Bag Of Bass Salt

A Witches Tangled Hare

2009-10-07T00:03:00.002+01:00

There's a few good gags here and Chuck Jones is no where to be seen except a little in the design and some posing. A bit cringe-worthy at the end, but most of the later Bugs tag lines were.

THE BEATLES - Old Brown Shoe rehearsal

2009-06-02T01:03:00.001+01:00

Cool Lennon bottle slide guitar sound here. I never imagined it was him when I heard the single.

The Beatles Things We Said Today Live

2009-06-02T00:35:00.001+01:00

Surprisingly great sound quality

Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work

2009-06-01T23:09:00.001+01:00

pop goodness

Wilco - Cars Can't Escape (I Am Trying To Break Your Heart)

2009-05-27T01:17:00.002+01:00

Rest In Peace Jay

Jay Bennet died June 24th.

We Got Time- Moray McLaren

2009-05-05T21:59:00.000+01:00

Cool & Unusual

2009-05-05T21:57:00.000+01:00

St. Louis Blues - Alvino Rey Orchestra

2009-05-03T21:18:00.004+01:00

I remember being very disturbed by this sound as a child when I heard this sound on children's records. The vox recorder was over used as a gimmicky tool to try and keep peoples attention as the big band era started to wane. This performance could have done without the puppet.

This Tornado Loves You - Neko Case, Live On Letterman

2009-04-22T17:08:00.000+01:00

Mendocino - Sir Doulas [Sahm] Quintet

2009-04-15T20:20:00.002+01:00

As long as we can dance and there's plenty of ashtrays...

Copyright Law Explained by Disney Characters

2009-03-25T07:32:00.001Z

A very clever, yet long explanation.

Tim-Tay-Shun : Red Ingle & Jo Stafford -1960

2009-02-22T21:43:00.002Z

Remaking their 1949 hit on 1960 TV show. Red and Jo are in fine form.

Happy Valentines Day Ladys...

2009-02-14T23:40:00.001Z

Harry at his best.

The Neil Young'Uns' - Comes A Time

2009-02-11T22:56:00.002Z

Here are some of a few of my past colleagues that are very musical.
THE NEIL YOUNG'UNS:
LARRY CARIOU - lead vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica STEVE WHITEHOUSE - lead guitar, bass, backing vocals TRUDY BINDER - keyboards, backing vocals DENIS GONZALEZ - bass, banjo, keyboards, backing vocals JOHN VAN BRUGGEN - drums

Formed (as a band) in 2008, although Larry has been playing solo for decades. Steve, Denis and JVB have played in numerous bands together since the early 90's including: Action Motion Men, Spittake & The Duvets. Trudy has also played and recorded as a solo artist. THE NEIL YOUNG'UNS are available for gigs and can be contacted thru: Marc Teghrarian - 416-617-6272 or contact(at)sonica(dot)ca

An Activison First Light Movies Award 2009 Nominee for Best Fantasy Adventure

2009-01-20T15:03:00.000Z

Eochu's Lake from First Light Movies on Vimeo.

Craigie Hills, Dolores Keane & Reel Union-1982

2009-01-18T22:19:00.002Z

I saw Dorlores in concert in Ottawa, Canada, in the late 80's. By this time, her voice was suffering from her heavy smoking habit as she was having trouble finding her breath. Still, she has the most clear and distinctive Irish female voice for her time. You may have heard her on the 'A Womans Heart' CD series singing with other great Irish singers like Mary Black, Eleanor McEvoy, Maura O'Connell and Sharon Shannon. This clip is from TG4, the Irish speaking TV network broadcasting from Dublin.

Lift Me - Ane Brun duet with Madrugada

2009-01-09T12:42:00.004Z

On January 6 the nominations for the Norwegian Grammy Spellemann have been announced. In the category Best Female Artist Ane Brun has been nominated for her latest studio album Changing Of The Seasons.
The BBC Radio2 have been playing her in the evenings and tip her as a best new artist. They compare her voice to Bjork and Dolly Parton!

Christmas (This Year)- Brett Domino Trio

2008-12-22T15:55:00.003Z

My vote for this years best new Christmas single.

Well, it's original anyway.

Devil In Disguise - The Flying Burrito Brothers

2008-11-23T11:52:00.005Z

A lack-luster TV lip-sync performance, yet still in good form.
Before heroin took the life of Gram Parsons, his band The Flying Burrito Brothers had mild success. As a follow through of the band The Byrds, were Gram's country styled writing took hold and came into its own, The Burritos seemed to be a logical musical path. Young Emmylou Harris and Gram toured together under his banner singing his songs for a while after the Burritos disbanded mainly due to his drug problem. It was Grams association with Keith Richards and his then lifestyle with drugs, that would become fatal for his band and ultimately Parsons. His strong canon of music remains and is covered by many as a tribute to what was and what might have been.

