LONELYPOND PRESENTS

News:

And what do you do on a rainy weekend?

I’m thinking: MOVIES. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day has been sitting on top of the TV in its red Netflix envelope since before the Olympics. Time to watch. May also need to watch Steamboy (finally) as I’m hoping to arrange a Lego photo shoot with the person I borrowed it from (it’s for the GeekDad 88 Lines for 42 Geeks project; you should get involved.) Already finished two illustrations for it — I’m trying to learn to work with Inkscape but it’s getting increasingly frustrating. I think that may be a too much stuff on my computer issue.

Back to movies: An Education is playing on the big screen downtown (yes, we have one of those vintage movie theatres with a balcony. It’s great!) this weekend. Trying to convince Gayle to see it. She wasn’t thrilled by any of the Best Picture nominees this year.

New stuff: My nephew-in-law is in a band called Hollow Shoulder. So far, they’re up to two songs and preparing a t-shirt order. Check them out. I recommend listening to My Enemy.

Finally (been a little tempted since The Web Files covered the show in episode #26) caught The Bannen Way on Crackle. Actually, what I finally caught the first two episodes; have to purchase or rent the rest and I think I will. It’s fast, it’s fun, it’s stylish and I really enjoyed it. I like action, especially action with a wink and a fast car and an occasional brunette. The Bannen Way suits these requirements exactly.

Lightning Thief was an awful movie that butchered a fun book, left out major characters, altered several key features of the plot and just wasn’t any fun to watch at all. So I reread the book for last week’s book (I’m trying to read at least one book a week between now + the start of Merchant of Venice). Still fun. Still not Harry Potter but fun.

How To Train Your Dragon (also based on a series of books) looks like it will be a much better movie going experience. I may even smuggle in high end chocolate.

Gayle just showed up with lunch to start off the rainy weekend so enjoy your weekend. See a movie or something. Thanks for stopping by.

Ha…that amused me. Enjoying the Olympics, although the curling tournament seems to take as long as the entire Winter Games (did you know a good set of curling rocks costs $1500 (acc. to Wikipedia) and there’s Curling for the Wii). But it’s fun to watch. Little Brother #2 only watches curling and hockey. The last Olympics he claims to have developed a crush on the Japanese curling team; I have yet to inquire about this year’s favorite.

Quick summary of stuff:

Really want to see Judy Dench as Titania in Midsummer. Once again, Sarah Hemming envy strikes. Midsummer is one of my favorite of Shakespeare’s plays and I’m developing a movie related project (or two).

There’s a new Stirfry Neon chapter. Current adventure: The Lady Lost or What Was I Thinking When I Turned That Corner.

Blink Kitty Love has been dormant for a month while I steep and work on tigers — Happy Year of the Tiger. Almost done with my tiger meditation period, including an excellent animation. Look for it here or the Twitter announcement (aka follow me @lonelypond).

I am considering some Blink Kitty Love changes, taking things a bit more experimental and exploring the world around the band…or just exploring the world and having fun with my unique animation style and humor. I’m much better at contained stories than an ongoing soap opera kind of thing and the best Blink Kitty Loves are when I’m inspired to comment/riff on something happening now. So I’m going to take that thought and see where it goes. I had a lot of fun putting in some hard work on my Year of The Tiger animation and I think it’s the best I’ve done yet. So I’ve been considering what I could do if I put the work into a longer story. The Olympics has me thinking: what’s my gold medal event.

The Lonely Pond annual meeting surprised me — it always does, but this year it wasn’t in the good way. I’ve been mulling over what happened for a couple of months now. We stalled right at the beginning with a restructuring discussion and didn’t get to my grand plans. The rest of Team Lonely Pond wants to be involved and doesn’t want to give up the company or the name, but they don’t want to commit the energy to take us to the level I wanted to go for reinventing Shakespeare on the web. So we’ve put the company on hold and I have consultants available. So I’m scaling back to one project at a time and dealing with the realization that I can do what I want, but I have to be certain that I have the enthusiasm to carry it through by myself. Which means I’m revisiting some earlier ideas that I once loved and are sitting on a shelf for no real reason at all.

