Martin Luther King, Jr. via last.fm

I recently read a wonderful post by Ron Mattocks at Clark Kent’s Lunchbox about what our hopes teach our children about their futures. Using Martin Luther King‘s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech as a catalyst, Ron tells us stories of his father and the effects his father had on his life and parenting style. It’s great. I highly recommend you head over there and read it.

As for me and my dreams, I grew up with a passion for animation, especially stop-motion animation. Using a VHS camcorder, I discovered that the camcorder would back up the tape 2 seconds when paused. So I would record my action figures for 3 seconds, move them, record for 3 seconds, move them… The result was choppy at best, but watchable, and I felt great! I felt like Chuck Jones must have felt when he discovered that Wile E. Coyote has to disappear for 24 frames when he falls off the cliff before you see the puff of dust when he hits. 24 frames achieves maximum hilarity.

In school, I built my own clay figure of Batman, and with a couple of friends, we animated a short film of Batman stopping a blob-like creature from stealing a TV from a cardboard electronics store. It was the only film I’d done that included dialogue! I remember showing it at some kind of open house we had, and a parent asked me when I’d be putting my films on Nickelodeon. I had to wait several hours for the head-swelling to go down in order for me to leave the building.

Unfortunately, I let my own fears get in the way. I wasn’t a good enough artist. I wouldn’t be able to get in to my dream school, or schools, it shifted daily from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design to CalArts. I read stories of animators and cartoonists that sounded like they led terrible lives. Charles Schulz, creator of the ‘Peanuts’ daily comic strip, once said of cartooning, ‘It will destroy you. It will break your heart.’ He also said, ‘You can’t create humor out of happiness.’ So the career I wanted could possibly result in a life that was less desirable. Which way would I go?

That answer was ultimately answered for me when I met a red-haired girl who had a charming little girl of her own. In that relationship, I saw the life that I wanted. I saw more children and more happiness. I resolved that if I was Charlie Brown in the Peanuts strip of life, I was going to kick the damn football while avoiding the kite-eating tree.  Quickly I realized that I wanted the life of my dreams, and not the career.

One line that struck me from Ron’s essay was ‘Walking away from a dream, even for all the best and selfless of reasons, is no less painful as it shrinks in the distance behind you.’ That fit my decision to a ‘T’. Now, more than ever, it seems that Comic Books have taken over the cinema, and animation (at least CGI) is reigning supreme. Could I have seen a piece of that action?

On one hand, I feel the pain Ron describes of not actively pursuing the career of a cartoonist or animator, but on the other hand, I feel like that era of cartooning is vanishing. Everything’s done on the computer now. At 31 years old, I feel like a dinosaur. No one’s doing the animation that I wanted to do. I want to go back to hand-drawn animation, even hand-painted cels! I literally get teary eyed when I watch a film like ‘Pinocchio’ or ‘Fantasia’ and think about how the animators toiled over every bubble that rose up when Monstro crashed to the sea, or every broom that nearly drowns Mickey Mouse. The technique and artistry that was invented at the time was beyond compare.

If the Disney Company can start with a mouse, imagine what your kids can do! image via Wikipedia

Of course, Disney recently released ‘The Princess and the Frog’, and Studio Ghibli‘s ‘Ponyo‘ just saw its’ American release, and those are more traditional. Henry Selick and Aardman Studios are still out there doing stop-motion, but these are all the exceptions, and certainly not the rules.

That’s probably enough animation history for one post. What I’m trying to get at is that I would not trade my life today for anything. I am still in the job I got at 18 to ‘get me through college’. But that job has taken me places and taught me things that I don’t think  I would have gotten otherwise. And, of course, there’s my family. I have the best family on Earth! Without my family, this blog wouldn’t exist. Outside of my family, my heroes have shifted from Frank & Ollie to the likes of Ron Mattocks and Joe Schatz. These guys make being a Stay at Home Dad and blogger/writer look like feasible things that can become reality.

It is my hope and dream that I can nurture my children in to whatever they want to be. I tease my wife about my ability to get the kids to say that Batman is their favorite over Superman (she likes Superman better), but right now Calli would rather choose ‘Princess movies’, Kat is in to romantic manga and anime, and Tristin squeals when he sees his Spider-Man teether. I couldn’t be prouder of my independent thinkers!

