Friday, March 30, 2012

Anime Conventions

Next Week is Anime Boston 2012 and also PAX East 2012, which is a convention for video games. I am currently signed up for Anime Boston for all three days, but I plan to go to PAX East for Saturday too. They are both in Boston just down the road from each other.


Here are two cosplayers from a past year at Anime Boston. This image was provided by publishersweekly.com.

I am also planning to go to Connecticon 2012. It is going to be from July 13th to 15th. Hopefully they will accept me for their Artists' Collony. I know they have not began the registration for that since they have it on their website. It also just happens to be on my 26th birthday! Also, Doug Walker from That Guy With the Glasses will be there, so I am looking forward to that.

I might also go to New York's ComicCon in October, but I am not sure yet.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Rearing Down

I only have two days after tonight in order to finish my animation for the 11 Second Club. I really hope I can make it in time. I have been working on it like crazy.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Abridged Series

Abridged series are videos online where people take clips from famous Japanese anime shows and reedit them to make a new series for purely comedic reasons. Usually the person creating the abridged series would usually make fun of what is going on in the actual story or would make references to well known pop-culture. There are a few abridged series of well known anime that are hysterical. Many others are not that well edited and not that funny.


The first abridged series I have been familiar with is Yu-gi-oh: The Abridged Series done by LittleKuriboh. Many find his series funny and a few do not. It depends on your own opinion.If you like British humor you might like this one because LittleKuriboh has a British accent in real life as well as for one of the characters he voices.


There is also Yu Yu Hakusho Abridged. It is also very funny. I am a little surprised that someone started to make this because this one was always more of a fan favorite for anime viewers. Though I guess there were still things in the show to make fun of.


Naruto Abridged is also very funny and was created by two people, MasakoX and Vegeta3986. Like Yu Yu Hakusho Abridged, the creators of this series have not been able to produce new episodes for a while. They maybe collaborating with the other Abridged series creators I have mentioned to work on what I have listed below.


Team Four Star's Dragon Ball Z Abridged is the funniest abridged series there is. It is most likely because Team Four Star is composed of numerous people who had been working on other abridged series beforehand. Therefore, the work is able to be spread out instead of all on one person.

There are other abridged series out there made by less experienced people, but they are hardly worth mentioning. I believe this is able to be done because of how the mouths are animated in anime. It is very simple to voice over animation when the mouths only open and close. There is no difference in syllables with most anime shows. It maybe because of animation budgets, but it can give us opportunities like this...

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Godzilla Aftermath

I went to the That's E's "Godzilla Double Feature" at the Elm Draught House last night, and I had a good time again. I actually bought a little bit from the concession stands this time around. They don't appear to have much to drink, but they actually have several different flavors of Smirnoff for sweet-flavored drinkers like myself. I also brought some Pocky. I didn't win anything from the raffle and I was surprised to see how many people left before the last few items were raffled. It really drew out a lot of time when they call numbers on tickets and no one has it.


This time we watched the 1975 "Terror of Mechagodzilla" and the 2001 "Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack."


(This image was provided by stomptokyo.com.)

"Terror of Mechagodzilla" was the second movie to feature Mechagodzilla and the only one to feature Titanosaurus. As the movie begins, we get to see clips from the previous movie with Godzilla facing Mechagodzilla, where Godzilla appears to be facing only a copy of himself until the false flesh comes off and reveals the robot underneath. When I was a child, I thought the humans created Mechagodzilla to protect them from Godzilla, but it is actually made by aliens in order to destroy humans and Godzilla. I believe the only reason Titanosaurus was featured in this movie was to help keep Godzilla from tearing off Mechagodzilla's head like last time. Titanosaurus has a tail that can split into a fan that can produce powerful winds. That allows Mechagodzilla a chance to just shoot its multitude of projectile weapons at Godzilla. The humans help stop Titanosaurus so that Godzilla can defeat them both. As to the humans' plot, I could barely understand it and had no interest in it. This type of movie was made only for giant monster battles.



"Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack" actually had Godzilla featured as the villian and the other monsters as good. They helped portray this with Godzilla's eyes as completely white. It makes Godzilla look completely devoid of any sympathetic emotions. They also made Godzilla's radioactive breath appear to be much more destructive in power. It's a little weird rooting for one monster to begin with and then rooting for the other monsters. I guess the producer didn't feel like keeping the consistency of one storyline.

Monday, March 26, 2012

The Hunger Games and Other Movies

My friend brought me to see the movie the Hunger Games this past Saturday. It was ridiculous trying to find a movie theater that wasn't entirely sold out. I had no idea that this was a very popular book among teenage girls when I saw the trailer. It wasn't until I saw a video on Youtube that I found out that it was the first book of a trilogy.


(This image is from goodreads.com.)

Before the movie started, we did manage to make it in time to watch some previews for some other movies that are going to come out. One movie is the last Twilight movie. I do recall a lot of people groaning in the audience. I will be happy when this stupid franchise is forgotten. I have not read or seen it, but I am convinced never to unless I am watching the movies with the Rifftrax playing in the background making fun of it.

There was also a trailer for a new movie called "Snow White and the Huntsman" which looked like an interesting style to the Snow White fairy tale, "The Amazing Spider-Man" reboot that I am looking forward to, a new comedy with Chris Rock in a group of fathers of babies that was not funny at all, and a new Tim Burton movie where Johnny Depth plays a vampire. This summer might have a few good movies, but will still be pretty weird.

As for this new movie, I did enjoy it. I enjoyed a bunch of the concepts and the message this story was getting across. There were a few problems here and there though. What little CGI they used was not done very well, there wasn't anything special to the action sequences, it was confusing as to where this event takes place (maybe it is explained in the book), and there may have been a few too many shots of the main character on her own which could get a little dull. Other than that, it has things I have not seen before.

 I have heard rumors of this story being compared to Twilight, but I fail to see much of a comparison from what I have seen and heard of from the series and movies. Besides, this story focuses on a future society that has gotten out of hand, not about a love story that starts from absolutely nothing and has no reason to exist.

I have heard of other comparisons of this movie to others of a similar story line like "Battle Royal." I will have to check that movie out and make that judgement for myself.

From what I sense, this movie will appeal to females more than males, children should not watch it unless if they need to be taught that violence has consequences, and that there is definably going to be squeals.

Friday, March 23, 2012

New Vehicle

Lately I have been suggested on getting a new car by my mom and my brother. My current car is a 1995 Ford Taurus with over 150,000 miles on it. I think it will at least last the summer, but I don't believe I can afford a new car. My current part-time job does not pay me enough to buy a new car even with monthly payments. I barely make enough to save up money and pay off school loans. I truly hope I can get a full time job that I can move closer to and use public transportation to get to it. It is among one of the most economical decisions.


(This image is from gearculture.com.)

I would prefer to get a Vespa after getting a motorcycle license than get another gas guzzling car. I know I could only drive it during the summer, but it would surely help on gas payments since they can get nearly 75 miles to the gallon! Besides, I think they look neat, considering you see them in Europe, Japan, and in the Anime FLCL.


(This image is from newsmotorcycle.com.)

If I do get a motorcycle license and I don't feel like the Vespa is fast enough, I would get something like what my brother has, a Ninja Kawasaki motorcycle. The Japanese motorcycles have a much better design than the American Harley. There are not many favorable American vehicle designs.


(This image is from cargurus.com.)

A car I would want to get if I had a ridiculous amount of money would be a Pontiac Firebird. It would have to be black in color and of a similar model as the picture above. I don't care how much gas it takes, this would at least be a fun car, even if you shouldn't drive it that often. I doubt I will ever get the chance though.

I would settle for an electric car or a Hybrid, but those cost way too much money. I don't want to get anything that looks ridiculous and takes as much or more gas than my current car. I have a bad feeling that might occur.

