Happy Thanksgiving -

Ticked Off Turkey! from Bonnie on Vimeo.

With the usual big 'ol THHHHHBBBTTTH from Ticked Off Turkey!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween greetings from NYC. I'm fine.

Halloween greetings from NYC. Here was the last stop-motion I did before the software I was using crashed my computer and put an end to that. I bought the computer with no plans beyond emailing, blogging, and surfing the net, I think the animation program just overwhelmed it. It was fun while it lasted, though! 

I mostly wanted to put up a quick post to let folks know I'm OK; I work in SoHo, which is not too far from where it happened, but I was safely working away in my cubicle when it all happened. So sad for those who were hurt, and for the families and friends of those who were lost.

TIcked-Off Turkey says THHHHBBBBT!!!

Same as he does every year. Someday I should reload my animation software, but for now, he'll have to do (and I still think he's cute). Happy Thanksgiving!

Ticked Off Turkey! from Bonnie on Vimeo.

 

uh oh

pretty bad infestation there...

And here's this year's "Get 'Tooned Adults-Only No-Kids-Allowed Cocktail and Claymation" production. Penguins at 1:42, they spell out "NYICFF", the initials of the New York International Children's Film Festival (I don't think anyone would guess that out of context although people at the benefit were getting it by the "C"). Once again, great fun for a good cause. And yes, unfortunately that is my hand at 1:50, I barely finished the penguins in time and I was rushing to get the animation done!

Really Random: Blue Drinks, Separated at Birth, IDEC in Motion, The Village Penguins, and Sebago's annual Open House

1. Blue Drinks! 


D'oh! Once again this done snuck up on me, there's another New York City Watertrail Association Blue Drinks waterfront social evening on the barge at Pier 66 TONIGHT!  These are always fun - I don't know if I'm going to make it tonight as I'm an antisocial butterfly having a social butterfly week & last night's event (claymation yay!) ran late - but I did at least want to spread the word. 6 pm, $20  donation includes 1-year NYCWTA membership, one drink (doesn't HAVE to be blue) , and a tide wheel (nifty device and very useful for trip planning). Click here for more info. 


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2. Separated at Birth?

Pandabonium at Sweet Bluesette wants to know if IDEC is based on a Klingon Qlb'etlh-class Battlecruiser. Well, what do you think?

Image found on the Scifi-Meshes forum.

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3. IDEC in Motion:

When I posted some of my IDEC photos on Facebook, my friend Harry M. shared this video, which I loved. These guys have a way of looking like they're doing 15 kts when they're tied to a dock - seeing 'em in action is fantastic.

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4. Village Penguins:

As I mentioned briefly in the Blue Drinks piece, last night was the New York International Children's Film Festival's 3rd annual Get 'Tooned No-Kids-Allowed Cocktails and Claymation benefit. I haven't managed to do any stop-motion stuff on my own since the Origami Bunny Dance, but I have a great time going and joining the folks at the fabulous NYICFF for this annual fundraiser. The first year I made a seal, the second I made a tiger -- this year I got ambitious and made an entire flock of penguins! The theme was At the Disco so of course the penguins are dressed up and end up spelling out "NYICFF" Village People style. I was joking about going for quantity instead of quality this year but they actually came out pretty cute.

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5. Last but definitely not least - Sebago Canoe Club's annual Open House is this coming Saturday! The club will be open from 10 am to 4 pm and there will be public boating all day long. We'll have kayaking, canoeing and sailboat rides; the trips will mostly on the Paerdegat Basin although the kayak trips may go take a look at the bay, depending on conditions and the ability of all the participants in any given group. The forecast looks lovely, partly sunny, high of 72, and light winds, should be a fine day on and by the water. You need to be able to swim (don't need to be Mark Spitz, we have lifejackets but you should basically be comfortable with being in water), but no boating experience is necessary, all equipment provided, just be ready for fun and dress to get wet. Mostly people don't fall in but you WILL get a wet backside in a kayak or a Sunfish, that's just how they are. We're on Paerdegat Avenue North in Canarsie. For full details, visit www.sebagocanoeclub.org.  

Hmmmm...

Oh, boy, TQ got me a Dutch oven for Christmas and I am SO excited! Hmm, whatever shall I cook to break it in this weekend?

Making Things 1: Putty in their Paws

You know how it goes, right? They lure you in...

They ply you with strong drink...