It's a Wonderful Life? - The Basses Go To Bedford Falls

2008-11-20T15:30:00.002Z

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Merry Christmas! Here's a JibJab Sendable

2008-11-18T16:15:00.002Z

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Yikes! Forever-by Pete Drake and his vocoder

2008-11-18T15:55:00.003Z

This should have one of those 'love to hate' tags. Everything about this is creepy. I don't think those lads are hitting all those high notes either. Watch while trying to avoid an involuntary shudder.

Lil' Liza Jane- Thumbs Carllile & Curly Chalker, Also, Cotton-Eyed Joe- Thumbs Carllile'08

2008-11-14T11:37:00.004Z

I've never seen this kind of technique played so well by a sighted man. There are certainly benefits to chord variations that can be achieved. Amazing!

Jan Švankmajer, "Zamilované maso/Meat Love" (1988)

2008-11-10T15:05:00.002Z

Inspiration for becoming a Vegetarian.

Ernie Kovacs - Nairobi Trio [Original Music]

2008-11-02T21:01:00.003Z

I remember seeing this as a kid on our old black and white set and laughing at it uncontrollably.
Though dated and well known in the annals of television history, the comic timing is great and this should bookend nicely with Leona Anderson's LP below.

Music To Suffer By [1957] - Leona Anderson

2008-11-02T20:32:00.013Z

BIO: [From www.spaceagepop.com]

Born Leona Aronson 20 April 1885, St. Louis, Missouri
Died 25 December 1973, Fremont, California

Leona Anderson secured he spot in Space Age Pop history with her aptly-titled 1957 album, Music to Suffer By. Anderson made bad singing a legitimate, if entirely unnecessary, form of entertainment. She reveled in the limitations and deficiencies in her singing voice and her publicity proudly proclaimed her as "the World's Most Horrible Singer." She milked her lack of talent into her own special shtick, and ended up landing spots on The Ernie Kovacs Show and other 50s variety series.

Ironically, Anderson had legitimate showbiz roots. Although born into a midwest Jewish family, her older brother Max became perhaps the world's first cowboy movie star, making one- and two-reelers for the Essanay Studio in Niles, California as early as 1915, billed as "Bronco Billy" Anderson. Leona studied singing, unbelievable though it may seem, and the liner notes of Music to Suffer By claim she had landed a spot in a George M. Cohan show by the time she was 15. Something in that claim is off, since Cohan's first Broadway revue wasn't until 1901, and the only Leona Anderson credited with appearances on Broadway is another lady entirely.

We do know that she wound up in the movies, if only sporadically. Her name shows up in several films made at the Astoria Studios in New York City. She must have moved to California to join her brother, since she shows up again in several films made there in the early 1920s. One was a short satirizing Rudolph Valentino, starring Stan Laurel as "Rhubarb Vaselino," and the other a western directed by her brother.

One assumes she worked in radio and vaudeville after that, for by the early 1950s, she had become known for her awful singing, which was apparently an act she created to mock the pompous style of serious opera singers. "Opera singers just can't kid themselves properly ... they can never let their voices go." Anderson, on the other hand, let hers go anywhere it chose to wander, in a manner rather like a drunk's random walk--up, down, and in between the scale. In comparison with the better-known opera comedienne, Anna Russell, though, Anderson's act wasn't something that could sustain an entire show single-handedly. Unlike Florence Foster Jenkins or Mrs. Miller, to whom she's usually compared, Anderson doesn't appear to have been naive, but rather, dissembling. "I'm not sure whether she knew she was funny--but I have my suspicions," one of her acquaintances, jazz label artist (and comb player) Paul Bacon, has commented.

Somewhere in the mid-1950s, she recorded a single, "Fish," for a small New York City label. Anderson's co-conspirators were two other figures in fringe entertainment: Bill Baird, a pioneering puppeteer best remembered for performing the marionette scene in "The Sound of Music"; and Tony Burrello, who recorded another famous 7" slice of discord, "There's a New Sound (The Sound of Worms Eating Your Brain)," that pops up occasionally on the Dr. Demento radio show. Her catterwauling was accompanied by Baird on tenor tuba and Burrello on calliope, which also makes this perhaps the only known pairing of this instruments.

Inventive television comic Ernie Kovacs heard it and was inspired to build one of his recurring routines around it. Kovacs would stand next to a knight's suit of armour and periodically open the visor. Out would come the discordant tones of Ms. Anderson's singing. Later, Kovacs had her appear live and offer viewers a taste of her act. Kovacs' widow, Edie Adams, later recalled that ""She knew she was camp, but she was very funny, and very sweet." This tidbit of notoriety probably led Unique Records to record and release Music to Suffer By, quite consciously packaged as a joke. It probably also led to her landing a small part in the 1958 Vincent Price horror film, "The House on Haunted Hill."