Maybe I should try drawing these vehicles. It might help me come up with inspiration for my own ideas for a cool vehicle design. After all, I don't know that much about cars, or any other vehicles.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit

WARNING! This blog post may contain spoilers.


(This image is from http://animeuknews.net/.)

I have just finished watching the Anime series "Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit." I have already seen a few episodes here and there on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, but I couldn't see it from start to finish based on my schedule. Luckily now, it is available on Netflix.


(I found this image on Google.)

This Anime drama series is about a bodyguard named Balsa who takes on the job asked by the queen of protecting a prince named Chagum, who is possessed by a water spirit. Chagum's father, the Mikado (Emperor), has ordered to have his life ended because it is feared that this water spirit is evil and will bring misfortune to the land. Balsa and Chagum have to face several enemies and challenges as Balsa tries to find a way to remove the spirit.

 

Overall, it was a really good series. It wasn't the best series, but I enjoyed watching it. This series seems very believable even though there is a spirit world. The heroes have good traits and flaws, and the supposed antagonists at the beginning didn't seem "evil" as they had good reason to do what they did at times based on what information they could gather, which they realized their mistakes. Balsa is a great female protagonist. She is strong, smart, independent, and she looks beautiful without having to resort to unrealistic skimpy outfits or unrealistic body proportions. It seems weird to have that in most Anime. Also, she looks as old as she is. She is about thirty where many busty anime characters are about 16 despite their full figures. There were a few parts here and there that I thought could have been improved.

 For instance, I think there could have been more action sequences. Even though there were only a few of them they were animated beautifully. There is a lot of other, slow story parts that some people might not care for. There were some parts that I think were resolved too easily, like the final fight against the army of the egg eaters. Seriously, the light of the morning sunrise forces them to stop? The Egg Eaters barely even managed to wound someone let alone kill anyone. The finale decision made by the Mikado to have Chagum claim complete claim of the victory over of the Egg Eaters just so that he can be praised as a hero to the country seems ridiculous. The Mikado had been trying to have Chagum killed, so why should he agree to what his father demands? Also, they had their entire history covered up and forgotten, so would more lies really help? Besides, it should be welcoming to the story to have a woman in this fictional world to get the right praise for her extraordinary work in a world where women are looked down upon, even if Balsa isn't that type of person. There were some weird parts here and there.

Anyways, it is still a good anime series.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Getting Outside


(This image is from en.wikipedia.org.)

It is always a good idea to get outside once in a while. As an artist, you must expose yourself to different environments in order to draw inspiration. Even if you are not a landscape artist. The outdoors can still prove useful to the soul.

Here is Massachusetts, winter seems to be taking a very early leave. It has already climbed up to 70 degrees, and there was still snow on the ground not too long ago. I was finally able to take my bike outside and rode it on a rail trail through the woods. Getting away from technology can help do wonders sometimes.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Funny Animations

As I have been working on this 11 Second animation, I have been thinking about some animations I have seen on the internet by various people. Some of the really funny animations I have seen are animated really good, and some of them have really simple animation yet they are still very funny.





Here we have the "Lazer Collection," the creator of the "Shoop da Whoop" sensation. This was the first one by DominicFear so it's quality isn't at it's best. It is still a very funny video and I highly recommend watching the squeals too if you have not seen them yet. From what I can gather, this animator got inspiration from "Dragon Ball Z" where there was a ridiculous face of the arch villain Cell in one of his forms. Dragon Ball Z is also filled with characters who can shoot lasers or some sort of energy blasts from their hands and mouths. These videos are hilarious.



Here we have the animated video "Slaughter Your World" by Blind Ferret Entertainment. It is based on a web comic called Looking for Group which is based on World of Warcraft. The song itself is based on a song from Disney's "The Little Mermaid" called "Show Me Your World." It is a hilarious video with some interesting animation, though it lacks a little at some parts. I guess you can't make an animation frame by frame for the internet or else it would take forever just to do a few seconds.