They show you a good time,

treat you like a big star...

and then the next morning you wake up with an empty wallet,

and a tiger in your foyer.

And y'know what? I'll do it again next year! Woohoo! :D Yes, congratulations and a big froggy amphibious air-kiss to the fine folks at the New York International Children's Film Festival for once again putting the FUN into FUNdraiser in the most delightful way with the second not-precisely-annual "Get 'Tooned!" Adults-Only Cocktail Party/Claymation Workshop!

 The wallet was empty because they gave it to me and I haven't gotten around to filling it up yet; once again, by the point in the evening at which they asked for donations above and beyond the ticket price, I was feeling too warm and fuzzy to resist. They were giving away these really neat bookbags as a thank-you gift for additional donations; the book bags were recycled from the big, colorful vinyl cloth banners they hang around the city to advertise the festival and they were very, very cool but I was going to pass on that because between working in publishing (where there are a lot of giveaway bookbags floating around looking for homes) and doing swim support (where the schwag bags are always these great little nylon drawstring bags), I could have a side business running a SoHo bag table on my lunch hour. When I said I didn't need a bag, though, they mentioned that they had wallets, too, and that's something I've been thinking about getting ever since a friend gave me a really nice purse for Christmas. My old one was falling apart - the new one is a hundred times nicer than the old one, which was a cheap street-stand knockoff,  but it's just enough deeper that cards and cash get lost in the bottom of the pocket where I put them  and I'd been thinking a wallet would help in the finding of things. When it turned out that the wallets were made out of Secret of Kells banners (boy, did I love that movie - still waiting for the Seal Wife one that was supposed to be the studio's next production!), well, SOLD. So that's how I woke up with an empty wallet the next morning.

 The tiger is about 3.5 inches tall and claims to be harmless, although there was a suspicious scene that took place midway through the evening...

he swore he just found the guy like that, though...

Once again, half the fun was seeing what all the weird and wonderful characters that were created.

Here was most of the cast of characters.

There were some interesting differences between this one and the first one. I don't know if it was because last year (or rather 2010) was the first time we did this and  none of us attendees knew what the NYICFF folks had planned for the evening, or if it was because I got there a little bit later this year and people had already settled in, but last time, I'd been seriously entertained by watching all of these grownups (including myself!) walking into a roomful of colorful clay, all for us to play with however we wanted to - I think a lot of us had a bit of a deer-in-the-headlights moment as we tried to remember what it was that we used to do with this stuff.

This year, I got there a little bit later and didn't see anywhere near as much hesitation, but there were a number of us there for the 2nd time and I think most of us who'd come last year came with some thoughts of what we were going to do this year. I was personally wavering between a tiger, a penguin, and a stumpy little monster - could've gone either way but the first clay that caught my eye when I walked in was a lovely tigery orange, so that's what I did, and I thought he came out rather well.

Pre-prep prize, though, definitely went to the repeat attendee who brought wire armatures for her characters, this year, plus props. She's a design instructor and has access to something that I'd heard of a few years ago as being in development, but had no idea actually had come into existence - a 3-D printer! That's right - she designed a wire-frame version of this director's chair using a CAD program - and then she hit "Print". And there you go, one toy director's chair, right there in my hand!

Definitely raised the bar for the rest of us next year!

 One more noticeable - and fun - difference from last year? A lot more interaction between the participants and our characters! If you watch the last one, it was pretty much set up that each of us did our own little scene with our own one or two characters -
 This year, there seemed to be a lot more team efforts - partly from people who came as a group, like these friends -

This Nessie-meets-rocketship scene was a husband-and-wife team effort -

And this guy came up with a chase scene that involved I think it was five different characters, including my tiger.

I'd originally thought I was going to just do that while I waited to do a solo thingy but by the time we were done we were all totally cracking up at the playback, and I'd had my tiger do just about everything I'd planned for him to do, and I just decided that was enough for the evening's production!

After the animating session was over, there were brownies with ice cream and hot fudge sauce and a little more time to talk, laugh and take pictures of each others creations,

After that, they showed us a great set of shorts that had been produced by the kids in their workshops. There were 3, all very good and very different. My favorite was a combination of stop-motion and live action called "Daydreaming", with a teacher saddled with a classroom full of young Walter Mittys, who tries and tries to rein in their daydreams, until at the end she finds herself falling into the blissfullest daydream of any of them. The kids acted, directed and handled the animation and it was just wonderful.

