Tale of a Tail, Bronze Casting & UPA

Tale of a Tail:
Ok, this is a subject that can get me in a lot of trouble if I don`t word this post just right. I am currently working on the tail construction for my student`s lizard custom. Here is the attachment cast of her backside with the tail attachment bracket laid over it. The beginnings of the tail assembly is below.

There is a spring at the base of the spine for a weight bounce of the tail with vertebra bars for cable attachments to make the tail swing for counterbalance (Right leg forward tail to the left and so on). I think I got through that one without getting in trouble. The trick is to make something that moves naturally and does not look machined. More on this later.

Gargoyle Stuck in the Mold:


Gargoyle in wax


With eyes and nose masked before sandblasting




First layer of Patina

I was a bit pissed that it took so long to get this piece cast. I had the investment done and then it set for 2 weeks because of one screw up or another which throw me way off because I needed the bronze from the gating before I can invest my next piece. (We turn in the cleaned up gating and that cuts down on the cost of the bronze for our next cast).

UPA:



My friend Tee Bosustow was in to talk to my students this last Wednesday about his father`s studio, his UPA documentary project and his new Internet based film festival. Cool projects all. I taped our talk and will be editing it later, I will put up some of the stuff at a later date. We covered a lot of interesting stuff relating to UPA, one of the most important animation studios ever, a studio that is still influencing design and animation today. Even thou most of the people don`t know where the influence is coming from.

Atari in the Rearview mirror

Atari Flashback 2, it says on the screen. The case looks a lot like the case for the Atari 2600 but 1/4 size and without the game slot. My son picked it up at a rummage sale at a local church and kindly passed it on to me for my birthday. But I have seen a number of them for sale on the Internet at around the $30 mark. Connection is to RCA plugs which is the only difference between this and the single RCA plug to a Coaxial of the original 2600.





There are 40, count them 40, classic Atari games built into the mini-console including Adventure that holds the first Easter Egg and Battlezone which was adapted from Atari`s US Army Tank training system. And a number of unreleased games.

Classic games include Pong, of course. Hell, here is the list:

Adventure (1st Easter Egg)
Adventure II
Haunted House
Return to Haunted House
Secret Quest
Wizard
Arcade Asteroids
Arcade Pong
Asteroids Deluxe
Centipede
Lunar Lander
Millipede
Missile Command
Space Duel
Battlezone (Tank Trainer for the Army)
Caverns of Mars
Quarrun
Saboreur
Space War
Yars` Return
Yars` Revenge
3D Tic Tak Toe
Aquaventure
Atari Climber (Unreleased Donkey Kong Rip)
Combat
Combat2
Dodge`m
Fatal Run
Frog Pond
Hangman
Human Cannonball
Maze Craze
Off the Wall
Pitfall
Radar Look
River Raid
Save Mary
Video Checkers
Video Chess

Atari Flashback came out in 2004 and Flashback 2 came out in 2005. The controls are the standard 2600 home system controls. This is good for most of the games but hurts you on some of the arcade games like Centipede and Millipede, which had a trackball in the arcade. The 2600 joystick controller is not as much of a disadvantage as you would think. I have ported versions of Centipede on other systems and the more ergonomic modern controllers make it unplayable. A mouse is a little better. The joystick works very well and is the next best thing to a trackball.



You might want to look for these systems on the Net. Lots of fun! Going to be a great help in my Gaming History Class.

Intellectual Child Abuse

A couple of weeks back I looked on with horror as the Sunday LA Times recounted Jackson and Spielberg in their preparations to assault a beloved fictional little boy. There is no Social Service protection for Intellectual Property.

When I was making a living in Corporate I sat next to a lady who loved Lotus 1,2,3. I mean loved Lotus 1,2,3 in an unnatural and unhealthy way. She used it for everything. Things that it was not meant for, word processing, posters and display art, spread sheets, graphs everything she wanted to do, she did in Lotus.

Tin Tin in CGI with motion capture? Gods help us. Even with Toon Shading, if they are smart enough to use it, Gods still help us.

