My Pics From Niagra

Went to Niagra with a bunch of freinds yesterday! This is the first time i did the "Journey Behind The Falls" thingie, where u walk in a tunnel behind teh falls and all..it was quite the rush!(no pun intended).Will post a video clip soon.
Here r a few pics for now from the day and also the light illumination of the falls at night.:-)

Rockefeller Centre Lights Show

This was after the tree lighting...was really nice :-)

Festive NYC

I was in NYC last week...had the most amazing time ever.Saw shows on broadway(Les Miz and Marry Poppins),saw Enya and Sarah McLachlan in concert...spent a couple of days at the MET and MOMA...Treelighting etc etc.
Took some cool pics at all those events and of NYC getting ready for XMAS..but unfortunately lost a brand new 2GB Memory Card of my cam with ALL my pics...:-(
Depressing as it was, i have manged to salvage VERY few pics from the smaller chip i had...so here they are!

Original "Where The Wild Things Are" Tests

Oooh! I just found a link to this awesome clip on the Disney Blog.
Had heard about this , but never seen it.
I think in the 80's, post Tron, and pre Lasserter's departure from Disney,he and Glen Keane got together to do some tests for Maurice Sendak's "Where The Wild Things Are".
This is long before the now scrapped Eric Goldberg take on the same for Universal.
Its very cool that someone put it up. The animation is pretty cool and so is the 3d camera. Though the shading /texturing is very dated. But i really like the way the 2d characters look and the way they move!

First Picture From My New Appt!

It was a gorgeous full moon night ...a few nights back ...ok,QUITE a few nigts back!(i just got my pics off my cam today).

So here is downtown Toronto on a full moon night as seen from my balchony!:-)

WDCC: "Celebration Of Springl"

Starring the Dewdrop Fairy from the Nutcracker Suite from the original Fanstasia(1940), comes "Celebration of Spring" by Kent Melton.
The Dewdrops are actual Swarovski Crystals!
I know,I know...it aint the time for anything "Spring" now , but the other piece in this series "Delicate Dance Of Winter" is VERY difficult to find...am working on it! :-)
This sculpture was fun taking pictures off. I need a tripod!

Alan Vs Randy & A Disney Princess Like We Have Never Seen Before?

Many fans of the traditional Disney Animated Musical features rejoiced at the news that Disney is finally getting into 2D Animation again with "The Frog Princess".
One of the many reasons for the excitement for people like me was that the key filmmaking team behind this project was gonnna be the same as "The Little Mermaid" which bought about the last "Golden Age" of Animation.
It just seemed right and poetic, if u will...That once again the Directing team of Ron Clements & John Musker along with the amazing composer, Alan Menken would bring about this re-birth of the Classic Disney Musical. Cause these storytellers and Alan's music played a very important part in the success of all those disney musicals Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty & The Beast etc.

However, the news just broke this week that the new Animation head honcho and disney, John Lasseter (of Pixar), has decided to replace Alan Menken with Randy Newman and give him his Musical debut Randy Newman is no stranger to Pixar, he has been a staple composer for most of their movies and specially all of John's movies (Both the Toy Storys,Bug's Life, Cars).

This sent many Alan Menken fans into a fit of anger (including myself) with people already predicting Frog Princess to be doomed and the saying how John L. is gonna turn Disney into Pixar 2!

But on further discussion with a friend in Animation (who was equally disappointed with the switch),it led to him doing some investigations.
Which in turn led to quite an interesting discovery which might explain this move.

It SEEMS, The Frog Princess could be Disney's first African American princess, in a New Orleans-ish setting with a Jazz soundtrack and not a very theatrical soundtrack!
And that might explain the preference of Randy Newman over Alan Menken.
I can honestly say, IF this is a fact...am actually excited by this decision and its about time Disney shook things up in this direction!

Coupled by the fact that Alan Menken is swamped with so many projects for Disney already , with bringing Little Mermaid and Sister Act On Broadway , writing songs and scoring the 2d/Live Action hybrid "Enchanted" etc etc..it just might just be the best thing to have happened!

Am happy again...for now! :-)

Of Posters,Trailers, Accidents & Appartments!

Here are posters for the 2 new movies coming from Disney/Pixar in 2007...both look so promising(the movies, not the posters)!

(Check out the cool new trailer for Meet The Robinsons by clicking on the poster)

And yes...i have not updated the blog since forever...with good reason though!
Was in a car accident 2 weeks or so ago...quite bad and traumatic..but everyone is alive & kicking , including myself...it coudl have been a LOT worse.
The gentleman at the other end was drunk and was handcuffed and arrested! Have a new found hatred for drunk drivers now! With a passion!

