Paramount logo over the years..

I still get a chill when the stars fly into the frame. does anyone else try to count them as they enter? These studio logos are just so epic.

Characters From "Cheatin" #25

Another thing that hasn't change much.. MGM logo...

I love how this hasn't really changed over the years.. and we all accept it, no matter how bizarre a lion framed with a graphic while roaring is. Enjoy.

 

I was surprized to learn that the different lions have different names.

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A few things that just don't change..

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Santa Cruz Jason Jesse Graphics..

 

Gotta love this sun graphic.. another one of my favorites circa 91 I believe.. the king tritan one below is pretty rad too.. again, not sure what year, my guess is 90.

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Sketches of the kids in "Dirty Harrry" by Gorillaz..

 

I love the little kids in the dirty harry video by the gorillaz.. that whole video is great, outside of the re-uses, which gorillaz always do. here's some early sketches, and my favorite screen grabs (some nice color and lighting). i have no creds for this.. i don't think any of it was drawn by jamie hewlett, doesn't really even look like his style. enjoy brothas..

Hoodwinked II

I remember years ago watching "Hoodwinked" and really enjoying the animated film because of its great wit and crazy characters. The film went on to be a surprising success. It made the Weinstiens millions of dollars and the creators became minor media celebrities. I heard talk of a sequel to exploit the great success of "Hoodwinked", however, the new film project kind of dropped off the animated radar. I'd hear little hints of conflict between the producers Harvey and Bob Weinstien, and the creators of the new film imaginatively titled it "Hoodwinked II." There were even rumors of angry words and lawsuits. So now that the film is finally released... years later, I was excited to see it.

I have a number of complaints. The biggest is the character design and development. Visually they are ugly and clunky as hell. Also they're there mostly to speak the jokes so it's hard to invest much emotion into the characters. But hey that's never been my strong suit either. Also the backgrounds and art direction - especially the color choices are very amateurish. However I did enjoy the humor and the voice acting. The voices are particularly well suited for the characters and they have a truly casual and realistic tone, especially Patrick Warburton. Also the jokes (when I can hear them) are especially hilarious.

I think the writers have a great career ahead of them working as script writers for either animation or live action. I'd love to read a book about their experiences working with the Weinstiens (good and bad.) It would sell a million. I give "Hoodwinked II" a score of C+.

Museum of Moving Image Show

I've been very busy trying to raise money to fund my feature film, so I've taken on a bunch of freelance jobs and appearances to pay my bills. The big one last weekend was at the prestigious Museum of the Moving Image. They were early supporters of me and my movies. It was around 1998 I believe that I did my retrospective there. David Schwartz, the curator, put together a big show of all my films, even my live action films "J Lyle", "Guns on the Clackamas" and "Walt Curtis, The Peckerneck Poet." It was a lot of fun. Recently, when I attended the grand opening of the MMI after it was remodeled, I told David I had a new book out ("Independently Animated, Bill Plympton") and I'd love to do a book party - He loved the idea and suggested I show my two most recent features "Hair High" and "Idiots & Angels." Then I mentioned that Alexia Anastasio was making a documentary about us. He got really excited and proclaimed "It's a deal!"

So last week we had the Bill Plympton weekend at The Museum of Moving Image. Friday night my co-writer David Levy and I went on stage to talk about the big Rizzoli book - we showed a few new shorts then projected some artwork from the book and talked about its meaning to my life and career. There wasn't a big group in the auditorium, maybe 50 people were present. It was the Memorial Day weekend but the people who came lined up to buy the expansive book - I'm so happy people like it. I gave everyone a fancy drawing in the front cover that increases the value of the book by a hundred fold.

The next day - Alexia Anastasio and Kevin Sean Michael came by to screen the documentary about me. Previously I'd seen a rough cut, and although it was nice I had some issues with the editing decisions. So it was so amazing to see their new cut at the museum. It was so entertaining and informative.

It was really wonderful, but again because of the warm holiday weekend it wasn't a big crowd. Still, the people there seemed to love it. We took Q-A after, then we all hung out at the cafeteria to get reactions and suggestions to make it better.

The documentary is still in the rough-cut stage but it is already getting a lot of buzz and we're hoping to get a good festival run and have some nice TV and DVD sales. The next screening is at the Annecy Film Festival in France.

Alexia and Kevin have put a lot of time and money in the film and want to recoup their investment. So I hope it gets a big long successful run.

Jeff Grosso Board Graphics..

Jeff Grosso may have one of the coolest series of decks ever, starting in the mid 90's. The "Toy chest" graphic by Jim Phillips is just epic. Enjoy.  I never rode a Jeff Grosso btw, but I always liked the artwork;)

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Sex, Dope, and Cheap Thrills

I met Eric Danville long ago - in the 80's when I was doing sex drawings for such publications as Penthouse, SC View and Penthouse forum. We've been friends a long time as both our careers took off. He did a wonderful book, "Inside Linda Lovelace" that became a big hit, and now it's being turned into a big Hollywood film. He currently does these evening "Sex, Dope and Cheap Thrills" with celebrities at the Parkside Lounge bar. I was asked to be in one and I shared the stage with beautiful Justine Joli, print and screen sex star from Penthouse magazine. She was Pet of the Year in 2008.

What I liked about her, above her beauty and honesty was that she was a total animation geek. She knew all about Japanese and American cartoons. Wow! What a fun evening! But we didn't just talk about cartoons. She was very honest about her sex life (she's gay) and what turns her on.

You can see excerpts from the evening on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbna4IXVeYI.

Be sure to go to some of Eric's up and coming "Sex Dope and Cheap Thrills" shows.

Denver Show

I've been through Colorado many times. The first town I blew through was when I was emulating the great Jack Kerouac and his beatnik novel On The Road. I was 23 and I decided to drive across America - it was all pretty boring until I got to Denver. What dramatic scenery!

Of course I've returned many times: 3 visits to Telluride, 3 visits to Aspen and 3 visits to the Denver Film festival. In fact Denver was the first fest to hold a Bill Plympton retrospective. But this time I was invited by Dylan Otto Krider to make a special appearance at ASIFA Colorado and also screen and talk about "Idiots & Angels." We had packed houses for both shows and it must have been because I've visited the area so frequently.

I spent one special day visiting Boulder. It was a sunny day and all the freaks were out in the mall. Dylan and I visited a great bookstore where I was tempted to buy a beautiful book on "Guy Pene du Bois", one of my favorite artists except I was too cheap to get it.

Then we visited the Boulder Film Fest headquarters where they gave us a wonderful welcome and we talked about doing a special "Battle of the Sexes" show next winter. You know how hesitant I am to use our precious Scribble Junkies site for advertising - but I have to say I stayed at the wonderful Omni hotel in Broomfield, and everyone treated me so nice - very un-New York. I'd go swimming first thing in the morning as the sun came up. Then, still wearing my dripping swimsuit I'd have a gourmet breakfast in their beautiful dining room. Thank you Omni hotel and Denver.

I hope to return.