Her show-biz career appears to have come to a close not longer after that, and she died at the age of 88 in a retirement home not far from where her brother first started making movies.

November Playlist

2008-11-02T19:13:00.006Z

LINK:
NOV08.zip

HOSTED FREE AT BOXSTR.COM

Tracklist:

01) Set Your Receivers -Meat Beat Manifesto

02) Bubblegum (Hubba Bubba remix feat Marie)- Books on Tape

03) Sexo Perfecto (Feat Ask) -Supabeatz

04) Facing That Void (w/Maroons) -General Elektriks

05) Deaf Mick's Throwdown -Clockwork Voodoo Freaks

06) Because I Got It Like That (Ultimatum Mix) -Jungle Brothers

07) Give Me My Anger Back -Psychedeliasmith

08) Sasafras Seedlings -Borts Minorts

09) Velvet Pants -Propellerheads

10) All I Want -Supabeatz

11) Crosseyed & Painless (Talking Heads cover) -Brazilian Girls

12) Animal -Bitman & Roban - Feat. Anita

13) Ocean Games -Funk 4 Sale

14) Radio Mellotron -Meat Beat Manifesto

15) Cominagetcha -Propellerheads

16) Saturday Night Worldcup Fieber -Mouse On Mars

17) Kalifornia -Fatboy Slim

18) Say Aha -Santogold

19) Flicking Your Switch -Ladytron

20) Peppermint -Plastic Operator

21) Rrrrrrright: germlin remix -Deerhoof

22) 06 60 92 92 -Prototypes

23) Elvis Presley For President -Lou Monte

Tiki and then some...[Here]

2008-10-31T12:34:00.008Z

Scott Scheidly is talented and funny. Visit his site to see a gallery of interesting art inspired by the absurd and a tiny dose of Tiki culture. All done with acrylics. Very inspiring.

http://www.flounderart.com [click title]

1973 Cheech & Chong's : Basketball Jones

2008-10-01T16:23:00.006+01:00

Tyrone Shoelaces has a fantasy...some might call the imagery racist now but in 1973 it rose to #15 in the record charts.
This is the short released to promote the single by Cheech & Chong off their LP Los Cochinos. The Beatles even make an appearance!
If this looks familiar, Peter Sellers watches this as Chance the gardener during a sequence of the 1980 film, Being There. Enjoy!

James Blackshaw plays: The Eye

2008-10-01T15:32:00.003+01:00

Hypnotic!

Yes, there's a bit of trickery and repetition, but overall there's still some soul to the music.

Hell Hath No Mercy As A Letterman Snubbed

2008-09-25T10:22:00.002+01:00

National hero and senator John McCain, at the last minute, cancelled his appearance on David Letterman's talk show to go to another network down the street, after calling Dave personally to say he had to rush to Washington to help save the economy...

GIN - The Tiger Lillies

2008-09-09T13:52:00.002+01:00

One of the bands on my 'must see' list.

Jerry Reed & Chet Atkins - Summertime

2008-09-05T10:13:00.000+01:00

Jerry Reed 1937 - 2008

BUTTER 08 - Butter of 69

2008-09-05T08:43:00.003+01:00

Butter 08 was a short-lived musical side project whose members consisted of Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto, Russell Simins of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Rick Lee of Skeleton Key and director Mike Mills. The band released just one album, the self-titled "Butter 08" in 1996 on the Beastie Boys' now defunct Grand Royal record label. The album features guest performances by future Cibo Matto members Timo Ellis and Sean Lennon as well as a performance by filmmaker Evan Bernard who directed music videos for several Grand Royal artists as well as for Cibo Matto and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.
In addition to their one album, a remix of their song "Degobrah" appears on the soundtrack for "City of Industry", a 1996 film featuring Harvey Keitel.
The band was allegedly formed when the members spent an evening recording the 1995 Cibo Matto single "Know Your Chicken" together. A demo was then sent to Mike D, who immediately signed Butter 08 to Grand Royal Records - taken from Wikipedia

Weird Sesame Street short...

2008-06-24T00:35:00.002+01:00

This is almost creepy...until you notice how influenced it is by Paul Dressen, who helped set the animation style in the Yellow Submarine Film some few years earlier. What's that big 'morphy-type' guy's name anyway?

Now that you're nice and mellow...

2008-06-13T22:27:00.002+01:00

...here's Ethel Smith and some of her gal pals! Don't ask where they're hiding the brass section. She's playing Tico Tico! Notice how some of them aren't even tapping their feet.

