Along Came a Spider Part 2

**SPOILERS a plenty....shield your eyes**

If you didn't read part 1 scroll down and then come back, I will wait..............all read? Great..let us continue..

Since two movies were being smashed into one, several moments were rushed for the sake of time. For instance: After the symbiote covered Pete goes building hopping we next see Peter at Dr. Conners lab with a symbiote sample. When did Peter discover what had happened to his costume? Remember its just a big stain. How did he get a sample off of it? Did he freak out a little when this gooey alien thing started oozing off his clothes?

Apparently none of that matters audience, just roll with it. Where the previous films would take a little time to explore such things, Spidey 3 just steams along. Even the scene in Conner's lab is all quick exposition. No experiments with the symbiote sample are shown. No no Dr. Conner's has seen this kind of thing many times before as he tells Peter all about it.

This sort of abridged storytelling happens throughout the movie. Several "you get the idea" sequences. Or there is exposition out the wazzoo like the Dr. Conners sequence or like when Harry's butler explains that "oh yeah I meant to tell you, but I checked your father's wound that night and he did impale himself. I should have told you before but I forgot and stuff...sorry". Thanks old man now all my bent up hate and rage is suddenly gone.

Then there is the cheese factor. The previous films had a couple cheesy moments however since Spidey 3 is a two for one kind of film the cheese has been excessively piled on.

Take Stan Lee's all too obvious and super lame appearance. Hello I'm Stan Lee creator of Spiderman and I am here to say something profound....and then walk away....sigh.. But the biggest slice of cheddar goes to Emo Pete, the product of wearing symbiote stained clothes.

We are supposed to believe that the symbiote channels aggression and is bringing out Peter's dark side when in fact the symbiote is really turning him into a dancing a-hole; I almost wanted to gauge out my own eyes. The dancing a-hole even goes on a revenge date to get back at MJ where of course he dances and sings. Oh Emo Peter you are so maniacal, Harry take notes.

If that wasn't bad enough, most every major character cries in the film, sometimes multiple times. Tears a plenty. Even Sandman, who is allergic to water, squirts some tears....somehow. This brings us to the big unfinished, cheesy, teary ending.

After pounding the crap out of Spiderman, and with Venom/Eddie dead and Harry dieing, the Sandman confesses that this isn't what he wanted. He did it all for his sick daughter and, oh yeah, he accidentally killed Uncle Ben; big salty, sandy tears swell up in his eyes. Peter seems a-ok with all of this, and says "I forgive you" while crying....again. His "I forgive you" is the Vader NOOOOOOOOO of Spiderman 3. After this Sandman becomes dust in the wind and just flies away, perhaps heading to a Mummy 3 audition. WTF just happened? What about the sick daughter and all the money he stole and the fact that he just nearly beat you to death Pete? Nope not going there apparently.

The final shots of the film are at Harry's funeral much like the Norman funeral sequence in the first film. The last shot is of MJ and Peter hugging. Are they getting back together? Does Peter now realize that she will always come second to his being Spiderman? Does she need a ride home? Who knows......

After ALL is said the film is still fun. Between periods of stunned disbelief I did enjoy a great deal of the movie. The confrontations with Peter and Harry are all good. The birth of the Sandman is great. Eddie Brock is fun. Venom's 15 minutes of life are fun. The action sequences overall are all great and well done.

But as a movie, as a third movie, it does not live up to its predecessors in ANY way. There is so much potential here that is misused it boggles the mind. Venom should have never been in the film until maybe the closing few minutes as a set up for Spidey 4. The themes of redemption and forgiveness should have been handled much more masterfully, rather than being so damn cheeseball you almost want to laugh. Hopefully, maybe, things can get put right when a Spidey 4 is made. Of course if part 3 makes a jillion dollars, and it most likely will, part 4 will have five bad guys, three new characters that do nothing and lots more crying, dancing and singing.

Along Came a Spider Part 1

So on Friday a few of us took a long lunch and headed to the local Imax to catch Spiderman 3. It was my first time watching a full movie in Imax and it will most likely be my last. The action sequences, because of the HUUUUGE screen, were a little hard to follow so that was a little annoying. Also we were sitting to the side of the theater so that might have had something to do with it. Wasn't terrible, but I think I will be seeing Pirates on a normal sized theater screen.

**SPOILERS...oh yes there are a few**

Going into the movie I had seen the trailers and knew that it ran the risk of too many villains/characters. I had anticipated this and the movie meet my expectations in every way.

The Sandman: His whole purpose in the film is to be the object of Peter's revenge because you see Flint Marko (aka Sandman) really killed Uncle Ben..accidentally..sorta. Yes Uncle Ben's death has become the Wayne parent's murder of the Spiderman movies, where it must be mentioned and brooded over in every damn movie. He's dead. Move on.

Unlike Norman Osborn or Doc Ock, villains you get to spend some time with, get to know, Flint has a big scene up front where he says to his wife and sick daughter, "I'm not a bad person, I've just had bad luck". And this is about as developed as this character ever gets.

Harry Osborn: As he tells Peter "You knew this was coming.." and indeed we did. Harry and Pete finally throw down over this whole "you killed my father" business. Setting aside the dorky costume papa Goblin wore and zooming around on a hoverboard from Treasure Planet, Harry gets an ass whoppin by his former best friend leaving him with amnesia. He doesn't remember Pete being Spidey, how to flip an omelet...nothing.

This could have been cool, I thought maybe that was it for new Goblin in this film at least. But a handful of scenes later his memory is fully back..... ok so what was the point of him forgetting? Harry gets lamer and more bizarre when in an attempt to do his father's wishes, to attack Peter by attacking his heart...he......makes Mary Jane break up with Peter. OMG Harry you are maniacal. I was waiting for him to then paint "Peter Sucks" on the side of a building. Yeah Harry I don't think that's what daddy had in mind.... more on him later.

The symbiote: I really wished Sam and company handled the symbiote differently. It doesn't really attach itself to Peter but one of his costumes. Essentially the symbiote becomes this giant stain on a costume that Peter can put on and take off. O-K. If I'm remembering the comic correctly the symbiote was always with him and when it was Spidey time it would cover him in the suit and he was ready to go.

In this film Peter keeps the stained costume in a trunk, which the symbiote seems ok with, pulling it out for those times when he......wants to be bad? I really don't know. If the symbiote increased his powers we never saw that, so I honestly don't know why he felt tempted to put it on...lock it up...ok ok one more time...no no lock it up. Had the symbiote always been on him, we would see him slowly losing himself to the dark side. By the end when he decides to rip off the symbiote, we would believe that it was really that bonded to him. The way the film handles it I wasn't really buying it....

Eddie Brock/Venom: I loved the Eddie character and if Sam wasn't trying to squeeze a 5 hour movie into 2 and half hours it would have been great to see more of him. He's the anti-Peter, more brash and cocky and more scenes between the two would have been cool. Now when Eddie becomes Venom the first thing he does before even going up against Parker is enlist the help of Sandman. Wow what a puss...your not even gonna try killing Spiderman by yourself....well ok. Venom enters the land of lame...

The battle between Spidey and Venom is pretty great though with the symbiote pulling back off Eddie's face so he can deliver some punchy taunts. Unfortunately the greatness comes to an end when Venom and Eddie get defeated and destroyed which in a phrase: pissed me off.

So we have Sandman, Harry, symbiote and Eddie/Venom. Also Gwen Stacy is introduced in this film and has absolutely nothing to do but look amazing in every scene. Everyone is fighting for screen time. Oh yeah Peter/Spidey and Mary Jane are in the movie too. Aunt May has a couple scenes. JJ Jameson gets a little screen time as does Gwen's dad Captain Stacy. A character smorgasbord....

Next time: Hurried scenes, cheese and salty tears....

Late Night at ILM

Conan visits ILM and hilarity ensues...

Baptisms and Beaches and Birthdays Oh My!!

The blog updates have been sparse lately and for good reason. We have been busy busy at the studio with Shrek 3 commercials for Dreamworks. I did a bunch o shots with Puss N Boots (who is my favoritest character in the Shrek universe) for Spanish television...a couple of which where in actual Spanish which was interesting. So I was jamming on those shots, trying to get 40 some seconds of animation done before heading out for vacation.