What can I say about Spielberg and Jackson? They were both better Filmmakers before they became wildly successful Hollywood Mega Hit Moviemakers. I will take Duel and The Frighteners over E.T. and Lord of the Rings any day of the week. And King Kong, all I can say is that Jackson didn`t try to drowned Rick Baker and then give Baker`s credit and Oscar to an Italian Effects hack like Dino did. His movie was not King Kong, the tragic story of an Ape, it was the story of a girl who hangs out with a giant ape and lots of cool effects animation.

This isn`t just another animation person going postal about Motion Capture, Jackson does Motion Capture right with a whole crew of animators cleaning up after the computer (even if they don`t get any press about their work). This is about taking a project that cries out for loving Hand Drawn Animation in 2-D and running it through Lotus 1,2,3 because that is what you do with everything. Gods protect us from successful cineplex mega hitmakers who send everything through their established animation pipeline like a meat grinder.

Videogame Hall of Fame

Al Alcorn in 2007

I`m teaching History of Animation this semester. I only teach History of Videogames in the fall. But that does not mean that I only think about and play video games one semester per year.

I have a gaming student in my Animation History class at Laguna this semester. It happens. Schedules get messed up and a year is a long time to wait for a needed history credit. Hell, knowing about the History of Animation is not going to hurt a gamer at all.

I let her do her big report for the Videogame Hall of Fame and she ended up with a report on Atari pioneer Al Alcorn, the creator of Pong.

To see this and other gamer reports click on the Videogame Hall Of Fame link.

Mixed Email Bag

A little bit of email sharing. I fine this kind of stuff in the first email very interesting. Hope you do too. There is always a chance of a lost film showing up. We can always hope? The second email is more about my small press past.

Quoting Barb & Chris P_ _ _ _:

As a child I received several old animated cartoons, including "Steamboat Willie" What can I do with them, and how can I determine the value? The condition varies but is not great after 81 years.

Chris,

The value of 8mm is not as great as 16mm or 35mm because they are not projectable in a theater setting but there are markets for them. So film size is important as is film stock. Search for the cartoons you have on ebay to compare prices.

The important question is film stock. If it is nitrate there are dangers of combustion and the films need to be stored in a cool, 72 degree environment. But if they have gone this long without bursting into flame they should be stable.

If it is Safety Stock (sic) then there is danger of vinegar syndrome. Check to see if any of the films smell like vinegar. If they do then they are on their way out and are unsalable because they can contaminate other films they come in contact with.

The age of the films will give an idea of film stock so the question is how long ago where you a kid?

Anyway, send me a list of your films and I should be able to tell you how rare they are. Then I will check them out with a few friends to see if they is a market for them in 8mm, 16 is more salable. A lot of 8mm was edited for time so let me know the running times on the films too so I can tell is they are complete cartoons.

Larry



Larry,
Thank you for the helpful reply.

I received these about 1946 or 48, and they were old then, I think they are original stock, and while I have never tested them, I expect they are nitrate based (I am a Chemical Engineer). There is no vinegar smell to me. Some have breaks.

I searched for the "Steamboat Willie" and several other titles on e-bay, and found none for sale. I will compile a list.

Thanks again
Chris

Chris,

Already old in 1946 are they 8mm or 16mm? I'm thinking silent cartoons from the late 20s or 30s. Which ups the chance that there is something of value. You might get some money out of a collector or you might be able to get the studio that created it interested if it is one of a kind (if the studio is still in business?). If there is something really rare I will be glad to put you in touch this the film preservationist at UCLA.

= = = = = = = = =
Dog*Star update over at the Rick Grimes site. My past on parade. I did these books for a small group of friends and now they are out there for the world to see. Strange. I haven`t read these in years.

Hi Larry,

I have now added the complete DOG*STAR FUNNIES pages to the Rick Grimes fan site at rickgrimesfansite.net - thank you again for allowing me to post such material on the Grimes site, I appreciate this very. If you see any incorrect descriptions, dates, or copyright information, please let me know and I shall edit as requested, next update.

All the best,
Ryan H.