Pogo - Alice

2008-06-01T20:54:00.000+01:00

Fantastic!

R.I.P. Andy Knight

2008-04-16T23:50:00.004+01:00

Andy, creator of Ned's Newt and creative force behind Red Rover Studio,Toronto, passed away April 11 of a stroke, age 46. Condolences to his family and friends for their sudden and immeasurable loss. - Mike

You Gotta Get Hot To Play Real Cool

2008-04-11T22:55:00.005+01:00

The Three Little Bops - Friz Freleng
What makes this great is the attention to detail of all the cycled animation. My favorite bit will always be the dancing crowd. Just iconic 50's style and design with minimal movement...and funny!

'Thriller' was first...

2008-04-09T22:32:00.000+01:00

What To Do With All Your Prison Time...part two

2008-04-09T22:22:00.005+01:00

A very impressive feat to undertake at any level, this syncro-dancing of the late Laura Branigan's 80's hit gets the prize.

Everly ever after...

2008-03-01T14:06:00.001Z

'Bird Dog' and 'Till I Kissed Ya' , both songs represent how strongly rehearsed and polished the brothers were at their peak.
A finely tuned duo. Try to follow Phil's vocal on Bird Dog as he easily slides from main vocal to deep talking 'call and response' style vocal with spit second precision.

A Valentine rose from Mr Henson: Time Piece by Jim Henson [1965]

2008-02-14T10:31:00.005Z

Dislocation in time, time signatures, time as a philosophical concept, and slavery to time are some of the themes touched upon in this nine-minute, experimental film, which was written, directed, and produced by Jim Henson-and starred Jim Henson! Screened for the first time at the Museum of Modern Art in May of 1965, Time Piece enjoyed an eighteen-month run at one Manhattan movie theater and was nominated for an Academy Award for outstanding short subject.
The rest is history... I like the Kermit voiced "Help!" throughout.

Is There A Dose Of Theremin In The House?

2008-02-10T11:15:00.000Z

From 1966 Game Show, I've Got A Secret with host Gary Morse.

This "musical Instrument" has a cult following to this day and a growing number of new Theremin players.

It's Madison Time!

2008-02-01T22:38:00.000Z

1964: Anna Karina, Sammy Frey and Claude Brassuer dance the Madison in Jean-Luc Godard's, Bande à part (Band Of Outsiders)

Basic step: step F [forward] on L Q [left, quick], tap R toe behind L foot & clap Q, step B [back] on R Q, tap L toe to R Q, to L Q, to R Q. repeat 6C [count] until caller says "hit it" after calling out a step. Twist arms opposite hips on toe taps.

Wilt Chamberlain: 2 Up 4C while bouncing a ball with R hand, jump ¼L & take hook shot with R arm S, jump ¼R S, 2 Back 4C. Can say "2 points" and hold up 2 fingers on last 4C.

Jackie Gleason: 2 Up 4C while facing R & dropping fists with each step, face F & raise R leg F S, bring R foot B to L of L knee Q, rest Q, charge F onto R Q, rest Q, step B onto L Q, step B onto R Q. Can say "away we go" while charging.

Pedro And Frankensheep

2008-01-23T22:30:00.000Z

Love the Welsh accent of the Sheep. Hope The Brothers McLeod can sustain this series in the humour department as well as keeping the design refreshed. Click title to go to their website.

PELÍCANOS & PESCADOS

2008-01-23T22:15:00.000Z

ALEX DUKAL
PATAGONIA ARGENTINA

I like an artist who is generous with other artists when it comes down passing along tricks of the trade. Especially in photoshop.
Check out Alex's site for his great looking style and helpings of textures and tips for photoshop. A gift for reading Spanish is a plus but there are some screen grabs that may help the intermediate level CS3er's. Very Cool. Click the title or find him in the links>>

The Monks

2008-01-23T00:04:00.000Z

Way ahead of their time with their trance-like oddness. I came across this by following a link from the new limited release of the movie Harold and Maude's soundtrack on vinyl. Light In the Attic records website laments the passing of Dave Day of the Monks.
http://lightintheattic.net/news/

It's A Wonderful Life?

2007-12-29T12:26:00.000Z

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

Happy Holidays

2007-12-29T01:21:00.001Z

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

Detektivbyran video

2007-12-20T01:38:00.000Z

Yes, most people I speak to say that this is too much like the music of Yann Tiersen, but that does not negate quality of musicianship or reason for exploration in a similar vein. There's room enough for everybody in Musicland. Saying that,this is a weirdly loose video with only one personality coming through in the band. It makes the me wonder how long they might last before it all starts to sound the same. Nothing new hear in the compositions. I'm patient though.