Yay vacation!!! And where do I go for a weeks vacation? Why Florida of course. Did you really have to ask. And a busy week of vacation it was.

First we attended the baptism of my brother's daughter, Little Miss Pretty Hair. It was the first time we got to meet her so that was fun and since she and Lil Pumpkin are super close in age they had lots to discuss.

I was asked to be her godfather and as such, I spent the day of the baptism making people offers they couldn't refuse and stuffing orange peels in my mouth. The usual godfather kind of things.

After baptism weekend 2007, we borrowed my dads SUV, packed it with a ton of beach gear and headed to Amelia Island, which is located on the Atlantic, near the border of Florida and Georgia.

Ah the beach. The crashing waves, the salty sea air....I love it. When I becoming uber rich, which should be any day now, I will be building a house on a beach someplace and there I will stay...for the rest of my natural life or until I get bored.

Wonder-pea loves the beach. She loves chasing the birds, splashing in the water and digging for buried treasure. One of my favorite moments of the whole trip was running with her on the beach, splashing in the surf and gasping for breath; I need to exercise more often I suppose.

After a few days of beach trip 2007 it was back to Orlando and on to Disney's Beach Club Resort. This is probably one of our most favoritest resorts at Disney World mainly because they have amazing sandy bottom pools and a beach..right there at the pool. Unfortunately its also an amazingly expensive place to stay, but since my parents are cast members at D-World they hooked us up with a discount...huzzah!!

We spent a fun day at the Beach Club pool where Wonder-pea chased birds, splashed in the water and dug for buried treasure all without the threat of being sucked out to sea. That night we went to dinner for Wonder-peas 4th birthday. We took her to a character dining place which means that Mickey and company will come around and interrupt your meal every ten minutes. It was all good though as Wonder-pea was super excited.

With birthday weekend 2007 complete it was time to head home. The flight back was less than ideal as Lil Pumpkin cried most of the way. At one point he was crying, Wonder-pea was crying, my wife was crying and I was buying up all the little alcohol bottles that were on board....and I was crying.

But we had a great time so the hellish return trip was worth it.

Liquid Death

Texas weather is famous for its heat and it storms of death. Typically the storms come first and you go "My god...no more rain and swirling death clouds!" the weather hears you, the rains go away and the killer heat comes. Yay.

Yesterday my wife called me at work to tell me that a band of liquid death was making its way across the metroplex. Rain, hail, frogs, locust the typical stuff. I guessed that I could probably beat the storm and hurried to my car to race home.

The drive home wasn't bad until I got near the house. Curse my metal body I wasn't fast enough. It wasn't as bad as other times. Once I was driving home in a storm and the sky was so dark and aqua blue that it looked like I was driving on the ocean floor. Remember in Price of Egypt when they are walking through the parted Red Sea? Whales and whatnot could be seen swimming in the water walls. Well on that day if I had seen a whale swimming through the aqua blue scariness...I would not have been surprised.

But that was different storm. This one was grey skies with a hint of black. Reports kept breaking in on the radio that tornadoes were spotted in the area. They were knocking over trash cans, harassing old people and being all around unruly. I would need to be careful.

Up to this point in my drive I was traveling at about 120 mph as was most everyone else because if your gonna get sucked up in a giant tornado you don't want to be in your car. Strapping yourself to a pipe in a shed filled with sharp objects is the preferred way....just ask Bill Paxton.

But as the rain and wind picked up, the traffic slowed. I was nearly home so I wasn't too worried and after witnessing some super crazy lightning I hurried into the garage and then into the house.

My wife and the kids were camped out in the closet with flashlights and blankets. I wondered if I should be yanking mattresses off of beds to "shield" us from the debris; we had no metal pipe or sharp objects laying around so I was improvising. Before dismantling the bedroom I took a quick look at the radar and saw this:



Yikes and yikes. But oddly enough, as I was building our mattress fort (complete with draw bridge) the clouds broke, the sun came out and life was back to normal. The liquid death had passed us by...this time...dun dun DUUUUUN.

Ooopsie

A few days ago I missed an important anniversary. My blog and I have been together for two whole years as of March 26!! Yes it's true. And I completely forgot to congratulate it or buy it a gift. It's funny, because on Monday the blog was acting kind of moody. I had made a post about Ninja Turtles and it was sort of looking at me...like "is that all?" So I added an image to the turtles post and looked back at the blog with a confused....."what?"

Tuesday it gave me the silent treatment all day. Any attempt to strike up a conversation with the blog was met with harsh glares. The word "jerk" kept appearing in the comments section of older posts.

All day Wednesday and Thursday it locked itself away and wouldn't let me post anything. I could hear it talking to Google and YouTube. Was it crying? It was sort of hard to tell. We have had fights in the past like when we upgraded to beta, but this was different.

Finally tonight I remembered. And after begging the blogs forgiveness and making it promises that I don't intend to keep, we toasted two fun years of providing written nonsense to the lucky people of the digital age.

Heroes in a Half Shell

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles opened this weekend to the tune of $25 million dollars. Not too shabby. I have yet to see the finished film but folks who have, have really enjoyed it. Turtle Power!

I now have my reel for Turtles up in the animation area. I only did a handful of shots (my reel shows all but 1 shot I did) as ReelFx was charged with completing only a couple minutes of footage. Maybe I will get to do more on the sequel ;)

At World's End...Now in English

I'm really digging this trailer. The duel on the mast of the Black Pearl is awesome...of course the trailer for Dead Man's Chest was pretty killer, yet the movie disappointed me on various levels. I enjoy DMC now, but yeah I left the theater feeling a little unsatisfied with the 2nd installment. Still, I'm jazzed about the new film.

How Be Yer Russian?

Yes this week the first trailer for Pirates 3 is finally being released; someone at Disney realized the film opens in 2 months. Already the trailer is on YouTube...but in Russian. Looks cool though! Here's opening it recaptures the spirit of fun lacking from the 2nd installment.

Spam

If you have ever emailed me off my web site you most likely sent mail to me@raymation.net. This alias actual sent your email to my aol account which is all fine and dandy. However, I have noticed that the spam filter on aol has been a tad too aggressive, tossing none spam emails, emails sent through the "me" alias, into the spam folder.

I tried adjusting the filter settings but it is like a big, crazy, drooling St. Bernard, operating in one of two moods. Mode 1: aggressive and frightening, marking friendly emails as hostile. Mode 2: sleeps in the corner and lets everything in.

Since I don't have time to scan the hordes of spam looking for legitimate emails, I am changing the site email to raymation@hotmail.com. If you have ever emailed me and never gotten a response, it may not be because I don't like you, it may be in fact, that your email was flagged as spam and was purged.

New Designs

So I added a couple designs to My Shop based off a couple DrawerGeeks submissions. Yes its true. Spring is almost here and what better way to say "Happy Spring" to a friend or loved one, than with a gift of a giant robot shirt.




Perhaps giant robots frighten and scare you; that's understandable since giant robots are evil by nature. Maybe a non-threatening, mostly less evil caveman shirt would be more your speed.

Robots

Robots invade DrawerGeeks..

The Friendly Skies

This weekend we went up to Maryland to visit my wife's family. I love to travel. And I love to travel by air. However, for me, plane travel is usually pretty stressful. Sure I have the fleeting concern that something important might fall off the plane mid flight. And how can you not get on a plane without thinking, at least momentarily, about 9/11. But most of my stress...say 90%... occurs before I even step board on the plane.

The first big obstacle is getting to the airport on time. I am most always convinced that we are going to miss our flight. No matter how much time we allow, we always seem to leave the house "late". This was the case when it was the two of us and has gotten progressively worse with the addition of each child. So right as we leave the house I am having mild freak outs.

With self check in that portion of the experience has gotten less stressful, only to be replaced by the enhanced security screenings. Many times the lines can be reeeeeeaaalllly long which heightens my anxiety about missing the flight. On top of that, once we reach the security check, the stress rises as I try to keep track of all our stuff. This trip was particularly bad because it was the first plane trip for the four of us.