Here is an animation by Harry Partridge. It is spoofing Johnny Depth and Tim Burton. I found it hilarious along with his other videos. I believe his videos are on Youtube and Newgrounds as .swf flash animations. His animation skills are quite good.


Here are Rejected Cartoons by Don Hertzfeldt. These are some very funny, bizarre, and completely random cartoon shorts. It appears he did this all on paper, which is very impressive. It is remarkable what effects he was able to achieve despite the fact that his cartoons are practically stick figures.

I suggest to everyone to check out these videos. These animators are truly creative.

Friday, March 16, 2012

GODZILLA!!!


I received this flyer today for another Godzilla movie double feature sponsored by the store That's Entertainment in Worcester. Where the movies will be shown are in actually in Millbury where there is an old fashion theater for these sort of events. Admission is free as long as you get a ticket ahead of time at the store in Worcester.


(I found this image on Google.)

I had been to a previous viewing of this Godzilla double feature and I enjoyed it. The only Japanese Godzilla movie I had seen before this double feature was Godzilla Vs King Kong, which was alright.

 

At the double feature, they showed Godzilla Vs Gigan and Godzilla 2000. Godzilla Vs Gigan turned out to be really good, and there were two other monsters that helped each side. Godzilla was assisted by the spiky armadillo monster Anguirus while Gigan, the cybernetic monster with blades, was assisted by the three headed, winged dragon monster King Ghidorah. It was surprising that this movie had blood spilled by the giant monsters as they fought, and the fight scenes were entertaining, like wrestlers in monster costumes with super powers.


Godzilla 2000 had all of the monsters from the previous movie make an appearance along with numerous other monsters including Mothra, the giant moth. The movie creators even incorporated the American remake of Godzilla in this film. The audience was happy when the Japanese Godzilla killed the American Godzilla easily. I used to be a fan of that movie, but I eventually realized that it sucks and I sold the VHS of it. The human actors in this movie proved to be more interesting than in the previous film with numerous fight and action sequences that rivaled the monsters'. It was all very ridiculous, convoluted fun. If you are into that sort of thing, I suggest that you should check out some of the old Godzilla movies.

I used to wonder why people even now were into these retro movies with monsters that were obviously men in costumes or figurines, but I realized that these movies still hold a certain caliber that other movies even now do not. These movies used set pieces, real explosions, simple editing, and numerous old techniques that give them a certain quality that today's CGI can not copy. It is true that in Godzilla 2000 that there was early CGI incorporated into the movie because it was the 50th anniversary of Godzilla, but for the most part the studio kept to traditional methods.

I am not entirely sure what Godzilla movies they will show this time, but I look forward to it. They also had some raffles with the tickets for numerous prizes including gift certificates to the store. It is a worth while experience.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Art Genesis at the DZian Gallery & Mental Health

I had just received this flyer from a coworker today while I was working at the Worcester Art Museum. Two of her art pieces and one painting from another coworker are shown on this flyer. This flyer has been making me think about a few things as well.


I have visited both the DZian Gallery and the Genesis Club websites, and both of them appear to be quite interesting. I myself will try to inquire about both groups. Maybe I could have some of my own artwork shown.

The mental health awareness has made me think about my own life. I was diagnosed with autism, a type of social disorder, when I was very young. Luckily, my case was not too severe to render me of the choices I was able to make in life. My mother did a study on the subject and made a few TV appearances due to it. She received calls from all over the country asking her about this condition.

I recall from the recorded videos that the cause of autism and for several cases in the local area was that one of the two parents of the child diagnosed with autism, when they were children themselves, had hung out around this sun glasses factory that was polluting the water with its wastes. There are people even nowadays are ignorant to taking a stand against polluting the environment, but the number of children with autism have grown from twenty years ago!