As far as serious career paths my kids are considering? Kat wants to work with tigers. We just got an invitation for her to participate in the People to People Student Ambassador program. This is a program that has been around for over 50 years and is offering Kat the chance to go study in Australia. I have heard this is fairly expensive, but I will do everything in my power to make sure that she gets to go. If I have to create fundraisers, sell my soul on eBay, whatever, just so she can take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity.

Currently, Calli is a Princess. Who could ask for more? The other day, we asked her to pick up her toys. She put her little balled-up fists on her sassy little hips, looked up at us and said, ‘I can’t do that! I’m a Princess!’ We’re working on that…

Tristin is succeeding in holding up his large cranium. At 5 months old, he’s wearing a 12-18 month hat. Beyond that, today he managed to get my water bottle away from me and take a few sips. I’ve never laughed so hard at his big eyes as the cold water ran down his throat! He immediately went for more.

Whatever the kids wind up doing, I will support whole-heartedly and be the proudest father in the Universe, on this they, and you, have my word.

The Ultimate Payoff:

Pages from ‘I Die At Midnight’ depicting a man desperately in need of a good vomit…

Kyle Baker’s pacing and ‘acting’ on the cartoon page is flawless. That’s why, when I saw a book with a title that started with ‘How To Draw’ with Kyle Baker’s name on it, I knew I had to pick it up.

‘How To Draw Stupid’ reads more like an inspirational book than a straight-forward instructional art book. You won’t find any ‘draw a circle here, than a line there’ type of instruction here. What you will find are a few tips on character design, the layout on the page, and comedic timing. More importantly, you get a dose of Kyle Baker telling it like it is. He injects enough of his own personality and anecdotes from his own life as a cartoonist to make this an interesting read even to someone who has no interest in a career as an artist or cartoonist.

The most important lesson, repeated throughout the book, is that if you want to do something, just do it. In the introduction, I felt like Baker was talking directly at my younger self when he said:

‘When I was young, well-meaning adults would explain to me that it was impossible to make a living as a cartoonist. When I got older, well-meaning publishers, editors, and animation producers would tell me that it just wasn’t possible to publish or produce the kinds of cartoons that I like to make.’

When I was growing up, I wanted to be an animator. When I discovered comic books like Eric Larsen‘s Savage Dragon and Dave Sim‘s Cerebus , I loved seeing how creators could get away with anything and express themselves in a unique way through the comic book medium, without bowing down to some corporate hegemony. I wanted to do that!

However, I let outside influences effect me. I listened to the voices that said it couldn’t be done. I didn’t give 100% to achieving my goal. I didn’t dedicate the time I would need to to be able to hone my craft and earn a living making cartoons.

In the first chapter, Kyle Baker offers simple advice for becoming a cartoonist: ‘Do A Cartoon!’ He says not to worry about rejection or the cartoon being perfect because, ‘Dude, it’s a freaking cartoon!’

I will hope that my kids read this book , whether they want to make cartoons or not, for the simple message of letting everyone else think what they will, if you desire something it’s up to you to go for it!

At the end of the laugh-a-page book that follows, comes the advice that sums up the entire message:

And, finally, be the best!

…And you know why I’m the best? Because I say I’m the best. If you say you’re the best, that’s it. Try it.

…

Being the best isn’t an option these days; it’s a necessity. You don’t have to be competitive, but you must be the best.’

Sound advice from ‘The Greatest Cartoonist of All Time!’. I wish I’d gotten it sooner. But it’s never too late to start.

This is Justin M. Howe, author of the Howefitz Blog, greatest daddy blogger of all time, logging off!

‘Lions, Tigers, and Bears’ is the story of a little boy named Joey Price. Joey has just moved away from his grandmother who he’s close to, and is scared of being in a new place without any friends. As a going away present, his grandma gives him a set of four stuffed animals called ‘The Night Pride’. The lions and tigers in the set she says will chase the beasties away.

As Joey is trying to go to sleep, he hears some bumps one night. That’s when The Night Pride come alive!

I enjoy this comic as much as my small child. Joey is someone anyone can relate to. Through his relationship with The Night Pride, Joey can learn to handle his fears.

As simple as the story seems at first, it soon takes many surprising twists and turns, with plenty of humor and action along the way.

What’s really great about this comic is that the artwork is spectacular. In the introduction, the editor, Ron Marz, calls it ‘animated’. Each frame looks like a still from a hand drawn animated film. This is one of those comics you can get lost in, as if you’re simply watching a movie.