Hazmat Modine play- Lost Fox Train

2007-11-23T12:46:00.000Z

'The band features the dueling harmonicas of front-man Wade Schuman and his sparring partner Randy Weinstein, funky tuba powerhouse Joseph Daley, guitarists Michael Gomez and Pete Smith, trumpeter Pam Fleming and drummer Rich Huntley. HAZMAT holds down a smoldering groove behind Schuman’s raspy, bluesy voice and passionately energetic stage presence. (Schuman is one of the most dynamic performers on the New York scene). Their playful blend of genres also extends to their use of instrumentation, including the sheng (the ancient Chinese mouth organ), the unique and odd claviola, and sometimes the cimbalom (the Romanian hammered dulcimer). While they play mostly originals, their cover versions are choice and eclectic, including songs by Slim Gaillard, Jimmy Rogers, Jaybird Coleman, and Irving Berlin.'

Very much influenced by blues harp players like Sonny Boy Williamson, James Cotton and Junior Wells....just an amazing bit of playing.

Hazmat Modine play- Who Walked In

2007-11-23T12:43:00.000Z

Just great.

Hazmat Modine play-Yesterday Morning

2007-11-23T12:33:00.000Z

Hazmat Modine play- Bahamut

2007-11-23T12:25:00.000Z

One of the bands I've recently listened o and enjoyed. A rather large group of very talented musicians. The is off Russian national TV program Prosvet. Love the tuba sound here.

Raymond Scott - War Dance of the Wodden Indians

2007-11-16T21:53:00.000Z

Raymond Scott and his original music was the nucleus of many a Carl Stalling score for the Warner Brother Shorts during golden age of the classically animated cinematic short. (Bugs Bunny,Porky and Daffy would never have stretched so ridiculously without it.)
This video is a very surreal piece of history; Forget the white guys tap dancing as American Indians and the height of insult to the true American Indian at the time, it's a product of it's Davey Crockett lovin' time. Watching it now is baffling and funny. It also makes me think Raymond's music was under-rated. There is so much more visual potential to discover/utilize with this frantic polka-like music than the Warner toons could have ever realized or afford to produce at the time.
It remains, for some dedicated animator to hit every beat in Raymond's fantastic soundscape of a repetoire and show the world just what a maestro he was.

Like A Hurricane - Neil Young & Crazy Horse

2007-10-22T23:01:00.000+01:00

1976, Hammersmith Odeon, London

No animation on this, but wouldn't the song make a great short?
With a song as poetic as this, there is little else to say.

Puppet Test for BBC's 'On The Air'

2007-10-08T23:39:00.000+01:00

These three scenes from BBC Northern Irelands Animated series 'On The Air', were part of an animation test I did to show my skills to director Joel Simon at Flickerpix. Had I not other commitments to attend, Joel would have given me the job. I post them here to give them a new home and as a kind of web folio.

Patrick Watson video

2007-09-26T14:54:00.000+01:00

A Utopian Dream

2007-09-25T18:26:00.000+01:00

Some day this will happen...
...and there'll still be "Office Politics"

The Art Of Jim Flora

2007-09-05T22:13:00.000+01:00

Jim Flora

2007-09-05T22:10:00.000+01:00

Jim Flora

2007-09-05T22:01:00.000+01:00

Have a good old browse of the Jim Flora blog spot by clicking the new link. I'm recently acquainted with his work and after scratching the surface I can safely say "I like it."

Os Mutantes, 'Brazils Beatles' Shell TV Adverts

2007-08-28T21:50:00.000+01:00

oreskaband

2007-08-27T23:51:00.000+01:00

Ska from Japan?. What's not to like? After you watch, click the menu and find loads more of their video.

Oils well with Ian Jeans

2007-08-20T01:12:00.001+01:00

Check out a friends artwork and get some for your wall! It'll be fun! Click the his name in the link list. Do it now.

More Raquel Welch from 1970 TV Special

2007-08-05T16:59:00.001+01:00

It's all going well until people start tumbling down snow-capped mountains on skis. Loads of perscribed drugs like valium might explain some of this.

Raquel Welch sings and dances! Let The Sun Shine AQUARIUS

2007-08-05T16:52:00.001+01:00

What Passed for TV in the 1970's

Angel Of Death Is a CAT?!! Ya,That Figures.