Lil Pumpkins stroller and car seat needed to be put on the belt. My bag, my shoes, my jacket, the baby bag, the wife's bag, shoes, purse.....ok you go through with the baby..Wonder pea stay with me...how many bins do we have...four....dear god...ok Wonder pea stay right there while I put these on the belt....ok now lets walk through..."Sir she needs to talk off her shoes"...oh right i forgot her shoes....."and her jacket"...right right ok...(this after Wonder pea went through the detector and then came back around to me...she did that twice)....ok everything is off and we both go through, Wonder pea now being scanned for the 3rd time...she wanted to go back for a forth...

Ok now that THAT is over we get to collect our four bins, stroller and car seat and put ourselves back together.

Whew ok....the big, huge amounts of stress are now behind us. We are here, through security, we have time to spare and oh good, our plane isn't even here yet.

So begins the next stressful part of the trip: the actual flight.

This was a 2 and a half hour flight and Lil Pumpkins first flight; it could go either way. This could be super stressful or moderately so; even if the kids are fine the whole trip, you have no idea IF this will be the case...so you are on high alert for when they may suddenly get nutty.

Fortunately the kids getting nutty were across the isle. Lil Pumpkin was pretty laid back the whole time. Although why do babies like to load up their diapers minutes into a flight? It's like they are challenging the parents. So caaaan you.....change my poo while on a plane with only inches of room while being very subtle as to not alert other passengers as to what you are doing .....hummm...riddle me that Batman??! Anyways he was great and Wonder pea only had a small melt down when we were descending; the air pressure does a job on her ears.

So yay! We didn't miss our flight, we made it through security with all our junk, the kids didn't freak out on the flight and nothing important fell off the plane in mid air!! Good trip!

Grrrrrr Face

This weeks DrawerGeeks .....

Worship the Sun

This past Sunday I spent most of the day outside doing work around the yard; cutting back trees, cleaning up leaves and general frolicking about. It was awesome to finally be outside for some length of time without freezing.

Yes I live in Texas and I said freezing.

We have lived here for nearly 7 years and this was the worst winter I have experienced. Rain, snow, ice and wind; we had it all. Usually the crap weather lasts for a few weeks. This year it seemed like months....MONTHS of winter....my god what kind of world am I living in.

Those who know me, know that I don't like to wear pants. I am more of a year round shorts guy. This winter I had to wear pants at least a dosen times..oh the horror! My criteria for wearing pants is this: if I get up and its below freezing and/or snowing then I can not possibly wear shorts. Many times I woke up to temperatures in the teens and twenties. Brrrr

But now that untapped resource of power and warmth is shining brightly down upon us. And in a few short months it will becoming increasingly unbearable, burning my flesh and causing pets to exploded. Then the cursing of the sun will begin.

Throwing Up Is Fun

I don't watch the Family Guy with any regularity. Ok I never watch the Family Guy..there I said it..but this clip sends me into fits of crazy laughter pretty much every time I've watched it. The first time I saw it, which was some time ago as the clip has been around awhile, I could not see because my eyes where streaming with tears. And then I threw up.

Robots in Disguise

This week we wrap animation on game cinematics for Transformers the Game. With Ninja Turtles and now Transformers, I'm getting to work with some of the characters I enjoyed watching on the TV in me younger days. Could Starblazers and Ultra-man be far behind?

I'm not sure the release date of the game, although the official site is up. Don't get too excited though, as there really isn't anything there yet.

Once the game is released I will post some of my shots. I did one with Optimus saying his famous line "Autobots...transform and roll out", which was uber geeky cool. I am very glad, like most fans, that Peter Cullen is reprising his famous voice for the film.

Rapunzel

Here is the first footage I have seen from Disney's upcoming animated film. The animation really feels like a throw back to the 2D style. And I am really digging the facial animation; the squash and stretch is very nice. I also like the visual look as it is more painterly than most CG.

Ratatouille Animation Test...No Really

So it was up and then it was removed and now it seems that the good folks at Disney/Pixar have "officially" made this test available. I say good for them! Don't be afraid of the YouTube...embrace it and whisper sweet nothings in it's ear...it is your friend.

Of course the words Property of Pixar are annoyingly place right above the characters head...I want to watch the animation but my eyes...my eyes are drawn to these words. That's what I get for learning to read.

Ratatouille Test Animation

Here's a fun piece of animation featuring one of the characters from the upcoming film Ratatouille. Since it's not a scene from the movie, Disney/Pixar security teams may let it slide....or....they will beat YouTube with a giant stick of justice.

**Update: Wow that didn't take long. Yes the movie has been removed at the request of Disney. I appreciate the whole copyright issue, however you would think that they would embrace the free advertising thing; it wasn't a scene from the movie afterall. If I was Disney, I would release these clips myself....they end up on blogs and make their way around the internet very quickly...free advertising baby! Oh well...

Shrek the Third Trailer

Here is the new trailer for Shrek the Third. I must admit that I enjoy the first Shrek less and less with each viewing, however I still enjoy Shrek 2 quite a lot; I think the addition of Puss N Boots helped. This 3rd installment looks fun, I laughed quite a few times during this new trailer.

It's Not Easy Being a Baby

As cool as it is to be a baby, there are a few things that stink about being one.

The inability to control your own head. Yes try as you might to look around and see the world, your large noggin wobbles and jerks violently to the point of damn near snapping your own neck.

The inability to control your arms. You can't point or really grab anything yet so all your arms are good for is flailing. Many times you will hit yourself in the face which can really piss you off. On the plus side, they are pretty cool to stare at.

Lack of mobility. Pretty much where ever your servants place you...there you are. Too bright in this room? Don't really feel like hanging in the crib right now? Too bad squirt. Unitl you coordinate those motor skills, your stuck.

Limited diet. Sometimes you could go for a steak or maybe some chocolate cake but oh no. It's milk all day, everyday.

Language barrier. You want your favorite blank....your screaming "Blanket!!" but since your servants only hear "waaaahhh", you are left annoyed and frustrated....and with no blanket.

Diaper rash. A chaffed bottom is an unhappy bottom. Period.

It's Great To Be A Baby!

Lil Pumpkin turned 3 months this past weekend; where does the time go. The acid reflux that was making the little man really, really angry has been under control for awhile and he is quite a pleasant little dude to be around.

Recently I got to thinking about the awesomeness it is to be a baby:

The first really cool thing is that in many cases you get your own room; it is from here that you will rule your kingdom. Wow I just got here and I have my own place. Is that my name on the blanket? Nice. I'm not really into the duckies, but the bunnies and frogs are pretty cool. Yes this will do nicely.

Whenever you want anything....anything you just go "Hey...I'm hungry" or "Hey my pants are wet" which in the baby native tongue is "Wahhhh" or "nnnnnYYYaaHH" and instantly people are jumping around you taking care of your every need. That's pretty sweet.

Zero responsibilities. Absolutely nothing is expected from you. Don't feel like doing much today? Kick back and relax.

You can go to sleep pretty much anytime and anywhere and someone will take care of putting you in a bed. Out shopping with the larger humans and getting tired? Close those eyes and go to sleep...your servants will take care of the rest.

Much like sleep, you can go to the bathroom whenever you like as well. No racing around to find a bathroom. You need to go.....go. Feeling gassy? Let it out as loud as you'd like, preferably when it's really quiet...like in church....what do you care. Hey I'm a baby over here.

Lots of live entertainment. Your servants not only like to wait on you, but they also like to make faces and jump around like monkeys in the hope that you will grace them with a smile, chuckle or laugh. If you get bored or don't like the performance just close your eyes and go to sleep; there will be another show later.

Yes it's great to be a baby!

Next time: the things that suck about being a baby

Price Check on FUN!!!

My Shop is now open for business..yes it's true. My goal is to update it regularly....of course I also had the goal of running in the Disney World Marathon and that has yet to happen, so we will see how it goes. The intent is there...

Grab your shopping cart or "buggy" has some people here in Texas say, and check out what glorious items await you in My Shop.

Caveman

Here is this weeks DrawerGeeks submission. I went a little more simple this week, trying to go for a cave painting sort of feel.

Sith Apprentice

I haven't watched The Apprentice since season 2; the show become too self aware for my tastes. But if they did a season like this clip, then I would most likely have to tune in again.

Snow White

Here are my contributions to this weeks DrawerGeeks.