Anywho, moving on to better things..i found a great appt in Dtwn Toronto and have been busy with the moving in and settling in stuff. (It aint easy with an ailing back, thnx to all those who helped).

I have a great view of the city and the lake...will post some pics real soon! :-)

Books! Books!Books!

(Click on the respective covers for a flash preview of the books)

This aint really a review but rather a sales pitch! I JUST got these books in the mail, so havn't really read them... but my immediate reaction to them was so strong I just had to get on and tell every Art/Animation/Film fan to do themsleves a favour and run out and grab these 2 books.
They are absolutely exploding with art and that too amazing art.Not a millimetere of a page is wasted.I have my share of Art Of...books, but not even the best Disney ones can compare to these 2 Sony Animation Art Of books. And if you thought Pixar made the best Art books nowdays, these will seriously make u reconsider.
Besides the art, they have cool guides, stickers, notes, journals, posters and all that stuff much on the lines of the Disney Keepsakes and Disney Treasures books by Robert Tieman.

These books actually justify these average movies by honouring the amazing art that went into them.It really does not matter wether u liked the movies or not, or if u prefer 2d/3d....JUST get the damn books! You SO wont regret it!

from The Art & Making of Monster House

from The Art of Open Season

WDCC: "I'm Losing To A Rug"

Got this one a month or so back, but with the moving and all I did not get around to taking pictures until now.
This piece from "Aladdin" was realsed as a Numbered Limited Edition in 1997 and has the Genie stressing over loosing to Carpet which seems to be floating effortlessly at the other end of this amazingly well designed sclupture by Valerie Edwards (also an Imagineer).

"Nuit Blanche"2006

Last night I made a brief visit to Nuit Blanche.For those who do not know, its a very cool event that happens only for ONE night in the year in Toronto from dusk till dawn. Where not only all the museums and art galleries are open all night for FREE but the streets, monuments are converted to pieces of art by artists from all over the place.
Practically the whole city is on the streets with their umberellas, fall jackets and walking shoes with an amazingly festive energy in the air.There are food and refreshment kiosks all over the city and the artworks sometime quirky, sometime mesmerising but always surprising!
From a video of grazing sheep on the exterior of a planetarium to a very cool landscape swamped with fog to create a visual striaght out of a Tim Burtom film!
Here are a few pics from last night. Cant wait to be well prepared and make the most of the Nuit Blanche next year!

Some Cool Poster Art !

Soom real nice, dark ,moody ,poster art that i lliked over the last few weeks...!

In Theatres : "The Last Kiss" & "Scoop"(Review)

After weeks of a dry spell at the cinemas, things are finally begining to pick up.Movies that actually make u wanna go check them out, some bad , some good but atleats have your interest.
So after a couple of disspointments (Hollywoodland, The Black Dahlia), i saw a couple of movies back to back which i really liked....The Last Kiss & Woody Allen's latest Scoop. Also since both the movies kinda-sorta fall in the same genre, thought i'd do a semi-common review.

Both these movies boast of no fancy special effects or fantastical settings and dramatic twists & turns. Very simple, linear charchter driven plots and with intresting screenplays.
Though they differ in tone, TLK (The Last Kiss, not to be confused with the Lion movie) is a bit more on the serious/mature side and Scoop being ur typical Woody Allen nutty comedy caper (quite the contrast to his last last year's Match Point ).

What i liked about the TLK was, though it fits into the cliche : guy having perfect life has a mid-life crisis, panicks and takes some worng turns...its really well written and the charcters and their motives are quite belivable.
The supporting cast also have their own issues to deal with & do it well.Great performances by all the major characters.I really liked Tom Wilkinson as the father in a very small but important role.People dont always make the right choices, and there are consequences, and the movie does not have to have a perfect ending.It was slick and honest. Highly recommended!

Scoop on the other hand is just a breeze to watch! It aint gonna alter the course of your life, but it will be a fun 90 mins. i cant seem to get enough of Woody Allen's sense of humour.People say its the same stuff every time, but i think if it aint broke, dont fix it!
Its silly, and it KNOWS its silly and just goes all out. It hilarious to just see his expressions as he does those magic tricks at the begining of the movie. I dont think that was meant to be funny, but he just makes me smile! I throughly enjoyed it, ist totally his movie, Hugh Jackman & Scarlet Johansen though good are over-shadowed by Woody Allen's presence.See it to relax and see how a non- lowbrow movie can make you laugh just as much!

