known as “hotlining” bills – previously used to quickly move noncontroversial bills or simple procedural motions – to pass complex and often costly legislation, in some cases with little or no public debate. The increase was particularly noticeable just before the August recess, when leaders hotlined more than 150 bills, totaling millions of dollars in new spending, in a period of less than a week.
The practice has led to complaints from Members and watchdog groups alike that lawmakers are essentially signing off on legislation neither they nor their staff have ever read…
In order for a bill to be hotlined, the Senate Majority Leader and Minority Leader must agree to pass it by unanimous consent, without a roll-call vote. The two leaders then inform Members of this agreement using special hotlines installed in each office and give Members a specified amount of time to object – in some cases as little as 15 minutes. If no objection is registered, the bill is passed.
– From ‘Hotlined’ Bills Spark Concern
By John Stanton, Roll Call Staff
September 17, 2007
To read the full article, go to: http://tinyurl.com/3p8x2u
This is the second time the Senate Orphan Works bill has been hotlined this summer. The previous hotline came on June 5, the same week artists descended on Washington to urge lawmakers to oppose this controversial bill. The bill was put on hold that time too.
Since bills can be hotlined without prior notice, we’ll all have to stay vigilant throughout the rest of this legislative session. Thanks again to all of you who responded so quickly.
Over 60 organizations, representing more than 250,000 creators, are united in opposing these bills in their current form. Illustrators, photographers, fine artists, songwriters, musicians, and countless licensing firms all believe this bill will harm their small businesses.
Read the list: http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00273
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Luise,
That is a great illustration of the Podcast Expo. Sorry you did not make it to the Mass.
God bless,
Fr. Jay
Just found your page about Italy! Loved it! Lived in Italy a couple of years; just doing a YouTube video about how to get to the Sistine Chapel. Your sketches brought back so many memories (especially the “Metro at Rush Hour” type).
Dear Luis,
Very interesting and thoughtful blog. If you are interested in Catholicism and boardgames you might appreciate “Vatican” the boardgame I designed. It has been selling worldwide and we have gotten very favorable comments
Sincerely,
Stephen Haliczer Ph.D.
Distinguished Research Professor
Product Designer
The College of DuPage Press
Hey! I’ve been trying to call you for a couple weeks! I should have checked your blog sooner. I thought you might have had the baby by now! Congrats! Call me ya bum. My number…unlike yours… is the same xxx-xxx-xxxx.
im doing a piece of it coursework and wondered if i could put your
“computer stoopid” picture on it.
I would acknowledge where it came from beneath it and in the bibliography.
If the answer is yes then could you tell me the artists name too?
thanks. keith.
Sure, absolutely, go right ahead. Thanks for asking.
Hi Luise,
I just came upon your Nephilim skeleton debunking image….very interesting.
I wish we could have met at Comic Con to discuss certain issues. Nothing that
I would want to discuss openly here.
Hope to hear from you,
Den
If you want to discuss something privately, you could always e-mail me. The address is up there under the “Hi, Welcome!” about the top commentators. It’s luis(at)luisescobarblog(dot)com.
Can you give me permission to use one of your illustrations for a tee shirt. I really want to wear “there must be some way to plug this keyboard into this game” – It’s how I see the world.. and you explained everything I want to tell the world in that one illustrzt8ion.
Gina
Yes, Gina. You can make it into a shirt for yourself off of that cartoon. I’m flattered.
I’ve been thinking about making shirts off of my little cartoons but I’m not sure which ones to do. Outside of an occasional cartoon that really hits home for someone, I’m not sure if they would sell.
So go right ahead Gina. Have fun.
Hi Luis,
My name is Phil and I came across your site while looking up information about animation and voice-over work. I’m a huge fan of the Simpsons & Futurama and a big Billy West fan (Ren&Stimpy, Futurama, Ect.). It is truly amazing to me how so many individuals come together to create these animated cartoons and the quality of the end product. I’m curious from your perspective how much work you have to re-do sometimes because of the networks and the way they censor some of the work that is being done. Best of luck to you in your projects. – Phil
You’d be surprised Phil. The biggest censors of the show are the writers themselves. They often pull back a joke they think is going too far. Sometimes, some of the jokes are funny too. It’s the artists that end up complaining about it. For example, there was a joke in one of the Halloween shows that all the artists thought was really funny. It was the show where Homer goes back in time on his toaster. In one of the futures he comes back too, he finds himself married to Patty and Selma. He discovers this when they show up waring lingerie. They looked really nasty, with their flab and hairy legs. When we saw it, everyone roared with horrified laughter. It was crazy. For some reason, during the re-write, they cut the gag because they thought it was too much. It was very disappointing. They didn’t even put the scene as an extra on the DVD.