Kevin Smith Talks Superman

Someone had sent this to me a couple years ago and I just recently rediscovered it on YouTube.

Back when WB was looking to restart the Superman franchise, Kevin Smith was brought in to write a few drafts. His tale of that experience is not only very funny and very entertaining, but serves as a little window into how movies get made in Hollywood.

And we wonder why Hollywood puts out so much crap? It is about 20 minutes long but SO worth it if you have the time.

WARNING: MATURE LANGUAGE......cover your ears kids.

The Year That Was.....

Happy New Year peoples! Gone is the that wacky year that was 2006.....and I thought 2005 was wacky. Year '05 was riddled with lots of minor bumps in the road as we had a string of minor bad luck. Add in the encounters with the ginormous possum and the mouse in the house , I was more than ready to get to 2006...because 2006 just had to be a better year.

Two major things happened in 2006 both residing on opposite ends of the spectrum. The good: the birth of my son. Yep Lil Pumpkin was the big, bright happy spot of 2006. The bad: losing my job and watching all my friends move all over the place. That was the big "suck" that started in February (when we were first told of the upcoming suckiness) and continued until I started my new job in August. For those of you playing at home that is 6 months of suck.

To cheer me up during the suck months I took in a couple movies, not many, just a few. I don't think I saw a single film this year that I really enjoyed on all levels. Even Pirates and Superman managed to let me down in various ways. The best thing I saw was Walk the Line on DVD and that came out the previous year. To add insult to injury Ant Bully opened and was a financial flop...sigh. So movies were a bummer for me in 2006.

But amid all the gloom of 2006 there was some bright spots. As mentioned Lil Pumpkin is the super nova of 2006. I'm at a new job and really enjoying it, I've made new friends this year as well as keeping in touch with the ol work gang which makes me happy.

In 2006 I also became involved with Animation Mentor which has been a great experience. And I started drawing again thanks to getting involved with Drawer Geeks.

So while it is true some sucktacular things happened in 2006, a lot of good things happened as well...and I didn't die which is always a plus.

Hopefully good things await in 2007.

Counting is Fun....

...until your counter is reset without your knowledge. Yes the good folks at GoStats have updated their site and all that implies. This wouldn't have been a big deal except my counter disappeared off my page due to the code being out of date.

The new code doesn't seem to although me to set the counter and seeing as how I didn't want to start from "1"....new counter it is!!!

I had already been using StatCounter to track page hits within my site. Now it will be my main counter as well. I just wish the numbers could be a little bigger.

Flags

You may have noticed the spiffy country counter that I added over there on the right. My buddy Shephard added one to his blog and by god it looked so cool, I needed to have me one as well.

Right now I'm using the trail version. There is a pay version and a free version. I will see how it goes, but most likely I will plunk down the $17 for a year license.

Oh yeah if you click on a flag it brings up a little map. So if you happen to see, say, Gibraltar, on the list and wonder "where is that?" click on the flag and there ya go.

More First Noel

Yarrow and Carrie Cheney, writers, directors, creators...of The Very First Noel have started a blog. Their first post has a lot of color script paintings from the show as well as other nifty images.

If you are a fan of VFN or if you know nothing about it, why not stop by and check them out.

H.R. Fuss n Stuff

In general things have been going well with Lil Pumpkin. He's a cute little guy. He'll smile and laugh here and there for no apparent reason which is kinda funny. Like he just thought of something amusing.

Wonder-pea is enjoying being a big sister and hasn't been too too jealous of the new person. Although every once and a while she will tell my wife to "put him down"......I mean come....you've been holding him long enough.

However, this past Sunday was one of "those" days. Lil Pumpkin cried pretty much the entire day.....sometimes it was so intense I thought he was going to asplode. It was so bad that at one point I went into the kitchen and stuck my head in the oven. Of course since its not a gas oven I was looking at a bad burn at most.

Wonder pea likes to sing the SpongeBob song "this is the best day ever". On Sunday we were all singing "this is the worst day ever" because nothing would appease the Pumpkin King. It was like someone had snuck into the house the night before and replaced our happy child with the spawn of satan.

"Are you hungry? Need a diaper change? This toy? This one? A blanket? A pillow? Your tired? Your cold? Your hot? You want $10? Here take $10...just stop, for the love of god stop!!"

By some miracle he actually went to sleep that night. At which point the three of us collapsed right where we were.

The next morning I approached his bassinet with cross and holy water in hand. As I peaked in I could see he was awake and happy, smiling for no reason and laughing at the air. I was thrilled that the evil had left him. I picked him up and said "hey buddy how we doing today?" He looked at me, smiled and then spit up all over me.

At least he was happy...

Turtle Power

Today we wrapped animation on ReelFx's portion of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It was great to be part of another feature project and a lot of fun to work on a property that I enjoyed so much as a kid.

Imagi Animation Studios in Hong Kong is handling the majority of the animation for the film. I can tell you there are some pretty insane action scenes with the turtles that give me a headache. Not from watching, but from thinking about how they planned and blocked it all out. Yowza.

The film opens March 30, 2007 and should be a fun time at the movies.

The Ant Bully on DVD

The Ant Bully is now on DVD. Apparently a few people missed it while it was in theaters so hopefully those folks will give it a look on video.

Now I will admit that the cover art is rather awful. Lucas looks stupidly happy and all the other characters are in no way proportionate to one another. Don't let that dissuade you from picking it up. Most folks who saw the film in theaters (all 10 of them) seemed to enjoy it and perhaps you will too.

I did a bit of animation on the Behind the Scenes section, which I have put up in my Animation area for your viewing enjoyment.

Werewolves

Here is my submission for this weeks DrawerGeeks because werewolves have kids too.

Bleeding Pixels

I recently answered 10 Quick questions over at Dave Johnson's bleedingpixels.blogspot.com. Other buddies o mine have done the 10 Quick, like Andrew Burke and Mike Walling. Why not stop by and have a read? When your done, take a look around the rest of the blog for some good information and links.

Dave is one of my students this quarter at Animation Mentor. Check him out at 3dave.com.

The Very First Noel

The Very First Noel is now on sale at a retailer near you. Yes it is true! It is great entertainment for the whole family so why not run out and buy a copy. Or buy 10 copies and get that Christmas shopping done early.

In celebration of the release, I have uploaded some of my shots to the Animation area.

The offical web site has gotten a pretty nifty upgrade as well.

Pirate Cove

With the help of fellow ReelFxer Jason Owen, I finally hauled all my pirate stuff up to the studio. I never realized how much I had until I had to break it down when I left DNA. My wife was thrilled when all this stuff left our house.











My area at ReelFx is a good bit larger than what I had over at DNA. There is actually room between the animators which is nice in case I want to stretch out and take a nap on the floor, which I frequently do.....


One of the guys has a Master Replicas Kermit the Frog....




I felt much safer knowing that Kermit was standing guard.

Halloween

So last week was Halloween and if you were like me you ate so much candy that you went into a chocolate coma. I love Halloween. You get to dress up and be someone else for a day AND you get to gorge yourself on candy. What could be better?

How about a Halloween party. Every year my good friend and ex-DNAer, Deanna Molinaro and her husband Aaron invite all of us misfits to her house for beer and cake. This year was freezing, freaking cold so most everyone stayed inside the house.

Now you combine beer and a lot of people in close quarters and things are bound to get crazy. Take what happened with me and my buddy Ernesto Bottger.

Ernesto came as a popular character from a Spanish kids shows, super hero El Chapulin Colorado. Seeing as how I don't speak the Spanish and had a little too much Mr Beer, I basically called him Captain Hot all night.
At one point Ernesto flipped out and let me have it.

And a scuffle broke out.

But since the alcohol was making us tired we decided to call it a draw. Because that is what Halloween is all about: costumes, candy, fighting and friendship. Deanna as Mother Nature, Ernesto as Captain Hot and me as a pirate....of course.

Texas State Fun

A couple weekends ago we went to the annual Texas State Fair. I like going to the fair, it is a fun way to spend the day and to drop a lot of money. My god is it expensive to go the ol fair. When the day started, we were doing pretty well. As we were about to buy our tickets a nice woman turned to me and said here ya go and walked off. She handed me a complimentary ticket. Awesome. That plus a coupon that got Wonder-pea in for free, and we were doing pretty well.