"The Little Mermaid" Re-Union at El Capitan

Part 1 of 5
Click HERE for rest

A couple of weeks back there was a re-union of some of the Cast & Crew of The Little Mermaid at the El Capitan, much like the one featured on the Aladdin Platinum Edition DVD.However this wont be on the forthcoming Little Mermaid DVD.
But we can still see it cuase someone put it up on You Tube in 5 parts.
Its features Glen Keane, Ron & John, Menken among others.Worth a watch for sure.
Cant wait for this (hopefully loaded) 2 disc DVD, its been looooong over due!:-)


Add the The Little Mermaid trailer to your site at www.LittleMermaidDVD.com

My Character Animation Demo Reel Aug'06

So...all these years of hard work, all nighters,stress etc etc and all i have to show for it is this 2 min video clip!?!?
Just seems SOO wrong! lol
Anyws...here is my demo reel that i put togetehr in the last few days, this one is geared to show what i have done in a capacity of an animator(2d&3d) and animation director and story/character devpt. stuff that i have done.

End Of All Things School

Finally, after 21 years of formal education, i think i am DONE! Its a strange feeling. Even though i have been out of school for a few years in between when i was working in the industry, its nice to know that i will never have to be a "Student" again.

Sorry about the lack of updates...been running around trying to put together a rushed demo reel and stuff...thankfully i had a descent response at the Industry Day, so also been going to various studios for interviews and such!
Hopefully would be employed soon....fingers crossed!
Will post more stuff real soon :-)

The Amazing Computer Animation Class of Jan'2006
Sheridan College

WDCC: "Mistress Of All Evil"

Malefeciant, Marc Davis's most elegant designs and one of the most striking Villains ever is captured in her climatic element in this spectacular sculpture by Kent Melton.
Much of her designs "coolness" comes from the amazing use of her Black/purple gown throughout the film.The way it moves and the fiery shapes it makes.
And this sculpture does a wonderful job of capturing that same majesty as a very furious & frustrated Maleficiant casts a spell of thorns on Sleeping Beauty's Castle to prevent her evil spell from being broken!
This piece was sooo hard to find...its a piece from 1997 and was the first in the Villains Series. :-)

"Blvd.Efil"Premier Today

Finally, its done!!!

It will be screened today at the Sheridan College Auditorium. Looking forward to seeing for the first time with an audience.
I know most of u are not local...but for whatevr its worth, woudl have loved to have u in the audience!
Here are some images of the look that i was experimenting with in the last few days...but i finally ended up taking it in a totally different direction(as per the Main Title).

"Blvd.Efil"Scene 11 Rough Animation

YAY! I just warapped the animation last night! 10 days to go and have to come up with the look , enviorment, lighting, rendering etc etc!
This is the rough animation for the last scene i just finished...the camera is temp..not the final angles and moves.

"Blvd.Efil"Scene 07 Rough Animation

To Touch or NOT To Touch....THAT..is the question!!
:-)

LAst 13 days..nearly done!!:-)

p.s The ribbon is hand animated not a Dynamic simulation or whatevr...and i guess it goes without saying, that by the end of this film i HATE ribbons!!

People & Places

I took this pic last year in a small villiage in India. Something about the young & the old i find quite fascinating.

They both represent such contrasts in terms of what they represent & where they stand in life,but yet also so extremely similar at the same time !

2D Feature In Develpment At WDFA!!

OKKKkkkkk....finally the news people like me have been dying to hear!...it seems its confirmed...there IS indeed a Definate 2D film project under development at WDFA.
And its being developed by (not so surprisingly) Ron Clements & John Musker.
And the project is..."The Frog Princess"!!!
Was hoping for (the now canned??!?)"The Snow Queen"to get the honour of bringing back the great Disney 2D Animation tradition, but hell...am not complaining,this will do just FIIIIINE!!
Yay! :-)

TB's Nightmare Before Christmas in Disney Digital 3D

One of my fav. original story /characters ever....cant wait to watch it in theatres and in 3D!
Here is the poster for the Re-release.

WDCC: "You So Totally Rock,Squirt"

This JUST in!!:-)

I could not seem to get the pics i wanted with this one. A really weird shape...but amazing though!!
Its cool that both the turtles are connected to the wave at only one place (Crush's right hind fin)...it actually looks like they r floating...simply remarkable design and weight balancing!!