Hope that answers your question.
It does. Thanks for the reply Luis. That gag actually would have been hilarious! Too bad it didn’t make it. I wonder if some unnecessary second guessing happens though because the writers feel they may be going over the top? (If that’s possible.) I know there is that fine line that writers and creators have to walk probably not only with the content of the show that’s created but with the networks as well. At least from what I understand in reading interviews and seeing convention interviews. Storyboards I think really help to set the tone of an episode and I bet it probably helps to justify many of the ideas that get spun out during the writing sessions of the writers. You all do great work on the show and I’m going to continue reading through your website. Thanks! – Phil
Hello there. I was researching nephilim for a report and I foung your blog. Its too bad those pics were all frauds. If they had been real, it would have been amazing.
After I read your stuff on the pictures I hung around a little, and read your “about me section”.
I am merely curious, so if I overstep a boundary, please feel free to tell me so.
I was wondering, sir, since you state that you are in fact a roman catholic, weather or not you believed in the deity of Jesus Christ?
I myself am a Christian, but I research other religions and alternate sects of my own. You could say its a hobby. In any case, if you find my inquiry impolite, I am sorry. I mean no offense.
Heh, no Christine, your question isn’t impolite. It’s good of you to ask. Too often people just assume things about Catholicism without asking.
The simple answer to your question is, “Yes”. Catholicism, teaches that Jesus Christ is God, the second person of the Holy Trinity.
The slightly more involved answer is as follows: The Catechism of the Catholic Church (the official book that explains all that the Catholic Church teaches) in paragraphs 446-451 ( http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1H.HTM ) states the following:
Arianism was a Heresy that the Catholic Church fought against that deputed this belief around the years AD 250-336 which concluded in the Council of Nicea. For more info go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianism or http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01707c.htm .
Hope that answers your question.
thank you. most people would out-right refuse to answer that question nowadays.
May the Lord bless you, Luis!
Luis – my name is Luis Escobar – every now and then I Google my name just to see what pops up. Well – I often come across you. No doubt – you have discovered me too. Anyway – sure there a ton of our Luis Escobar’s out there but I thought that I would just say hello and let you know that you have a cool name. BTW – I am the third Luis in four! Grandpa, Father, me and my son. Louie’s all around!
HA ha! Yeah, you have a great name too.
Wow! That’s a lot of Luisesesss in your family. Pretty cool. Love your site dude. I’ll link to you.
wow – that was fast – I am a photographer, distance runner and high school cross country coach. I live in Santa Maria California. Married with three kids. Your work is great. You are very skilled. I will take some time and learn a little more about you and your work. Very cool. Well – I am off to a work with one of my running students. I will look forward to talking with you a little more in the future. Luis
Cool. Anytime.
i like simpsons, starting watch becouse my doughter like it
I write comment but strange dropdown
Howdee Luis, if you are a real Christian then i would suggest you to do some research on your big boss (Matt Groening being a 33rd degree mason).
Loads of subliminal messages in the Simpsons, and occult symbolism.
(Even 9-11 was announced).
Greetings…. (Peace be upon you)
I would like to present to you all the sciences related to cosmogony together with its rules as per its identity which is something not similar to any of the other things and is out of any and assimilation according to the following point of view:
1. The theories of on cosmogony lack the fundamentals of the origin of things as they are mainly based on incidence and on the unseen.
2. The cosmic extension that has been taking place is the result of the range of vision through using the telescope and any other instruments because the thing being seen is determined by vision and this is one of the universe laws.
3. Knowing the within secrets of man will uncover secrets of the universe as the apparent entities of existence are of six kinds: the perspective (what is being seen), the tangible world (what can be touched and felt), what can be weighed, what can be heard, things that have flavor and things that have smell. These, in most cases, are overlapping and are counted six in number.
The origin of all entities are bare pictures of materials, void of force and readiness; it shines in debate and is complete when read. The investigation of scientists is restricted to this reading (capability and liability) where the material is with all its atoms, energy and speed and this alone is useless compared with its radiance.