But once you get inside its all over. Since they make you purchase tickets you really have no idea how much anything really costs. Wonder-pea wanted to go on a train ride which was 6 tickets. I wanted to ride with her, because I just love riding the kiddie train, which cost me 6 tickets. I figured out later that the experience really cost us about $6. Needless to say we avoided more rides. But then....there is the food.

Funnel cakes, corn dogs and anything you could ever want deep fried is all there waiting for you. In addition to fried ice cream, oreos, cheesecake and several others, this year they had fried Coke. Someone who had deep fried everything imaginable must have figure that the only challenge left was to fry a liquid.

While cruising the fair and trying to figure out how the hell you actually deep fry Coke, we passed a stand selling "fried donkey tails" which immediately made a picture in my head of tailess donkeys standing in a pen with white X's on their bums. The initial reaction was: bleah.

Later we found a food booklet that told us what a fried donkey tail was: a footlong hot dog split down the side, filled with cheese and deep fried in a tortia. My god that sounds....delicious. We sought out said fried donkey tails, devoured them and headed towards the fried cheesecake which I adore.

But something happened on the walk to the cheesecake. Maybe what I had just eaten had just registered with my brain or the smell of fried everything in the air was just too much for my stomach, but hearing the words "fried" and "cheesecake" just about sent me into cardiac arrest.

Instead we went over to the car show where Wonder-pea had a blast trying out all the latest models and as a bonus, it required no tickets. I just wish she would open her eyes when driving.

New Addition

Next Thursday we had a C-section scheduled, but apparently my son did not want to miss Halloween and decided to come.....today!!

Lil Pumpkin didn't make a lot of fuss when brought from his warm, liquidy home, into the big bright, cold world. He was kinda like "WAAAAaaaa..... ooo this blanket is nice.. oh I get a hat too?....sweet...I'm digging this".

Both Mom and baby are doing great and Wonder-pea is super excited that her brother is finally here.

Drawer Geeks

This week is my first submission.....well..2nd...sorta to Drawer Geeks! Every two weeks at DrawerGeeks.com several talented folks post drawings based on topics ranging from "Childhood Nightmares" to "Godzilla". I used to almost, be sort of, not too bad with the whole drawing thing but to be honest I haven't really drawn in a long time.

So here is my first submission for "Movie Monsters", which as it turns out was for this weeks topic last year. Big thanks to Tony Bonilla for giving me wrong information. I will get you Tony...oh yes..



And then there is my real first submission for the topic "Grim Reaper". Not as super ninja awesome as a lot of the other fine art work on the site, but it's a lot less painful than a hot poker in the eye.

Three Wise Men

Recently, I completed animation on my first project for ReelFx called The Very First Noel, which is the story of the three wise men.

The project was a lot of fun and was probably the smoothest production I have ever been a part of to date. The web site has just gone up, so drop by and take a peak.

Hopefully TVFN will be on broadcast television this holiday season before making its way to DVD shelves near you.

Prepare to Be Pitied

Next week TVland premieres Mr. T's new show I Pity the Fool, not to be confused with Mr. Ed's new show I Pooped in Your Pool. If I have learned but one thing from watching the A-team, it is that duct tape can be used to hold anything together: tanks, planes, the spaceshuttle, anything. The second thing I learned was that everyone and everything, can and will, be pitied by Mr.T.

The sneak peak of episode 1 looks both totally insane and completely awesome as Mr. T works his magic at a used car dealership. Notice how he makes the word "motivation" appear out of mid air; he truely is magical. But things heat up by the end of the clip and me thinks next week some chumps will have their jibber jabber cut short as T tosses them over the camera; just like in the old days.

Where a Kid Can Be a Kid

Today we took Wonder-pea to Chuck E. Cheese for the very first time. This particular CEC was lite on the video games yet heavy on games and rides for little ones. Since we had a little one with us this worked out well.

I remember when I was about 13 there was a CEC like joint called Showbiz Pizza Place. This place rocked with tons of the latest arcade games, but one day the games began disappearing and ball pits and wack a moles sprang up. Then Showbiz got bought by CEC and that was the end of that. Anyways....

After eating some delicious pizza made by Chuck E. himself, me and Wonder-pea hit the games. And the game of choice was skee ball, which is not only fun but extremely dangerous when playing with my daughter. She hasn't quite mastered the idea of rolling the balls. She much prefers to throw them.

During a skee balling attempt in Disney World, Wonder-pea managed to throw balls into other lanes, at neighboring games and at passers by. She seemed confused that beaming Goofy in the crotch didn't produce extra tickets.

Today, however, we had a system. She would hand me the skee balls and I would roll them. And we were doing pretty well. After several games we had a whopping 44 tickets. I noticed that if you got a score of 450 you would get 200 some extra tickets. Seeing as how I could barely break 180 points this seem virtually impossible for anyone in the place......

...until another Dad managed to hit 460. An alarm went off....balloons fell from the ceiling...Chuck E came out and gave him the key to the restaurant....children were cheering. It was beautiful.

My mere 44 tickets seemed poultry compared to the riches that awaited anyone who got the 450 score. What can you get for 44 tickets? I figured I would at least try and see if I could be as cool as this other Dad. I noticed that his key to success was sinking skee balls in the hard to hit 100 point hole. This was something I have never done because basically I suck at skee ball. But I wanted those tickets and the praise from Chuck E.

Wonder-pea was still enjoying pressing the coin return and passing me skee balls, so what the hell...I made a go at hitting the 100 point hole. The first couple tries weren't pretty, ending in a score of less than 100, but eventually I managed to sink 2 100s in one game. Wonder-pea was super excited that our usual three tickets had turned in to fifteen.

Then, suddenly and without warning I sank 4 100s damn near in a row with an ending score of 510. By god I did it!!! Take that Dad who got 460!! Gather round children of Chuck E Cheese and behold your new king!!. Tickets poured from the machine. So many....so beautiful. An alarm went off.......glorious......ok where are the balloons...no balloons?.... no Chuck E?......hey kids look at that score!!.....yeah no one cared.

One little girl had her hands over her ears scowling at me because the alarm was really, really loud.

After standing there with the alarm blazing for 10 minutes an attendant finally came over and gave me my 200 ticket prize. All in all we had gone from 44 tickets to 340. And we were heading to the prize counter!! 340 tickets!! We are getting something good baby!!

Of the various junk levels of prizes, Wonder-pea wanted the 15 ticket items. She left the prize counter with 40 tickets worth of bracelets and rings. Apparently 44 tickets was all we needed. The other 300 are in my wallet....

White and Nerdy

The title could be describing me, or it could be describing the new video by Weird Al. His new CD is in stores Sept 26!

Look Alive Mates....

....because today be International Talk Like A Pirate Day. That's right me hearties. It be that one day of the year where scalleywags the world over break out the rum and bad pirate jokes. Arrr.. a good a time indeed.

But caution be warned to any mate using their bestest pirate pick up lines... "prepare to boarded ye wenches" and "might I dock me ship in your port"...could end with ye meeting the wrong end of a sword....or at least getting the scurvy slapped out of ya...savvy?

Drink up me hearties yo ho.....

Summer Heat

A fun, summer thing I like to do here in Texas is to go up in the attic for long periods of time. I tell you what there is nothing better. Our attic happens to be quite large and spacious so you can walked around up there. However there are several dangers in the attic....the most evil (aside from the insane heat) are the many exposed nails lining the ceiling.

Apparently the roofers used the longest nails they could find when nailing the cardboard thin shingles to the roof. One wrong turn in the attic and WHACK...nail in your head, eye, back. This of course adds to the fun, giving me something else to do while working, sweating and trying not to fall through the ceiling.

One day last summer we noticed that we had no hot water. So I determined that I needed to inspect the hot water heater...which is in the attic. After a brief inspection I notice that the pilot light was out; its a gas operated hot water heater.

So now step one is to try to relight the pilot which involves me laying on my stomach and sticking a lit match into the bottom of the 10 gallon heater; current temperature in attic 1000 degrees. At this point I was scared to death that I was going to do something wrong and blow up myself, the house and everything in a 5 mile radius.