After we finished watching those, the forms for additional donations were passed around, and then it was on to the grand finale of the evening, a preliminary rendition of our evening's production, "Channel Surfing". Last year's premise was "The Auditions" - this year, the idea was that all of these little scenes were being seen as a person was channel-surfing on a TV set.

 Heck, if TV sets had that many channels of pure silliness, I might even go get one - it came out well!

Can't wait to show you the final version, we should be getting it any day now.

Hey NYC-area Beatles Fans!

HEY BEATLES FANS! The New York International Children's Film Festival is having the first NY screening of Yellow Submarine in 10 years! Saturday, March 10th and Saturday March 17th! OH - and they've got Hard Day's Night, 17th only! Click here & scroll scroll scroll, they are both a ways down the list.

I'm so bummed, I can't make either one! Actually never seen either one and it would be fun to see 'em on a big screen - but I've already got plans.

Subway Series #2 - Subway Zoetrope

Well, technically maybe it should be #1 -- I first posted this almost exactly 2 years ago, so if you think it looks familiar, that's why! However, that post was wrecked for some time, as I explained in Subway Series #1: "With my animation obsession, I naturally always get a kick out of watching it and one day I got a whim to share it here, so took my little Optio to work with me one day, worked past rush hour & then simply rode back & forth across the Manhattan Bridge, filming the zoetrope each time, until I got a decent shot. Just discovered that I'll have to redo that, I'd put that on Yahoo Video which I've JUST discovered is now entirely devoted to pet-food-manufacturer-subsidized cute animal videos - no more you-tube-esque user uploads & sharing, my video is gone & the 2008 Masstransiscope post just shows a black square. BOO! Can't find the original clip anywhere so I'll just have to redo it."

Well, I went to redo it tonight, but I didn't wait until late enough and I was tired (had to work on Saturday & be in early today), and I was running out of steam by the time I got a clear shot (need a window with no people sitting in front of it), and then the train stopped dead for a good half a minute right when we got to the zoetrope & then just crawled out. ARGH. Plus I'd set the camera to super-high quality which is an utter waste when filming on the subway - all you get is highly defined graininess. Bleah. I was too zonked to try again, though, so I figured I'd just go home & see if I could do anything with the one shot. I downloaded it and sure enough, it sucked, but somehow while I was working on trying to see if I could cut out at least some of the sitting-still part, I stumbled across the original video clips.

YAY.

So once again, for your viewing pleasure, here is Masstransiscope, by Bill Brand.

Original 2008 post text:

Graffiti artwork animated by the movement of the subway train. Can be seen just before the Manhattan Bridge on Manhattan-bound N, Q & B trains. Not my art, I just pointed a camera at it while I rode past on the train. I like it 'cause it puts some fun into my morning commute!

I'd put this up on Yahoo Video earlier this week & since I seem to be indulging in a lot of New Yorky posts this week, this one fits right in.

It's funny, this giant zoetrope was actually originally installed in 1980. By the time I started riding this particular line, the animation panels had been completely covered in graffiti. I'd noticed the slits - it had occured to me that they resembled a zoetrope, but I didn't realize, until the sequential frames were restored & all the sudden one day I was looking out the subway car window & seeing bouncing balls & rocketships flying by, that it actually IS one!

For more information check out bbotics.com!

There's also a blog with a short circa-80's news piece about it from the - shows how he designed it (check it out, no computers, he actually built a big working model) & then he & the reporter actually go into the installation in the Myrtle Avenue subway station (abandoned but still down there, you sometimes hear those called "ghost stations"). You can see that here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sorry, didn't manage to make a new one - but here's my turkey, being ticked-off for you again.

Hope everyone has a safe & happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween!

OK, didn't have a pumpkin, but at least my stand-in's home-grown!

A Halloween stop-motion quickie. Or at least it would have been if it hadn't been for the music! I haven't had time to do one of these in ages (plus the origami bunny dance was a tough act to follow), and I hadn't planned to do one for Halloween until I was looking at the last pickin's from the garden and had an idea that I thought I could probably slap together fast.

Video took an hour, start to finish. Can't believe how long I ended up wrestling with getting the music to upload along with the video, though! Well, hopefully next time I do one of these I remember last night's fight and the incredibly simple step I was leaving out that finally made it work! :D

ps - would anyone be horrified if I mentioned that I ate my star at the end of the shoot?