2007-07-26T22:25:00.000+01:00

What follows is an article posted a couple of hours ago on Yahoo. It must be a slow news day:

[NEW YORK (AFP) - He is a two-year-old cat and looks innocent enough. But at the nursing home where he lives in the US state of Rhode Island, Oscar has developed a reputation as an angel of death.
Since being adopted as a kitten by staff at the advanced dementia unit of Providence's Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Oscar has revealed a rather morbid tendency to pick which patient is going to die next.
According to David Dosa, a geriatrician at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, Oscar makes regular rounds, looking in on patients and giving them a quick sniff, before either moving on or settling down for a cuddle.
So accurate have his predictions been, that as soon as the white and tabby harbinger of death curls up with one of the patients, staff immediately start summoning family and clergy to the soon-to-be deathbed.
"No one dies on the third floor unless Oscar pays a visit and stays awhile," Dosa wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine.
"His mere presence at the bedside is viewed by physicians and nursing home staff as an almost absolute indicator of impending death, allowing staff members to adequately notify families," he added.
"Thus far, he has presided over the deaths of more than 25 residents."
Dosa did not offer any explanation for Oscar's uncanny powers of prognostication, which patients were not yet believed to have spotted.]

Now I ask myself, what rodent riddled hospital is this that allows a cat to roam it's bacteria encrusted halls? Could it be, I'm just pulling a feather from the sky here when I say, that this cat might just be The Grim Reaper itself? Sure it has a sense of when a patient isn't going to finish his last meal, it's a CAT! It wants the un-touched plate of food! Also, could it not be within the relms of possibility that it carries a plethora of bio hazardous germs on it's merry way from one person's plate to another? Of course grandma is going to feed the kitty the bland gray morsel of pemmican the hospital brashly called low-fat chicken. Just look at the size of this cat. It's a horrendous size! It might be capable of all sorts of lung collapsing foul play as it bats at the intravenous tubes. I've never heard such a ridiculously tall tale being passed off as headline news!
No matter how you look at it, the cat will always get the cream...'cause they're the devil in disguise!
...Aw, isn't he cute!

Yep, It's Real Velvet

2007-07-25T15:19:00.000+01:00

I got this image off eBay a long while ago and have been saving it for just such an occasion.

Sorry, I Had To See It.

2007-07-25T15:14:00.001+01:00

May I be struck down dead by a brightly lit 18 wheeler. Hey that puts me in mind of a band named 18 Wheels For Jesus. Well, that's us completing a full circle....but there is one more image I'd like to share.

I Don't Care If it Rains Or Freezes...

2007-07-25T14:45:00.000+01:00

Is this really how Jesus would look the most comfortable on my dashboard? With all the bouncing and bobbing he'd look like he was waiting for you to pass him a ball or throw him a peanut in the shell. He could hold your sunglasses for a while....well, as long as you didn't hit a bump and set him 'a bobbin', risking a swear word or two..."Oh B'jeezez!"

Who Is Harry Nilsson...?

2007-07-24T21:19:00.001+01:00

Some names of the faces seen in this trailer I don't even know, but I do know who Harry Nilsson was and how great his music was. I'd really like to see this film when It reaches a screen near me. if you are remotely curious, check out the other clips and film on YouTube. It's a pitty he didn't have as many people praising him in his life time, but he was a little busy throwing it all away (along with his great voice)on drugs and booze like many others of his generation. He left a great wealth of work behind though.

Beyond a Joke

2007-07-24T08:36:00.000+01:00

Tewkesbury is the hardest hit place in England with a forecast of more rain very day this week. No fresh water and no electricity in some places. The elderly and infirm are suffering the worst and are being air lifted to safety.

Understatement of the Week Award

2007-07-23T20:53:00.000+01:00

[Speaking after a helicopter visit to the area, Brown linked the floods to climate change and pledged 200 million pounds (298 million euros, 411 million dollars) extra funding, plus a review to address future issues.

"Like every advanced industrialised country, we are coming to terms with the issues surrounding climate change," he said.

Britain was grappling with "19th century structures" and its drainage system would also have to be looked at, he added.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said that up to 10,000 homes have been or could still be flooded and warned that the emergency was "not yet over".]

Look! The Prime Minister isn't getting wet. Or was he wet already.
So, there wasn't a plan then. The words of the top scientists weren't enough. Nothing like another review to sort out the problem. Maybe by the time the review is done, Mr. Brown's Environment Secretary and the Environment will have dried up. -Angry Potato

How Children Draw Iconic Images

2007-07-23T00:05:00.000+01:00

My daughter drew this one day as we sketched at the kitchen table. I have no idea why Christ is tied at the neck. It's labeled with his name too just in case there was the slightest doubt it wasn't who you thought it was.

My Multiply Site

2007-07-22T11:24:00.000+01:00

Click Here to download my Podcast for August

Groh Blammo! Groh

2007-07-22T02:37:00.000+01:00

Groh figure, he's heard that before I'm sure, the man has a blog with cool retro imagery. Spend a few clicks to view a few pix.