Attic temperature + nervous me= heat index of 20000 degrees

First couple attempts didn't go well mostly because I had my eyes closed. By about the 7nth try I got the pilot lit....YAY...I did it and as a plus I didn't blow up....small victory! So now all I need to do is turn the heater on...switch it to on.......pilot goes out. Remember in Back to the Future at the end when Doc is dangling from the clocktower? He gets the cord off his pants cuff, stands in front of the clockface, positions himself to triumphantly connect both cords only to discover that they won't reach. It was that kind of moment.

I let out a big Darth Vader "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

So now its back to trying to relight the pilot. This time I get it in 2 tries. Switch the heater to on....pilot.....goes out. Temperature in attic rises 100 degrees as I start getting angry. The goat sitting nearby encourages me to try again. Yes the heat was so bad I was halluncinating at the point.

"Stupid ****in pilot....***damn piece of ****" When I started I was scared to death to even light a match near the heater. Now I was striking these bad boys left and right......lit pilot...turn on...pilot goes out....repeat. This went on until I burned through the whole box of matches.

At this point the monkey that was drinking tea with the goat, suggested that the problem may require a technician. Since he was wearing a monocle I figured he was pretty wise. I called it a day.

While the heater remained broken I did overcome my fear of blowing myself up AND I did loose about 150 pounds from being in the heat of the attic. Also I am playing racket ball twice a week with the monkey and the goat...so there is a bright side.

Songs To Wear Pants To

Have you ever thought "Man I wish there was an acoustic remix of Super Mario Bros. or at least a song about wearing No Pants. But I am no songsmith...what can I do?" Well why not let Andrew over at http://songstowearpantsto.com/ do it for you. You can make free requests for short, 70 second songs, or pony up some cash for a much longer one.

Funny stuff...check it out...

Darth Vader Jackass

I don't know why, but the first time I watched this I couldn't stop giggling for a few minutes after. I think it is the "gaze" at the end that gets me.

Aimesworth Amusements

I am in to my second week at ReelFX and so far everything is going really well. I have blocked out several shots and even managed to get one approved; it is good to be animating again.

Some people have asked what I am working on but I am not at liberty to tell all. However I can say that it is a fun little project for TV which will hopefully be airing later this year, around the the time people buy gifts and decorate trees.

The future projects here at ReelFX look pretty exciting. Go here to check out the development slate.

To Boldly Inspire...

What can I say? This is just too damn funny. My good buddy and movie spoiler, Paul Allen sent this to me and I laughed and laughed and laughed.

And once I was done laughing...I laughed a little more. I think I found my new desktop background.

For more hilarity go here.

Keeping it Reel

This week I started my new job at ReelFX Creative Studios in Dallas. They have quite an impressive talent pool and I am super excited to be part of their feature team. Several folks from DNA have come over to ReelFX and it's great to see their smiling faces after going through some turbulent months. Once I bring over Pirate Cove , all will again be right in the world.

Being laid off was kind of a bummer. However I can honestly say I enjoyed my "extended" time off between gigs. Hanging out with my wife and Wonder-pea for three months was actually pretty great. There were times that I would even say "wow this is great...this must be what it's like to be independently wealthy..and to be able to do whatever you want every day!". Then the bills would arrive and I would remember that I wasn't independently wealthy. And then I'd throw up.

It was an experience to be sure. One I hope not to experience again until after I win the lottery.

Ant Bully in Theaters NOW!

Right this very moment The Ant Bully is playing in a theater/IMAX theater near you...yes you! Why are you sitting here reading the internet when you could be out enjoying this fine film?

Perhaps you have already seen it and are at this very moment emailing all your friends and relatives telling THEM how they should run right out and see it. And if so...I applaud you. You are indeed good and kind. Only a mean, evil person would withhold the joy of seeing The Ant Bully from their friends and family.

Now you are wondering.."Ray what shots did you do on this fine piece of entertainment?" Well if you head over to my revamped animation area you can see a sampling for yourself.

Ant Bully Opens Tomorrow

Yes it is true. Opening day is almost here. Over the next three days stop what you are doing and run out to your local cineaplex or IMAX theater and watch the Ant Bully.....over and over and over. Reviews are slowly trickling in and apparently the movies message of "teamwork" and being part of a "community" is being interpreted as a sinister communist plot to warp the minds of children.

I wish I was kidding.

Well comrades I don't know what to think of these comments. I mean I didn't think everyone would dig the movie, but one reviewer compared Lucas to Osama Bin Laden and said the movie was like a communist manifesto for kids, while another said the movie was a slap against humans and humanity. Whoa nellie. People really need to go easy on their meds before going out to the movies.

We leave in a world where people, kids and adults, are becoming more and more cut off from one another. Technology has advanced to the point where we don't really need to spend much time among other humans. In the film, Lucas is a kid wrapped up in himself. He is sort of a self made loner who stays locked away in his room, away from his family, playing video games. Through his journey he learns the value of being part of a community, to think of others and not just himself, the importance of working as a team and that his actions do have consequences.

Yeah what a bunch of crap.

That's just the kind of BS I don't want Wonder-pea learning. No indeed. I want her to be selfish and self centered, not giving a hoot about anyone else and only worrying about herself. Oh no you don't Ant Bully, you won't warp my daughter's mind with your evil message of tolerance and understanding.

Dead Man's Chest Part 2

So I last time I wrote about what bothered me about Pirates 2, but what did I like? Well everything else. The end. Oh.... alright...

I liked that the characters were expanded in this film and that each one had their own agenda. In this film, not only Jack, but every main character rides the line between good guy and bad guy. What will this character do...how far will he or she go...what are they willing to sacrifice, to get what they want. I really liked that. For me it added a bit more complexity to the characters around Jack, who in the first film, were all straight arrows.

The action scenes were done well and fun to watch. The three man sword fight on/in the wheel was inventive and different and the Kraken sequences were super cool. I was nervous about how the Flying Dutchman crew would look on the big screen, but with the exception of maybe conch shell head guy, they were all pretty cool looking and worthy successors to the skeleton pirates. Which brings us to the special FX highlight of the film...Davey Jones.

Actor Bill Nighy, who plays Davey Jones, spent his shoot with his face covered in motion capture dots, with the crew at ILM giving him the squid face. As I understand it director Gore Verbinski wanted to keep Nighy's real eyes, but the ILM team opted to do them digital as well. The amazing thing is how well all the emotion and subtlety of Nighy's performance meshes with tentacle moving squid face of Davey Jones. It was totally believable and demonstrates the arena in which motion capture performance and animation truly shine.

James Horner takes over musical duties this go around and some of the new music he wrote, particularly for Davey Jones and the Kraken, was just fantastic. The score for the 1st film by Klaus Badelt I really love, however it does suffer from too many repetitions of the familiar. For Pirates 2, Horner did a good job of blending what Badelt established with the new music.

Now if you buy the soundtrack there is a remix track at the end. In fact if you buy it from Best Buy there are 3 remix tracks. Apparently the folks at Disney marketing were trying to think of where else they could promote the film..."Hey why not Pirate dance tracks!! So when the kids go out to their favorite clubs Mr Dee Jay can play some hip hop pirate beats...maybe a new dance would break out kinda like the Teen Wolf but it would be the Jack Sparrow". These people were immediately promoted and given shiny cars.

Finally, I have been reading Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among Pirates by David Cordingly. It is really cool how much of the reality Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio blended into this movie and its predecessor. Tortuga existed and was a town run mostly by pirates. Pirates were incredibly superstitious and believed women would bring bad luck if on a ship. Many pirates were former Royal Navy officers who had been discharge or had grown disillusioned much like what happens to Norrington. Cutler Becketts offer to pardon Jack and make him a privateer, which was a nice way of saying sanctioned piracy, happened back in the day all the time. There are other examples. I found added fun seeing how the facts were woven into the fiction.

Pretty Pictures

Over at LatinoReview.com you can view a plethora of pretty images from the upcoming release of the Ant Bully. This one here is sorta based on a shot I did. I saw sorta because I never had Hova holding any crystals and I am pretty sure I didn't have Spindle (the firefly) looking at Zoc's butt.

