Films: The Notorious Bettie Page

IF you are a Bettie Page fan, you may want to check this out:

Photo from www.sneakpeektv.com

Click here to see the trailer, and then let's gab: The Notorious Bettie Page

Animation: Happy Little Puckered Faces

Disney Reportedly in Talks To Buy Pixar

Appearing to be carrying out the longstanding Hollywood maxim, "if you can't sign them, buy them," the Walt Disney Co. is reported in "serious discussions" to acquire Pixar Animation. According to today's (Thursday) Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the situation, the proposed all-stock deal would pay a nominal premium to Pixar's current market value of $6.7 billion, making Pixar chief Steve Jobs Disney's largest individual shareholder. The newspaper said that talks between Disney and Pixar "have gained momentum in recent months" and that they are now "at a sensitive stage."

Good Grief.

Also, it looks like the Pixar 20 year retrospective exhibit will go to LONDON, not San Francisco as previously thought. If you are in the NYC area, you have until Feb 6 to see this at the Museum of Modern Art. Don't miss it!

Animation: PIXAR 20th Retrospective

The best thing about Disney and Pixar visual development in animation:

1.There's something about seeing work that you can see the artist's hand on.
2. It's so very well done and, the best part,
3. it's usually a totally made up world.

I, unabashedly, very much still love Disney. Correction : I unabashedly still love Disney Classic Feature Animation. It's no secret, as a fan, that Disney Feature has, ahem, lost its coolness for sometime now. Pixar is the New Disney. This is not a new saying obviously, but coming from me, it's a huge thing. It's like Pixar holds the heavyweight championship belt for storytelling.

I recently read about the Disney Studio's "mandatory switch" from 2-D to 3-D. The animators were told to learn to draw using a computer, or they could leave the company. Quel horror, I'd imagine. Their next film is Rapunzel---a story I've been dying for Disney to tell . Glen Keane will be primarily directing, I believe, which is something he has always wanted to do (who doesn't?) but the caveat was that it must mostly be in 3-D and that he needed to learn how to animate on the computer.

Maybe you're thinking, so what? EVERYONE has to move on the 21st century at some point. And maybe you would have a point. But I don't think the Disney bosses get it. Switching over to 3-D is not going to make more people come to your movies. It'll just make your workers (who happen to be artists) hate you more since you're not really creating, you're imitating. Getting back to telling a GOOD STORY will do it, not trying to be like Pixar.

At the Pixar 20 Year Retrospective, I experienced the most magical of two floors that I ever did see at MOMA . It all unfolded in such a lovely way, I knew who all the characters were, it was like being greeted by an old fuzzy friend hanging out in a posh building. And Pixar just happens to makes some very good looking films that are extremely entertaining. There are an entire cast of uber-talented drafters, illustrators, sculptors behind the 'magic' you see on screen.

Everyone knows this, but have you actually seen one of these pieces? Up close? Unfortunately, we could not take photos of the exhibit)

Some artists gave me chills when I looked at their work. With some I couldn't even breathe. But on with my report:

I noticed that there were quite a few French names---I wonder if they were brought over as a result of Disney closing the Paris studios....I jotted a few names of those whose work stood out..

Teddy Newton: I liked his elegant line--his illustration of the Incredible's Frozone looked like it had been etched out by a brushpen that was an ice skate. It was that clean and crisp.

(<---------Here is my crappy rendering of the drawing. Don't you love the feet and cartoon chicken leg hands?)

Simon Vladmir Varela was another one whose work I loved. I seriously want to buy that charcoal he did for the scene where Nemo and his friend are standing right before the huge coral dropoff. Other favorites: Lou Romano, Nicolas Marlet, Nelson Ray Bohol, Robin Cooper, Tia Kratter. I don't know if you google these people if they would come up, but they really ought to, they are so damn talented. I'll be going back, so I'm hoping to drag a bunch of people with me. You should go see it too!

Real Life: Nashville, Tennessee

Every once in awhile, I get together with my girlhood friends, Starr, Sharon and Tammy. We all grew up in Colorado Springs,Colorado. Colorado Springs was a nice clean small American city /crappy shit hole at the base of the Rockies, and we met because we were all military brats.

Nice sunny weather---great for Halloween. headed to the country music capital of the world. Girls getting together.

Where do I begin about Nashville? Okay. The food, oh my goodness the food. Just heaps upon heaps over deep fried, heavily sugared wonderful wonderful things. Southern citites are so much fun to visit, I feel, because the food is so frickin good.

Great breakfast. Fresh Squeezed oj, country ham, cheese grits, buttermilk biscuits and pancakes, fried chicken, corn something....it was all so damn good.

We stayed in the most charming cabin on the outskirts of town (of which I was convinced there was a human-eating demon inbred beast locked away in the basement that the property's owner would release as soon as we fell asleep)

As far as the nightlife, we ended up downtown, stuffed ourselves with barbecue and booze then rolled back home. At least, THAT's the story I'm going to tell you.

Music: The Secret Machines

I went to see the Secret Machines/Autolux/Corecast show at Irving Plaza. Really great show.

Music: The Bravery

now playing: The Seekers
mood: sleepy

Saw the Bravery tonight at Northsix. Who was the band that opened for them---ack, there were two, both were pretty agonizing to endure. As far as the Bravery goes, I'm kind of on the fence about them...

Comment: I wish I were a New Romantic

MEN, PLEASE: Stop it with the blue button up oxford shirts with khakis, unless you work at the Gap. THERE ARE TOO MANY MEN doing it, and it looks like a GD uniform. And when you go out, please reconsider ANYTHING else besides that uniform of the black striped shirt jeans guy at night.

Don't men know that when they wear exquisite clothes, it's quite breathtaking. Nothing drives a girl crazier than a sharp dressed man.