One Sent From The Brother Man

2007-07-19T21:02:00.000+01:00

I trace my partial hearing loss in my left ear to the way I was facing the stage back in 1982 when The Who played the CNE Stadium in Toronto. I'm not complaining. It's just that I also had toilet paper stuffed in my ears at the time and it was still very very loud. When I first saw this cartoon, I looked for the toilet paper in Horton's ears. Of course, it wouldn't look as funny with a roll of t-p in each of his ears. Thanks for the picture Boyo.

New Budos Band CD Out Soon

2007-07-18T21:09:00.000+01:00

I like what I've heard so far from this eminent release. Very funky indeeeeeed.
Paste these URLs into your browser.

http://files.for-robots.com/blair/BudosBand-ChicagoFalcon.mp3

http://p1.tradebit.com/usr/dmr3345/pub/8/BudosRising.mp3

Food For Thought

2007-07-18T15:18:00.000+01:00

Original News Item follows as stated:
[ASUNCION (AFP) - Paraguay is hoping a small herb that is not trafficked, addictive, or even fattening, could prove to be the real deal that the food industry has been waiting for.
Stevia -- Latin name stevia rebaudiana bertoni -- has been used for centuries by the Guarani native people to sweeten their drinks, being 300 times sweeter than sugar with none of the calories.
The market for stevia has grown in Argentina, Brazil and Ecuador in South America, as well as in China Japan and South Korea, but the US Food and Drug Administration has termed stevia an "unsafe food additive," while the European Union allows its sale only as a food supplement or in cosmetics.

"World demand is enormous," Gonzalez said. "But the sugar lobby wants to stop the importation of this natural, safe, revolutionary product."

Studies at the medical school at the University of Asuncion found stevia had a long list of beneficial properties, being an anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and an anti-bacterial agent useful in the battle against diabetes, high blood pressure and tooth decay.

But it is finding it hard to shake off fears over carcinogens which have dogged its sister, chemically manufactured sweeteners, saccharine and aspartame.

In 10 years, plantations of stevia, which is native to northwest Paraguay, have grown from 350 to 1,500 hectares (865 to 3,700 acres).

Officials hope to increase that 10-fold over the next five years through cloning, which is more effective than planting the seeds.

However, the largest producer of stevia is not Paraguay, but China, which has 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres) under cultivation.

Paraguay's stevia pioneer, the company Emporio Guarani, grows the plant and extracts the sweetener in its plant in Luque, 10 kilometers (six miles) outside Asuncion, and is not worried by China's influence on the market.

"The land of the stevia is right here," said manager Maria Teresa Aguilera, whose phone has not stopped ringing with calls from companies around the globe, following Coca-Cola's announcement.

"Thanks to our climate, we can raise three crops while China grows one," she said.

Besides its claims to safety, stevia has another advantage over aspartame: it is stable to 200 degrees C (390 degrees F) so it can be baked.

A kilogram (2.2 pounds) of stevia crystals, extracted from 12 kilograms (26 pounds) of leaf, is worth 40 to 100 dollars, depending on its purity.

Knowing that Paraguay, half of whose six million inhabitants live in poverty, may be sitting on a gold mine, authorities are now launching a bid to win international recognition as the stevia plant's country of origin.]

So, will this be the start of a global market for Paraguay and pull them out of poverty?

Not if the Cola people can buy up all the land it needs there...Hmm...

Could this eventually parallel the struggle that has gripped the Brazilian rain forest and all it's inhabitants?

-Food For Thought

Tips & Tricks-Animation Treasures

2007-07-18T13:54:00.000+01:00

The art on Hans Bacher's site is a visual treat and there's many fine pieces to view. A Link reference and quote from the Cartoon Brew blog: Art director Hans Bacher (Mulan) has started up an incredible new blog called Animation Treasures. He’s doing the painstaking job of recreating pan backgrounds from classic animated films currently on dvd (mostly Disney ones) to offer a sense of what the original backgrounds looked like before the characters were composited on top. There’s lots of insightful notes to go along with each image. Truly a terrific educational resource that everybody [interested in film composition etc.]should take advantage of.

Find it here: animation-treasures.blogspot.com

Hans hasn't removed every character from some of the screen grabs as scale of the characters is important in the composition of the shots of the Giant's castle. While viewing the art think of the action that is to take place on the artwork and how those areas need to be clear of distracting details and conflicting lines.

...So You Can Draw With Confidence Like This.

2007-07-18T13:35:00.001+01:00

Dedini was a Disney artist in the 1940's and contributed a regular strip and images to Playboy in the 60's. He has a great way of saying so much with very few lines. Using a warm sensual pallet for his Playboy images his brushwork was equally as subtle. See more at the Asifa Hollywood Animation Archive.

To Aid Your Life Drawing Skills...

2007-07-17T21:00:00.000+01:00

More reference of Neko Case and why her corset sold... in case you were wondering...just a little.