In April of this year, it was announced that Paramount has secured the rights to a Lions, Tigers, and Bears movie. It is said to be similar to the Narnia movies: live action with CGI creatures. I almost wish this film would be fully animated in a way that captures Jack Lawrence‘s artwork, but we’ll always have the comics!! To read an interview with LTB author Mike Bullock about the film, visit comicon.com.

'Aaah, freak out!' Don't let this happen to you!

I took vacation this week and did a lot of house hunting. Right now we’re in a 2 bedroom apartment, which with the approaching birth of my son, will be waaaay too cramped for a family of five! So we’ve been looking for something a little bigger.

We found a townhome that I immediately fell in love with. Nice grassy back yard, another nice grassy area we can play in out front. (with no mowing by me, FTW!) It’s located on a quiet cul-de-sac, so no crazy drivers. 3 bed, 3 bath, fireplace, and a garage. Perfect. The two smaller rooms even already had a pink shade on the window in one and a blue shade in the other!

We looked at more, but that one was just calling my name. First freak out: I couldn’t remember which number in my phone was the owner’s cell! I left a message on his home phone, with no return call. Then I fumbled through my call history and called what I hoped was his cell. It was! Second freak out: it went to voicemail. I left a message, confident he’d return the call soon. A day passed. He finally called me back to tell me that his neighbor knows someone who really wants to buy it, so he’d rather go that route. They’re looking at it this weekend and he’s putting the renting thing on hold until then. Not so much a freak out as complete and total crushing blow.

One thing about me: I’m not the most assertive guy, nor do I plan for the worst-case scenario. I just knew that was the place for us, and now we have to keep searching. One thing about my wife: She IS assertive, and she doesn’t necessarily plan for worst-case, but she always has a back up. She already had a list of properties she’d seen in the paper, handed it to me and told me to suck it up and make some calls/send some emails. I just checked my emails, and someone sent me a reply at 10:30 at night! Hope springs eternal!

Add to the above destressing situation the new found fact that the doctors are talking like they are going to want to induce my wife a week early, moving the due date from around the 18th of August to around the 11th of August. Mind if I just lie down here for a minute?

Interlude: When I was in High School, I referred to myself as an ‘Amateur Animation Historian’. My love for animation and the history of the art survives to this day. So here’s an antecdote from early Disney history that helps me when times get tough:

The premiere for Fantasia was getting near, and the animators were still filming the ‘Ave Maria’ sequence. The scene required an extensive use of the multi-plane camera, which consists of a camera pointing down through multiple levels of painted glass that can be adjusted depending on the depth desired. So the filmmakers are filming the last sequence when the unthinkable happens.

Earthquake!

The animators could do nothing but watch helplessly as the plates of glass, and all their hard work, danced on the framework of the camera.

The earthquake stopped, they reset the shot, and got the film to the theater just in time for the premiere.

I think about that story and realize that things happen, but everything always works out. Maybe not the way you planned, maybe not without a few heart attacks along the way, but they always work out!

One other thing that helps: Check out Calli’s artwork! She turns three today, and look at the wonderful works she’s already created on a MagnaDoodle!

Here, Calli demonstrates her ability to achieve motion through speed lines. Dude! She did this all by herself! Major Daddy geek out!

Calli handed this one to my wife and said, ‘Look Mommy! A duck!’ Tell me this doesn’t look like something by Berkeley Breathed!

I better stop, my eyes are welling up! *sniff!* Thanks for reading, and Happy FatherHood Friday, everybody!

Check out the other cool guys and gals who participate in Fatherhood Friday at dad-blogs.com!

Mine! Mine!

Good Luck! Make sure to stop by JollyMom.com to see how you can get up to eight entries in this giveaway!

I personally have had a few movie moments like that. Some of those were in animated films. But I don’t think any of them affected me quite like Disney/Pixar’s ‘Up‘.

I’ve been a Pixar fan since practically the beginning of the studio, when I saw their short ‘Luxo, Jr.‘ in a presentation called ‘Beyond the Mind’s Eye‘ on PBS. My first post on this blog was ‘Wall-E Restored My Faith In Pixar‘. Needless to say I was excited about ‘Up’, I just didn’t realize how excited I should be.