Dead Man's Chest Part 1

So Pirates 2 opened the other week and what's this....I have not written about it on the ole blog. Truth be told I wanted to see it again before writing anything. When I saw the first Pirates I left the theater thinking "that was pretty good". But when I watch it again on DVD I really liked it quite a bit more. And now it is probably one of my favorite movies ever. When I left Pirates 2 I felt pretty much on par with with Pirates 1 "that was pretty good". So I am curious how I will feel when viewing it again. Ya best stop reading now mates because there be big, nasty spoilers ahead.

I did have some complaints about Dead Man's Chest. The big problem for me is the middle movie problem, or better still "the middle movie that was shot back to back with the next film" problem. Each time this has been done (Back to the Future 2, Matrix Reloaded) the results have been less than satisfying because it is the first half of a movie. Events are set up, plots lines introduced and nothing is resolved. I really wanted Pirates 2 to be more self contained with cliff hangers that lead into 3, ala Empire Strikes Back or Wrath of Khan, but sadly that is not the case here; more on that later.

Where the first film had a nice spirit of fun, the 2nd is much more serious and dark ala Empire Strikes Back but without asteroids and Yoda. Not that this is a bad thing. It's just different. If you haven't noticed by now my movie reviews tend to focus on what I didn't like and while Pirates 2, for me, wasn't the "I could complain all day" that Superman Returns was, I had some issues.

But first, the things that bothered a lot of other people, that didn't bother me. I have heard complaints about the movie length, Depp's performance not being "fresh", Jack being a jerk and too much Kraken. The movie is long, but for me it flew by. I was really enjoying being back in the world of these characters. There was quite a bit of action and neato visual f/x this time around and I was glued to the screen or at the very least stapled to it with some of those big industrial staples.

As far as Jack Sparrow goes some of the magic is lost because it is a sequel so we are revisiting characters we know and some of the spark of originality is gone. I don't think Depp can suddenly start playing Sparrow as Carol Channing or anything. He really needs to stay true to what he established in the first film, which he does. In this film Jack does come off as less likeable at times but that is because the stakes are higher this go around. In the first film his ultimate goal is to reclaim his ship, in this film he is trying to save his soul from damnation...so yeah he is a bit more desperate, willing to do whatever it takes to save his own skin. He is a pirate after all.

The Kraken (which I thought was usually a sea serpent in mythology) really only makes appearances in 2 sequences. We don't see it when it engulfs a merchant ship in the first act. Here it is more of a whoosh and the ship is gone. The first time we see ole Krakey is when it attacks the ship Will is on. This encounter is key for the 3rd act battle with the Kraken, when the crew of the Black Pearl blows the crap out of various tentacles a couple times. I dug the Kraken. It reminded me of the squid attack in 20K Leagues only with no wires or James Mason.

Now on to the bits that could be improved. Cannibal Island. While the sequences here are entertaining there really isn't a need for them to have been there. For as long as they are on cannibal island this part of the film only does 2 things to move the story along. #1 this is where Will meets up with Jack for the 1st time in the movie #2 the reintroduction of Pintel and Ragetti, the two pirates who were part of Jacks crew, then Barbossas crew...and now uh..Jacks crew again.

While I didn't really have a problem with these 2 pirates being in the sequel, I didn't like how they show up and no one bats an eye...sure Elizabeth almost says something when she see them, but you'd think Jack would have something to say considering these 2 took part in a mutiny that led to him being dumped on an island, left for dead. Tortuga would have been a better reentry point. Jack and Gibbs are there trying to recruit a bunch of pirates that will be "sacrificed" to Davey Jones, wouldn't Jack gladly welcome these 2 back knowing that he would be getting even so to speak. "Join me crew lads...no hard feelings...all is forgiven......how many does that make Gibbs" that sort of thing.

I would have done that in the bar and then had Norrington's reentry at the dock when they were getting ready to make way. But hey that's just me.....

The last thing that bothered me was the ending. Very quick. Jack has just been incased in carbonite..oh wait no my mistake...died saving the Enterprise...no wait..apologizes....eaten (collected) by the Kraken. So this happens, everyone goes back to see voodoo lady..snap, crackle, pop.. Barbossa is standing there eating fruit..and the movie is over. While Barbossa being alive is nothing short of miraculous, it is sorta cool because I loved Geoffrey Rush's performance in the 1st film; he is just so fun to watch. I am a bit concerned, however, that in the 3rd film he will now be everyone's buddy. Hey remember when I was undead and I tried to kill all of you ...hahahahahahaha boy were those good times. Oh Barbossa you screwball.

So yes a few things that could have been improved. But you never know I could watch it a 2nd time and none of this stuff could bother me. Guess we will see.

Next time the things about the movie I really dug.

Ant Bully Crew Screening

So last weekend we had our Dallas premiere screening of The Ant Bully. It's funny because you work on a film for over a year and you still don't really know how the film is going to be until you are sitting in a theater. I was really happy with how the film turned out. The film is beautiful with some really great animation; kudos animation dept. The story tweaks and pacing felt right on and seeing it with sound effects and a finished score really adds so much more depth to everything.

It got a big thumbs up from my daughter Wonder-pea. We were actually nervous about bringing her to the premiere. She made it about 85% through Over the Hedge and maybe 60% through Curious George. During CG she began pointing at the screen and announcing quite loudly "its Curious George daddy! see, its Curious George" ever time the monkey was on screen. And as you can imagine, given that the movie was called Curious George, the monkey was on screen....a lot.

But when the Ant Bully started she pointed and said "daddy's movie" and then sat on my wife's lap, transfixed, the entire time. When the movie ended she actually got a little upset because she wanted to see more.

The after party was a lot of fun and it was great seeing so much of the old crew. They had a fun Ant Bully photo dealie set up that everyone seemed to be enjoying. Yes that is me in the front doing my terrified T-Rex.



A big congratulations to everyone involved with The Ant Bully. It turned out great!! Be sure to run out and see it July28th!! You will be glad you did.

Ant Bully on CNN

We are about 2 weeks from release of the Ant Bully and the marketing is starting to really pick up. CNN has a free 8 minute video interview with John Davis which is supposed to be pretty cool. I have yet to watch it because for some reason I can not get it to play. Perhaps you will have better luck...click here and give it a look.

Superman -yawn- Returns

This post is going to be full of spoilers so if you don't want to know anything about the movie stop reading now. Incidentally if you have seen Superman: The Movie then you already know quite a bit about Superman Returns. If you recall in Superman: The Movie, Superman crashes near the Kent farm, goes to Metropolis to work at the Daily Planet and goes flying with Lois. Meanwhile Lex Luthor has a crazy real estate scheme, is sort of a buffoon and has a goofy female sidekick. Well guess what? All that same crap happens in Superman Returns-sigh-

Yes nostalgia for the original movies starring Christopher Reeve runs pretty high in this new film. Some of it works and some of it doesn't. It's actually supposed to be a sequel of sorts to Superman 2, which again, works and doesn't. More of that in a minute. Brandon Routh, who has a strong resemblance to Reeve, seemed to be trying too hard to act like his predecessor which just didn't work for me. I think he makes a good Superman, I just wish it didn't feel like he was doing an impersonation of Reeve a lot of the time. Also, I was never a fan of the klutzy, goofy Clark. Yet here he is again acting like a dork and saying "golly" and "swell". It's not 1978. Yet the film felt less like an update of the character and more like a homage to the previous films.

Lex Luthor. I was jazzed when I saw the trailers because I thought "ah Spacey is going to play him like a crazy, evil genius". Well actually no. He is pretty much on par with Gene Hackman's portrayal, minus the used car salesman smile....-sigh- One of the things I enjoyed with Lex is that he finds his way back to the Fortress of Solitude (remember he was there in Superman 2). Here he gains knowledge about the crystals that are held in that giant...crystal...holder thing. Very cool. He is planning to use the knowledge, meant for Superman alone, for some evil purpose. So what are you going to do with it Lex...something cool...something genius... something evil. Why no. I'm going to grow my own continent. Oh......wow...that is....uh..what? See I'm going to destroy North America by replacing it with a giant, ugly, grey Krypton looking thing. In the process everyone and everything in North America will be destroyed, sending the world economy into a downward spiral. And then people will pay me money to live on my giant, uninhabitable chunk of rock. People? what people?...like all the one's you just killed? Who the hell is going to move there? Europeans? Why would they.....gee thats huh...brillant Lex.