Famous Corset Sells On eBay

2007-07-17T20:37:00.000+01:00

Neko Case has sold a corset she wore in her famous photo shoot with Washington-based photog Victoria Renard on eBay. The corset photo in question was for the Sympathy For The Record Industry calendar photo shoot. Good er,... naughty girl...er, I don't care what she does really, as long as she keeps on singing and recording beautiful music that people still want to pay for. I know I do. She's very easy on the eyes too.

Ward's Wise Words Still ring in our Wacky World

2007-07-16T19:45:00.000+01:00

Wil Finn's: Letter from Ward Kimbal-1973:
Any University or Institution of higher learning worth it's 'second mortgage' sized tuition should read this before allowing young artist to follow a button pushing path into the world of animated film. It's robbery, in many ways other than fiscal, to allow a low calibre of gradute for an industry with higher standards. A crisis is brewing in many ways for the grassroots of traditional animation, but talented people will always prevail over the unfortunate ones that can not be 'Jack of all trades". - MB

Drag-A-Long Droopy

2007-07-16T19:24:00.001+01:00

"MOO! MOO!MOO! BAA! BAA!" A Tex Avery Classic. How many gags per minute? My favorites would be the death of the fly and the hanging pistols creating sculpture.

The Simpsons Movie Trailer #3

2007-07-16T16:20:00.001+01:00

This has hit writen all over it. I wonder if there will be any Kubrick moments in it...hmm, saying that, there's very few places to have a Kubrick moment other than Springfield these days...

A Hard Day's Night of the Living Dead

2007-07-16T15:45:00.001+01:00

If Only this Was In The Theatres!

Zappa on Make Me Laugh

2007-07-16T15:28:00.001+01:00

After the first minute you can see Frank wish he was somewhere else...a bed spread as a prize?

Check Out This Months Latest Additions

2007-07-15T17:02:00.000+01:00

www.animationarchive.org/email.html

I've just visited this site for the first time today.
You could spend hours of your day reading and viewing all things related to animation art and the people behind the pencils.
Click the The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Email Newsletter for Hot Link >

"Kill the Wabbit!"

2007-07-10T14:05:00.001+01:00

50 Years since What's Opera Doc was screened for the first time. Chuck Jones' masterpiece holds up rather well. This is the only cartoon I can remember my father laughing uncontrolably at. "Kill the Wabbit" still gets most people laughing or at least smiling with a few extra Jones-like curly-ques in the cheeks.
Mel Blanc is also in fine form, singing in character, adding Bugs' humorous Bronx brogue to crown this operetta's place in film history.
Read the Toronto Star article:
www.thestar.com/article/233518

What's Opera Doc

2007-07-10T13:58:00.001+01:00

Happy Fiftith Birthday Doc

The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist (Good Quality)

2007-07-10T00:42:00.001+01:00

This one is for Willy...getting carded at your age!

Bad Brains with Leonard Nimoy - Pay To Cum

2007-07-10T00:37:00.001+01:00

Why can't wee dance this way any more...?

Potato A-Peelin'

2007-07-08T18:37:00.000+01:00

A bit about myself...later.

Can't Wait To Polenate?

2007-07-03T19:13:00.000+01:00

The Curser Bee. Created at a larger size to maintain detail not many people will care to stop and see. More people should be like a bee and stop and smell the flowers. I bought a crate load of honey this spring in preparation for the hyke in prices following the discovery of empty hives and dead or dieing bees due to a mysterious bee disease that had attacked them over the winter. There were reports of disapeared bees and half pollulated hives. I love honey and think it is one of many gifts Nature gives that we often take for granted. Bee's have such sort lives yet such an important roll in the natural flow of life. A hero of the insect and plant world. The image shows the bee without wings as they animate on another level.

Get Connected!

2007-07-03T18:57:00.000+01:00

This is the Potato Plant part of the site where links to other sites of interest would appear once the user passed the bubble bee curser over the animated flower buds. The flower would open with a spray of polen and a logo or image from the incoming site would pop up.

The Website Map

2007-06-23T17:07:00.000+01:00

As I seem to be moving in reverse, back from the starting point, I thought I might post the first ever sketch where I imagined what site would look like and how it would function to clarify.

A dark below ground potato world with potato related links and a bright above ground potato plant with links to related outside links.

Different BG Colour

2007-06-21T00:13:00.000+01:00

Maybe if I changed the background colour it would help AP stand out a bit. I intentionally tried to limit the colour pallet to 4 colours to keep printing costs down...it didn't happen, I used more, with gradiants, plus 4 gray tones...so, it's expensive!
The shirts colour would be integral to it's success.... So much fussing!

Tomorrow, the site plan.