Toilet seat covers and exorcisms.

Has anyone ever been able to use those toilet seat covers without ruthlessly shredding them apart? I'm still a proponent of the "covering the seat with toilet paper" method when I need to make my poops. I tried using one today and not only did it take so long to get it out of the death trap of a cardboard box the covers are contained in but when I finally did use it I felt no more protected than sitting on the toilet seat itself. It was cold. And scary.

As I'm writing this a commercial came on for another exorcism movie... it looks... like every other exorcism movie... I don't know, I never found it to be a terrifying concept, exorcisms. I guess it's hard to be afraid of possessions when you're agnostic... They all use the same camera techniques and writhing pre-teen girls puking pea soup and shouting profanities in Latin. That's the other thing, why don't possession movies ever have a male character getting possessed? Do guys not get possessed? If so, that further lessens my fear of said topic since apparently my gender alone removes me from any threat or predisposition to demons taking over my soul.

I saw Inception last week. On the pure fact that Christopher Nolan is a bad ass who doesn't give a crap about making high-earning movies, I loved Inception. I was a bit slow at times and at no point of the movie was I completely thrown off by what happened, but the general concept of the movie and the spectacular execution furthered my respect for Nolan and his ability to make truly thought-provoking and mentally stimulating pieces of cinema. It's just too bad that people consider the movies he makes to be "summer blockbusters" because as far as blockbusters go, Inception was a psychological adventure into the corners of the human mind and investigation of coping mechanisms. It also had a cute little cliff hanger at the end that I won't mention in case the three people who read this haven't seen the movie yet.

I wish I could dress nicer without spending money. I'm growing an admiration of sweater vests and ties. I own no vests and one tie that I only use for formal occasions. Also, dockers and loafers would be cool.

I want the school year to start, I'm itching to get some feedback on the things I've written for my DP. I also can't wait to start writing for television, it's going to be sweet.

New Layout?!

Thanks Blogspot for getting your crap together! I am digging this new look, I feel like I should be blogging for Interpol now... (the band, not the international law enforcement agency)

So far this summer has been.... well... something....

I've been writing some more really good scripts for my DP idea. I think it's a good sign when I crack myself up while writing out the joke. I've decided that I'm doing either 5 or 7 short animations in sketch comedy format. My DP will start with a nice one liner to grab the audience and have either 2 or 3 longer shorts with one liners between them and ending on another little bit joke. I have some recurring theme ideas that I think would tie the whole thing together nicely. I might write a few more out and start story boarding soon (my favorite part). My Degree Project teacher, the ever wise Steve Subotnik said we should feel free to e-mail ideas to him throughout the summer so I might take him up on the offer.

I also was asked by a friend to do a little teaser animation for a show pitch idea my friend has. I'm going to be honest, the script he sent me is hilarious, I don't know if it's actually TV worthy but I would love to be a part of the project. So I might be working on that over the next couple of months, once he sends me specifics.

In other news, I finally got a callback from Apple but they pushed the interview back to the 27th so by the time I get the job I'll only be working for a month and a half. Also got a response from Sears to be a "Tool Lead" which I hope doesn't mean if I take the job I'll need to be some sort of guru in tool knowledge because my grasp of that subject is loose at novice at best.


YEEEEE-HAW

Johnny-poo

Writing Post #1

I guess I'm going for more creative writing rather than any sort of livejournal-esque documentation.

Decided I'm not going to write my skits down on this site for fear of them being stolen or something. Suffice to say, I wrote around 6 good sketches this morning that I'm really happy with. Just some one liners that would go between the main skits. A lot of my inspiration has come from this sheet I have with all these inside jokes my friend Nick Burgess and I have created over the years. They're comedic gold mines and really good jumping off points for further writing.

I am also aware that I've already failed at my frequent updating promise. Pshaw I say, in a feigned apathetic declaration....

Sidenote, Autosave keeps freaking out because I've been writing and rewriting this blog entry for a week and had the page open the whole time.

SUCK IT UP, BLOGSPOT!

-John

Summer 2010

This is the calm before the great storm that is Senior Year.

We're talking degree projects, portfolios, networking and gathering up all my credits to face the 8-headed beast of graduation. My entire time in education has all come to these last twelve months.

And by god, I will be ready for it.

This summer I'm doing another drawing blog with a friend where we each put up an observational drawing on alternating days. I'm also looking for a job to help pay off some of the overwhelming funds I have racked up in school loan debts.

Finally, in an attempt to further my skills as a writer, I'm going to make a vow to try and write at least one thing on this blog everyday. I've finally realized that my real strength lies in writing and set-up, so for my DP I'm going to put all of my time and energy into coming up with some hilarious skits this summer and let the animation fall into place.

So here's to a productive summer, let the coming months be fruitful.

John

PSA is DONE

Well, actually, my Public Service Announcement has been done for over a week, but I didn't blog about it yet.

NEXT UP!

Thinking of what I'm going to do for my Stop-Motion final that's due in..... 2 weeks -____-

Idea anyone?! I don't even have a medium picked out yet *nervous laugh*

Superlative post.

I just felt like writing something right now.

I'm working on a painting for my Illustration class and noooot really happy with how it's coming out. I think it'll start to look better once I've added the more detailed aspects of the composition.

I keep thinking about this Design assignment I have and how into my concept I've become. It's this TV Show idea I have about highwaymen in the late 1600's and the trials and tribulations of outlaw life (my main inspirations are coming from Watanabe cartoons and real stories of 17th century highwaymen). It might end up being my Degree Project, even though I've been told multiple times NOT to let that happen.

Also, I have a full day of shooting animation tomorrow, both in digital and film, which should be... interesting.

All I can say is, if I smoked, this would be the time to step outside for a cigarette and collect my thoughts.

New Art!!

On my Deviant Art.

It's the stipple piece in my "Featured" section. I'm pretty happy with how it came out.

UNTIL NEXT TIME!

.John.

New Stop-Motion Animation

Pretty happy with how it came out in relation to the little effort I put into making it.


If you want to see it in Super HD in all it's awesome glory, go here on my Vimeo account.

PRO ARTS VIDEO DONE!

I know, I didn't talk about my commission on this blog at all, as it was occurring. Mainly due to frustration and time lines, I just didn't want to think about it anymore than I had to.

BUT!
IT'S!
DONE!

It was the first piece I've ever truly directed and worked on for commercial use and it was quite the experience. I'm just glad I was able to work with the team I did. Tim and Nathalie made the experience far more enjoyable than it would have had I worked on it alone. They also made it look way cooler than I ever could have, I'm more an ideas guy than I am a pure "animation" guy, haha.

Soooo, if anyone actually reads this, you should check it out at Pro Arts Connect!

Or if you just want to see it by itself without visiting the site, here's the Vimeo Page posted by the guy who hired me.