‘Up’ is a film presented in 3D. I was not fortunate enough to see the 3D version, but I was amazed at the fact that the 3D bit almost seemed like an after thought. What the creators were concerned with here was, I’m not kidding, story. In my review of ‘Wall-E’ I marveled at how much story Pixar could convey with no dialogue. ‘Up’ has many moments where it is the faces of the characters, a clever camera angle, the music, that moves the story. And the story is very adult.

Stop right there!

Let me clarify something that has bothered me my entire life: the definition of ‘adult’ in animation. Here in the U.S., animation is seen as kid’s stuff. People that enjoy animation act like it’s because they’re still carefree. Like they’re more in tune with their inner child. But animated films can and should be for adults as well. This is something that I believe Pixar has flirted with and finally mastered with ‘Up’.

The film deals with a widower who, through life’s many complications, was not able to fulfill his beloved wife’s greatest dream. After her death he decides it’s time to honor her memory and her dream.

As heavy as that sounds, this film is hilarious. It has just the right mix of humor and seriousness, action and moments of serenity, to make you feel that you are living this life along with the characters.

This movie changed my life. It opened my eyes to parts of my life I’m not necessarily proud of. It made me realize that some of the day-to-day tasks pale in importance to those around us, especially those close to us.

Carl wasn't afraid to achieve a dream, Now, neither am I.

I feel like it’s New Year’s all over again. I’m redesigning some of those resolutions. Chief among them to make every effort I can to be a central part of my family’s lives. I will cherish them every moment I have them. I will do everything in my power to make sure that they do not take a back seat to blogging, or career, or any other interest that will crop up.

I’ve had a re-awakening. And a silly ‘kids’ movie’ is responsible.

I highly recommend ‘Up’. Even if it doesn’t give you a great spiritual renewal, I’ll dare you to find something not to like!

The Dragon Hunters crew look for the 'World Gobbler' as their planet crumbles around them.

It seems that it’s always on the weekend that I post about children’s entertainment. That’s probably because that’s when we generally watch movies!

Last night’s selection was ‘Dragon Hunters‘, a French computer generated feature film originally titled ‘Chasseurs De Dragons’.

Before I talk about the film itself, there is a kind of mystique around this one. (At least for me.) I picked this one up as a Wal-Mart exclusive two-pack that came with a Dragon Hunters comic book. The price tag was only $9.96 and my store only recieved ten. (I just checked, it’s not available on Wal-Mart’s website either!) I had never heard of it before, but as I’m constantly looking for DVDs that the two year old can play over and over without the grown up types pulling their hair out, I couldn’t resist the interesting cover and low price tag. What can I say, I’m a consumer!  ;)

As I watched the film, I was pleasantly surprised. ‘Dragon Hunters’ is a lot of fun! The film takes place on a world where the land masses float in the air, and many are connected by bridges. The fantastic landscapes lead you to the fantastic creatures! None of the dragons are all that typical, but unfortunately, the characters are. As with basically any fantasy story you find, this one is about an unlikely band of heroes: Zoe(Mary Matilyn Mouser)- a girl who believes that the tales of heroic knights in the fairy tales are true, Lian-Chu(voiced by Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker)- the large brute who really wants to be a knight, Gwizdo(Rob Paulsen, voice of too many cartoon characters to site here, but does Yakko Warner mean anything to you?)-a regular con-man who is Lian-Chu’s friend and, um, agent? boss?, and Hector- Lian-Chu and Gwizdo’s rabbit-esque pet dragon. (For a great review of this film, see Scott Mendelson‘s review on the Huffington Post, ‘Review: Dragon Hunters(2008)’)

After watching the film, I decided to Google the thing. Apparently this movie is based on a cartoon series tha was very short-lived. At least in the United States. According to Wikipedia, it had a run of just a few weeks on Cartoon Network, and was available until June 2007 on Cartoon Network Video.

If the show was anything like the film, it’s a shame that this didn’t catch on here in the states. It’s an imaginative universe that it could be easy to lose one’s self in.

What is it about Americans? It seems that anything outside of our comfort zone we reject. The popularity of Jim Henson’s The Storyteller overseas and it’s lackluster performance here is another example of this. Good, imaginative storytelling gets thrown out the window as we clamber over eachother to see the next Saw or remake of Friday the 13th. *sigh*.

Oh well, at least this stuff is out there somewhere. You just have to look a little harder to find it. If you can find ‘Dragon Hunters’, I would highly recommend it! (Hint: you can find them at good ol’ Amazon)

I give Dragon Hunters 3 1/2 gummy bears!