Sound pretty stupid, that's because it is... When he discovers what the crystals can do I figured he would hold countries for randsom or terrorize the world. Weaponize the crystals so that he could attack a country and lay it to ruin when the crystal grows and expands. Nope. Nothing so nasty.

The best parts of the film are when Superman is doing Superman things. Catching large falling objects, burning things with his eyes and unburning things with his breath. There is a great scene where Superman flys above the cloud cover to be recharged by the sun which I really dug. Again when Superman is doing super stuff its great. Everything around Superman being super is mostly forgettable.

Now are ya ready for more silliness? Sure you are. Time to play "how much kryptonite does it really take to hurt Superman". When Lex uses a crystal to build his super continent, the entire damn thing is laced with kryptonite. Here comes Superman flying towards it, he senses nothing, he lands on said kryptonite laced continent still nothing. After some banter with Lex he approaches the bald one and oh wait, he starts to sweat and then BAM Lex punches him and Superman goes flying like a rag doll.

So your surrounded by this much freakin green rock and you don't feel even a little odd...like mmm..eeerrr..either that burrito didn't sit well or I may be losing my powers. Nope nothing. Taken completely by surprised. Then, in what is probably one of the best sequences in the film, Lex's goon's beat the crap out of Superman who apparently forgets that he has other powers like heat vision and super breath. Oh no I am surrounded by kryptonite that I didn't know was there...I am now a girlie man.....not the face!!

They beat him silly and then Lex stabs him with a kryptonite shard and breaks it off...so yes...now there is a really big piece of kryptonite stuck INSIDE Superman...and he is still not dead, bruised or bleeding. Later on he will toss this kryptonite laced continent, which is the size of Texas, into space. At this point just being near the stuff nearly kills him. But having the HUGE piece wedged into his rib cage.......not so bad....I'm feeling surprisingly ok.

Now, for the big "oh my god are you freaking kidding me". Lois, in the time while Superman was gone..because remember he returns in this movie (it's in the title), has had a son whose father we assume, is live in boyfriend Richard White (Perry's nephew). The big twist is that it is really Superman's son. The thing that makes this such a huge twist that you never saw coming is many fold: #1 in Superman 2 Sups and Lois knock boots AFTER he gave up his powers #2 at the end of Superman 2 he gives Lois the krypton kiss of forgetfulness and she forgets everything that happened in the movie #3 since Superman was gone for 5 years and this kid is at least 5, he must have left Earth immediately after Superman 2, leaving Lois who is now immediately pregnant to hook up with Richard White...immediately......stupid, lame, retarded...
yes, yes and yes.

So now yay Superman has a son with powers....great. Maybe in the next film he will teach Superboy how to use his powers. Can't wait to see that. Then Lex, who is in every movie, will capture young Superboy and force him to sell real estate in Florida. -sigh-

Ant Bully Online

Praise the mother our offical web site is (mostly) up! I was starting to get really, really tired of looking at the teaser site with the giant finger. Go take a look and click on things to make other things happen. It's so much fun!! Go here.

Ant Bully Trailer

At long long last it is here! I imagine it will be showing in front of Cars tomorrow, but if you can not wait (and who could) then go here and click on Trailer No. 2

I'm Back Baby!

Yes it is true dear readers I have returned from pan handling across America. Thanks for all the nice comments while I was away. While there is not anything concrete on the new job, I hope to announce something very soon.

During our trip I celebrated by 35th birthday. Yes yes very exciting. And I got to spend the day with the wife and Wonder-pea at the Magic Kingdom which is not a bad place to spend the ol birthday.

Now it is no secret that I am a HUGE Pirates of the Caribbean fan; the ride, the movie, the broadway show...I love it all. But unfortunately, when we made our way over to the POTC ride this is what awaited me:


I am woe and woe is me. But then I noticed yet another sign. What is this…dead mean DO tell tales…intriguing says I…

I’ve been catching the trailer for Dead Man’s Chest and I got to say that I am so jazzed to see this movie. Speaking of movies…

Remember that movie The Ant Bully that I did a couple things on? Well it was supposed to come out Aug 4 but while on my trip I thought "Why make the people wait?" So I made a few phone calls and got the release pushed up to July 28th. Mark your calendars accordingly.

All Good Things...

Tomorrow is my last day at DNA Productions Inc...yes its true. About 2 months ago the company was told that due to no projects lining up behind our current one, significant layoffs would be occurring. Apparently significant means....well...most everybody. So tomorrow myself and the majority of the animation dept will walk out of the studio for the last time. Unless I forget something and have to go back to retrieve it.

My 6 years at DNA were pretty great. I did enjoy my time there very much. The artists really did make the company what it was and I worked along side some great talent. Everyone in the animation dept worked so well together and the team really was hitting their stride. I think our work on Ant Bully will show that.

I have grown quite fond of my fellow animators and I can honestly say it won't be easy not seeing their bright and shiny faces everyday. For me, it's like losing a 2nd family. And it sucks. I plan to keep in touch with every single one of them, except Barry.....because he annoys me. I kid.....or....do I? ;)

Now you know why my blog has been dead lately. Obviously when something like this happens you run the emotional gambit, from feeling angry and hurt to panic and complete freak out. There was also some random vomiting. All this equals no blog entries. I've spent much of the last two months in the land of angry; I'm not only a resident, I'm also the mayor! And you can't write goofy stuff when you're angry. Well I guess you can, but I chose not to.

Unfortunately for my five dear readers the blog will be going on hiatus for a bit. With this news of my layoff you are asking "what's next for ole Ray?" and the answer is "ROAD TRIP".

Yes I plan to rent the wonderful Tom Green romp and watch it over and over and over....basically until I am numb. No my silly hobbits we are packing up the Animato-mobile and getting the hell outta Dodge....er Dallas. I need a vacation by gum and DNA has been nice enough to offer me an extended one. We are going to drive around and visit family and pan handle in major cities all across the U.S.; it's going to be a blast!!

And when we get back....Well I can't say just yet. Walmart seems interested, but I would really rather sell lumber at Home Depot....keep your fingers crossed!!

World Wide Web

A new short promoting The Ant Bully is available at CartoonNetwork.com . If you go here you can take a peek at it. I didn't work on this one either but a lot of other groovy animators did so go check it out....

Live Q&A: now with chocolate

So last night I did a Live Q&A on Animation Mentor. The first one I had ever done. In a live q&a the mentor (me) is on camera answering questions and bestowing knowledge or something masquerading as such, to the students. And yes I was a little nervous to the point of nearly peeing my pants....at least twice. But after getting over some user error issues (yes I had problems with which buttons I needed to press and when) things trucked along pretty well. Although I was freaked out for a good bit with the whole being on camera thing. I kept wanting to look at myself to make sure I wasn't being a total dork but when I would look...well..I would look like a total dork and my bladder would go on high alert.

All that aside it was a lot of fun and we ended up going way longer than our scheduled time. It was great talking animation with others who have a passion for the art form. Hopefully I provided some helpful information and didn't butcher too many names; sorry Boosi...I think I got it right eventually though...maybe....

So today is Easter and after a late night of talking animation I am pretty tired. Wonder pea is on perhaps her 3rd or 4th egg hunt of the weekend and I have eaten more chocolate than a human should be allowed. What can I say? All the sugar is keeping me awake and I just can't stay off those chocolate/peanut butter eggs. We also have chocolate/coconut eggs which are deadly!! For the love of god be careful with those!! I had a couple the other day and my body went into sudden sugar shock. I spent an hour wandering the house, talking to chairs and drooling on myself. I had to eat a carrot as quickly as possible in order to counter the sweet delicious goodness.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend! I am off to battle Wonder pea for the last chocolate/peanut butter egg. I think I can take her. But when candy is on the line its surprising how strong and agile a three old can be.....

Animation Mentor and Me

Today I start as a Campus Mentor at the Animation Mentor online animation school. I am super excited to be a part of it! Last night I took part in a Live Q&A with Bobby Beck, co founder of AM, and a bunch of mentors from the school. It was a lot of fun to see everyone and a lot of good info was exchanged.

If you've never heard of AM....where have you been man? Check it out here