The first cosmic law is that nothing can be determined unless established with what is contrary to it. And things are sometimes concrete and sometimes abstract and both are the same according to law.
The origin of radiance is the brain and by saying this I do not mean perception but the simple core of it. By formulating this equation the truth becomes uncovered.
The subject is highly complicated and can only be clarified by word of mouth or by arguments.
So, what do you have to present. (show)
بعد التحية :-
أود أن أعرض عليكم جميع علوم نشأة مفردات الكون وقوانينه وفق ذاتيته التي هي شئ ليس كباقي الأشياء خارجه عن حد التعطيل والتشبيه حسب النظرة التالية :-
1/ أن نظريات نشأة الكون تفتقد لأصول نشأة الأشياء وتحيل على ألصدفه أو الغيب .وكذلك استغراق البحث في الأفاق لم يأتي بغايته إلا بقدر ربطه بالوعي الإنساني.
2/ التوسع الكوني الحاصل هو نتيجة المد البصري من خلال التلسكوب وغيره لأن المنظور أليه يثبت بالبصر وهذا أحد قوانين الكون
3/ معرفة أسرار بطون الإنسان تكشف أسرار الكون حيث أن مفردات الوجود الظاهر على ستة أنواع (المنظور أليها ). (الملموسة). (الموزونة). (المسموعة). (ذات طعم). (ذات رائحة). وتكون في أغلب الأحيان متداخلة .وأصل الأشياء كلها صور عارية عن المواد . خاليه من القوه والاستعداد . بمناظرتها تشرق وبمطالعتها تتم . وبحث العلماء ينحصر في هذه المطالعة (القوه والاستعداد) حيث المادة ودقائقها وطاقتها وسرعتها وهذا وحده لا جدوى منه بقدر إشراقها . . وأصل الإشراق هو العقل ولا أقصد به الإدراك أنما هو )جوهر بسيط درأك محيط) وبتكوين هذه المعادلة تنكشف الحقيقة .
الموضوع غاية بالتعقيد يوضح بالمشافهة والجدل فما هو عرضكم ؟
توضيح:-
* أود أن أبين بأن وسائط الإدراك هي الحواس ألخمسه + تحسس الوزن.
* إما أحوال الإدراك ( تصوراته أي المعاني التي يلبسها ) فهي ستة أيضا ثلاثة وخلافها :-
1/ الحياة والموجود ولها صور فمثلا صورة الحياة هي الماء.
2/ الحركة والسكون ولها صور فمثلا صورة الحركة هي الهواء.
3/ الانفعال والسكينة ولها صور فمثلا صورة الانفعال هي النار.
* إما مراتب نفس الإدراك إي نفس ألصوره فهي خمسه:-
1)الجماد 2) النبات 3) الحيوان 4) الملكوت 5) الإنسان وصور ذلك كثيرة.
*** وكل هذه الصور تندرج ضمن تصورات الإدراك .منها ظاهره ومنها كامنة إي لم تظهر لحد الآن . والتوسع الكوني الحاصل هو ظهور لبعض هذه الصور الكامنة.
*وأروع إبداعات الإدراك هو العقل (جوهر بسيط درأك محيط ) ولكل واحده تفصيلاتها الوظيفية.
ووظيفة العقل هي ربط كل الصور المذكورة أعلاه بعوالمها الحسيه ألسبعه. وعالمنا هو العالم السابع وفق نمطيته الحسيه. وتجري آثار العقل على كل الصور الكونية فتصبح محسوسة وفق قوتها واستعدادها التصوري.
قد لا يفهم الموضوع بشكل جيد كونه لم يطرق بتاتا
Lol been stalking you. You’re pretty good. Not bad for a dad of many. Very talented. Don’t know how you keep up. Chat soon on twitter
An overwhelming desire to keep sane helps.
I’m doing some onsite interviews at Mystic Dragon’s Festival of Books. Would you have time to talk with me about your work and “The Art of Draw Fu”? at 4 pm on August 15th? Please let me know (and your “Black Terror Kid” comics, along with your comic about your trip to Rome, are really fun!).
Yes, absolutely. I’d be happy to.
Great, thank you! Could you email me a contact for you, at the above email link, and I’ll send you more information (and I’m ordering your book now!).