I have heard of more and more people who are working with mentally disabled children. It is obvious that we are doing something wrong in the world! Pollution isn't only hurting the natural environment, it is affecting the people of the world! If we don't do something soon, we won't have a future to look forward to!

I do not regret having this condition, for even with it I have managed to make have great, healthy relationships with my family and friends. I am just concerned about the next generations... if there will even be a next generation...

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

New Hampshire

Just letting everyone know I had a good time in New Hampshire last weekend, now that I have a chance to write about it.

Friday was a little harsh with the snowboarding because there were a lot of ice and bare spots on Mount Sunapee, but it was still enjoyable since I had only been on Mount Wachusett. Mount Sunapee is bigger, so there was plenty more mountain to snowboard on. This was the first time I had ever tried a double black diamond, but unfortunately that area was the most iciest, steepest of them all. I found it impossible to turn.

Saturday was very good at Dartmouth Skiway all thanks to an unpredicted snow storm that hit New Hampshire on Friday night. Snowboarding is awesome on fresh 3 inches of snow! There were two hills to snowboard down and I enjoyed them both. I was disappointed to some trails closed, but we were lucky to have this much snow anywhere. This was the most snowboarding I had done in a day and I was beat by the end of it!

There was a brick oven pizza place we visited and a church roast beef dinner that we took part in as well. There is always something to do wherever you go. Remember that!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

11 Second Club Sketch: March 2012



Here is my storyboard for the 11 Second Club's March 2012 contest. I have uploaded it to my Youtube channel along with my previous submissions.

As you can see, I am keeping the animation simple this time around. A sword fight might have been a little too complex for someone at my current level of animating. I still want to incorporate some expressive body movement and some structures collapsing. I'm hoping to at least have the main character, the cube/pyramid, and the sphinx all done before the end of this competition. The second character is not as important as the one who speaks.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Mouth Sketches

For this month's 11 Second Animation, I decided to draw some mouth sketches for the 11 seconds of audio. I believe this will help me match up the mouth movement with the words the character says. I realized that I may not have been very accurate with the mouth movement I had for my previous animation. Again, it helps when you can understand the audio.


I looked in the mirror and slowly pronounced each syllable of each word in the entire audio clip. I would sketch the major changes I saw as my mouth moved in order to pronounce each sound. I may have exaggerated some of the movements, but it is much more visually pleasing to see mouth movement over exaggerated in animation than very simple mouth movement of lips opening and closing.

It is weird when certain animations have perfect mouth movement with the audio and other animations do not. Many Anime television shows have very simple mouth movement when the characters speak normal dialogue, but at least have a different variation of mouth movement when the character gets angry, sad, confused, or or hysterical. Eye movement is also very important, but mouth movement with audio seems to be trickier.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

New Hamshire

I'm going to New Hampshire tonight to go snowboarding at Mount Sunapee on Friday and Dartmouth Skiway on Saturday with my dad and uncle. I'm very glad to have a chance to snowboard somewhere else than Mount Wachusett this season.

Mount Wachusett is small, though when I started snowboarding I thought I would never want to try a larger, steeper mountain. Now that I have plenty of experience with that mountain, I am just wondering how other mountains are in comparison.

I have a list of museums that my work card will allow me free admittance like the Museum of Art at the University of New Hampshire, Aidron Duckworth Art Museum and Trust, the Currier Museum of Art, the Hood Museum of Art, and the Seacoast Science Center. It depends on what time I come back from the mountain on Friday or if it rains. I will have to check with my uncle to see if any of these are good.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Chocolates & Anime Boston


(This image is from godiva.com.)

I have recently made a batch of chocolates again. The four flavors are mint crunch, peanut butter, raspberry vanilla, and orange vanilla. Last time the peanut butter chocolates were perfect, but the other three were just a complete mess. Last time I tried making the cream filled centers of the mint, raspberry and orange with milk instead of condensed milk, and I found out this time just how different those two types are. It is necessary to read up on certain recipes even if you don't follow it completely.