Wall-E dreams of something more...

Wall-E is a fun, thought provoking story of the last robot left active on planet Earth when all the humans leave because they’ve just crapped it up too bad for the planet to be livable anymore. This one small robot is all that’s left to clean up our mess.

Wall-E is that rare find: the film that pays homage to others without seeming pandering or obsessive. Wall-E resembles ‘Short Circuit‘s Johnny 5, but with a much more lovable personality. The guidance computer on the Axiom resembles HAL in ‘2001:A Space Odyssey‘. The main Axiom computer is voiced by Sigourney Weaver, of ‘Alien‘ fame. The list goes on, but I’m sure you’d like to find some for yourself!

Even if you’re not a sci-fi geek like me, finding these little homage easter eggs worthwhile, the story of Wall-E is truly what makes this film worth watching. This is a cautionary tale with a lot of heart. It’s obvious that the creators of this film genuinely cared about what they were trying to accomplish; which is a story that’s true to the intentions of the classic sci-fi stories. This is a story that tells humanity to ‘knock it off!’ in a fun and entertaining way.

The title of this post refers to my wavering faith in Pixar Studios. That is because I grew up as an unwavering animation enthusiast. I loved reading books about Disney’s ‘Nine Old Men,’ the original animators that brought Snow White, Pinocchio, and countless others to breathtaking life. I thrilled at knowing that when Monstro the whale is attacking Pinocchio, each bubble in the sea was drawn by hand! And then there was Warner Bros., with colossal animators like Chuck Jones, Friz Freling, and Tex Avery! Over there, they would actually psycho-analyze their characters and make sure that Bugs Bunny did things that Bugs Bunny would do! My point is, in the ‘Golden Age’ of animation, these characters were cherished and loved, and it showed.

As computer animation evolved, I remember watching ‘Beyond the Mind’s Eye‘ with fascination, but I didn’t quite believe that CGI would be able to make me care for and believe in animated characters like it’s classically hand-drawn cousin could. One short that made think I might be wrong? A little short film called ‘Luxo Jr.’ from a fledgling studio called Pixar:

Wait! Were those lamps emoting? To this day, ‘Luxo Jr.’ is one of my favorite Pixar shorts. Walt Disney once said, “My only hope is that we never lose sight of one thing, that it was all started by a mouse.” Pixar could say that it was all started by a lamp.

So I watched Pixar closely and was thrilled that they were the studio to make the first ever full-length computer generated film in 1995, ‘Toy Story.’ ‘Toy Story’ did not disappoint, and was followed by ‘A Bug’s Life‘, ‘Toy Story 2‘, and ‘Monsters, Inc.‘; ‘Monsters, Inc.’ being my favorite of them all.

Pixar lost a spark for me when they released ‘Finding Nemo‘. The humor was just too contrived for my liking. “Nemo touched the butt!” Really? That’s the best you can do? So when ‘The Incredibles‘ followed, I was not expecting much. I am a huge superhero fan, and have heard enough ‘He wears his underwear on the outside’ jokes to last me a lifetime. What I should have paid attention to was that it was written and directed by Brad Bird, the director of ‘The Iron Giant‘, my all-time favorite animated flick. Pixar was back in the game. Then comes ‘Cars‘. With a plot pulled straight from ‘Doc Hollywood‘, ‘Cars’ is, to me, the least original Pixar film. And I may be delirious with disappointment over ‘Cars’, but doesn’t Michael J. Fox’s car kinda resemble Lightning McQueen?

The studio that had made me care about a lamp could not make me care about cars. But, ‘Cars’ is one of the most merchandised Pixar films, other that ‘Toy Story’, so maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about.

‘Ratatouille‘ was another Brad Bird gem, but the thing that was starting to bother me is that Pixar films were starting to all look the same. Could my favorite CGI studio be going stale?

Absolutely not. Wall-E is another film from Pixar that has changed the way things are done. Wall-E even integrates live action footage so seamlessly that it took me a minute to realize what was happening! This was something Warner Bros. attempted in ‘Happy Feet‘ with jarring results. ‘Wall-E’s look is solely it’s own, from the dirty last remains of Earth to the prestine inner sanctum of the Axiom, this is Pixar at it’s finest.

And technical aspects aside, it all comes back to heart. Something Wall-E has in abundance.