Bring On The Dancing Bunnies

Alright...

It's snowing AGAIN.

Over in the Seals, Snow and Bigelow's comment thread, I'm getting argumentative over cheeseburgers and displaying my total ignorance of child rearing practices.

And I just whined about snow, to a guy in Vermont.

Bring on the dancing bunnies!

I was originally saving them for Lunar New Year (year of the rabbit, don'cha know?) but I think it's time NOW.

oh - PS for anyone coming in through Playak or random searches - this isn't just some random set of dancing bunnies I found on teh intertubes, the video is homemade, I just learned to do these last November & it's turned into something of a new hobby. This was only my second one without supervision, don't expect too much!

click "animation" in the labels at the bottom of this post if you'd like to see my first one & the one I participated in at a fantastic evening workshop run by the New York International Children's Film Festival - those will be the first few posts that come up (the rest are from people who actually know what they're doing). Just something I've been having a little fun with this winter.

Thanksgiving Greetings from a Very Angry Turkey!

Ticked Off Turkey! from Bonnie on Vimeo.

Dem Brooklyn boids is tough!

claymation plus one

Well, it turns out that the crazy cast of characters was actually short one - there's a little pink heart girl who inadvertently got left out in the editing process. She's back in now & the official final cut can be seen here!

NYICFF - "The Audition!" (featuring my seal along with a whole CREW of crazy characters!)

The end result of a fantastically fun evening at Barry Rosenthal Studio, where a bunch of grown-ups gathered last Thursday to "play with clay, drink cocktails, and make a movie!" The event was a benefit for one of my favorite not-for-profits, the New York International Children's Film Festival (a search of this blog will find raves about Sita Sings the Blues and The Secret of Kells -- in fact at this point perhaps I should give in and add "Animation" to my tag category, there's enough to earn it now, I think), the animation was done under the guidance of filmmakers Andy & Carolyn London of London Squared, and the characters came straight out of our imaginations! A fabulous evening doing something I've always always ALWAYS wanted to try. I AM going to do a Frogma post about it but the Finished Product came out today and I just couldn't wait to show this off! Watch for my seal!

Day In The Life of a Seal

wait 'til you see the movie he was in!

Friday evening note: And while I wait with bated breath for the final cut of the collaborative short (very short) film in which Mr. Seal here appeared, here's another wonderful sample of stop-motion animation, courtesy of My2Fish. Loved the dancing mermaid's purses!

Independent Mermaid Festival Bonus Clip - Selkie Sunday!

And just because I've got 10 minutes before it's time to get going on today's fun - here's the conceptual trailer from Cartoon Saloon's next feature film, Song of the Sea.

Can't wait!

Independent Mermaids, Day 4: Frivolous Friday, Betty's Back & Sing Along With The Weavers!

Rounding out the week by bringing back Miss Betty Boop in another mermaid role - she's not quite as independent here but it's still a fine bit of Fleischer freakiness.

And here's a sing-a-long version of one of my favorite mermaid songs, Keeper of the Eddystone Light. This one's the Weaver's version, and there are a few mistakes in the lyrics, but they were done by a 15-year old Italian, so it's pretty understandable!

I did like the mermaid song Dennis G. Moonstruck pointed out the other day - but I think this one's my favorite 'cause I first heard it one night in Maine, on board the Lewis R. French, a grand old schooner operating out of Camden. What a vacation that was...oh, the lobsters...

But I digress - here's the Weavers singing the song!

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And that brings us mostly to the conclusion of this week's mini-froggy-bloggy edition of the Independent Mermaids Film Festival. Not a lot of comments, but lots & lots of visitors, I hope that means folks have been enjoying this rather silly whim in honor of visitors, year-end close & the first week of boat & beach season!

Independent Mermaids Film Festival, Day 3: Luscious Russian Folktale

The Mermaid, paint-on-glass animation by Russian master animator Aleksandr Petrov. I think this has to be one of the most beautiful pieces of animation I've ever seen.

Did you like that?

Have you got a bit more time to spare?

You might like Petrov's rendition of The Old Man and the Sea even more. Link takes you to part 1, part 2 is 3rd down the related-videos thumbnail list.

Special thanks to Never Sea Land, where I first saw today's installment of this week's Independent Mermaids Film Festival - the mini-froggy-bloggy version.