I know Valentine's Day has already passed, but I still feel like I owe a few close ones some treats. Also, I hope to sell a few of this perfected batch.

Anime Boston sent me an email declaring that the Artist Alley is full and that the only way anyone else can get a space is if more people drop out or are willing to share a table. I think I might just go to PAX East instead at this rate. I have been to Animke Boston for years, but maybe a change of pace would be good.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Cell Phone



I just got a new cell phone the other day because it fell into some slush and the audio went dead. I had a flip phone and traded it in for the next upgrade. My new phone has better texting capabilities and a better camera. These are both improvements I look forward to.

I didn't feel the need to get a touch screen phone with data storage that costs an extra $30 a month. It just doesn't seem necessary to me since I have a Wii, an Ipod Nano, and a computer. All I required was a phone really, though the texting and camera might come in handy sometimes for important messages.

I just want to suggest everyone to stop and think about getting the next latest thing in technology. Is it really necessary? Is it a good idea to spend lots of money on one item that was originally just invented to help us make calls to people away from our homes?

Our phones might not last that long anyways along with most of our technology. There is an article about scientists discovering that the Sun giving off solar flares that will emit radiation towards Earth. This radiation has hit Earth before and it had damaged radios nearly a century ago. Think about all the technology that has been made now...

Monday, March 5, 2012

Detailed Sketches


I have decided to have more detailed drawings for the storyboard of this animation this time. I believe it was too difficult to have such quick sketches serve as the storyboard for my last animation because the body proportions and position moved at times that would not make sense. I felt I could figure out most of the movement from drawing it on paper and then save the in between detail on the computer where I can see the frames before and after.





I have also decided to keep the movement much more simple and planned out. I am not currently hired for an animation company so I am not considered a professional. Therefore, I should not jump ahead of myself for my capabilities.



I was trying for 5 second intervals between each picture, but it will most likely vary.

Friday, March 2, 2012

11 Second Club Sketch #3

I decided to make some sketches of possible characters for my next 11 Second Club submission. I realized that a sketch of any characters might help make it easier when I animate it in the end. I have to start with the basics which is probably why I didn't succeed in the previous month. I am still working on finishing that animation.

I listened to the audio this month and I am glad it is in English this time. Maybe I should have looked up where the audio clip was from at the time so that I could translate it, but in the end it should help a lot more knowing exactly what sounds are coming out of the character's mouth. You can't get accurate mouth movement without knowing how to pronounce each word.

The audio clip had to deal with measuring, so I began to think of construction. I didn't want to make an animation with a construction worker because that would be too boring. I was thinking of beavers building dams, babies building with blocks, and then I thought of Egyptians building the Great Pyramids. I decided to go with the Egyptians because I know I can make a humorous animated scene with a certain scenario.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Anime Boston Artist Alley & New Mass Tax Law

There is a strange thing about Anime Boston's Artist's Alley this year. Apparently they had to send an email to all sign ups for the Artist's Alley that they have to get an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS and then register it with the state of Massachusetts. So far it has really been a hassle for the organizers of Anime Boston and a number of people have cancelled their tables for the Artists' Alley this year.

I find this hard to believe because the tables at Anime Boston can not truly be considered a business. There are very few if any people who can actually make a decent living from selling art at conventions of any kind. I know when I had an Artist Alley table before that it was hard to sell much of anything to the public. We can not be considered a business and we could never consider ourselves employers because we can't possibly hire anyone to work for us. Unless if we set up an art studio and sell artwork for a living outside of Anime Boston, than we can probably be considered employers, but not everyone who gets an Artist Alley table can do that.

I will still try to get an Artist Alley table space. I think I will also go to other conventions, and they might require EIN's now with this strange law in effect. I just hope I don't get screwed by the government in the end for this.

Also, this month I will be working on another 11 second animation. I have not heard the audio clip from the club website, but I hope it will be in English this time. I don't have anything against other languages, it is just that I think it will be easier to animate if I can understand what is being said.