Pop Culture Reviews + News:

I like Lady GaGa — I’ve been wandering around singing Paparazzi. It’s Little Brother #2’s fault; his taste in music sometimes surprises me. Caught Justin Bieber’s cover “Love Me” of The Cardigan’s LoveFool and it’s simply ludicrous. I hate when there’s an American Idol style remake of song that rolls on Radio FlashCatFlash (yes, I mean you Adam Lambert’s Mad World. Alison Iraheta’s Someone To Watch Over Me seems to be the only one that doesn’t cause me to twitch but that’s a song with multiple covers already and might be my weakness for brunettes showing.)

The Web Files is branching out with their new Buzz edition, covering events + news around the wonderful world of web series. Host Kristyn Burtt has great energy always, but especially when she’s prowling an event with a microphone, capturing the spark of the moment.

Smallville: took a break from the Olympics to catch the Wonder Twins episode. Not bad. I think we might be back on Team Smallville, although their color and emotional palette remains a bit dark for me.

My robot loving buddy @spacehospital is showing episodes from their first season on KoldCast TV. It’s insane fun with puppets, models and special effects.

Starstruck — bah, slow, boring, a really poorly paced + badly written version of It Happened One Night where Sterling Knight plays the spoiled heiress part. Well acted but characters not believable. And let’s be honest: Brandon Mychal Smith should have played the lead in a better written movie. He had one musical number and he brought enough energy to it for the whole movie. Disney once again loses points for their lack of showcasing multiracial actors.

Haven’t seen The Lightning Thief because Gayle wants to finish the book first. Oy. Love the How To Train Your Dragon Olympic themed commercials.

OK, curling calls. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

Wishing you health, happiness and prosperity in this Year of The Metal Tiger.

Aside from that, in an Olympic mood — waiting for curling + snowboarding while watching women’s hockey. Blink Kitty Love has a new post up about their favorite Canadian musicians + Winter Olympic sports.

Getting through Chuck, Season 2 in between sports and LOVING IT. GuestStar-A-Palooza — so far, I think my favorite is Dominic Monaghan in Chuck vs. The Third Dimension — I have never seen Lost so this is just a straight forward nod to good comedy. Gayle was surprised to be reminded that he was one of the hobbits.

Missing working on my new Twitter fiction, The Lady Lost or Turning That Corner Wasn’t The Brightest Idea I Ever Had, but too many other things going on and I really want to get back to it when I can get into a good writing zone.

Loved Phonogram: The Singles Club #7 (5 page preview or review) and am mulling over some art, interpretation and communication thoughts which might steep into something worth sharing. I am currently at the fulcrum of art is an individual understanding/effort/experience but communication makes us a community. And sometimes, you just howl. There will be a Phonogram: Singles Club book with all seven issues collected; it’s worth the read.

But right now, Olympics….I’ll catch up with FT links sometime. Snow delayed mail delivery so there’s a pile to go through. Which is always kind of fun.

Good night, happy New Year and thanks for stopping by.

There haven’t been Financial Times links because my deliveries have been interrupted by incompetence somewhere in the chain. Twice in two weeks I’ve had to call about no deliveries for three days. I miss reading the newspaper.

More positive notes: My friends @mymhm had over one million hits on their Movies You May Have Missed blog for December. Congratulations. Check them out if you haven’t. If you have, nominate them for a Streamy Award as Best New Show. The other shows/people on my help get a nomination slate are: Movies You May Have Missed for Best New Show, The Web Files for Best Hosted Web Series, Kristyn Burtt of The Web Files for Best Web Series Host, Space Hospital for Best Comedy Series, Rob Poe of Space Hospital for Best Art Direction and the cast of Life With Kat & McKay for Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series. I’ve only started exploring what’s out there on the web, guided partly by the excellent choices made by my friends at The Web Files (Movies You May Have Missed was their 9th episode). It’s a whole new world for entertainment: brave, different and daring.

I’m also voting Blink Kitty Love for Best Animated Web Series…why, you ask? Well, although you will find animated series with more polished animation, I think Blink Kitty Love gives you a total entertainment package with the music, food and other random conversations on the band’s website and the continuing shenanigans on their Twitter feed. Plus, it’s my baby and I’m proud of it. I occasionally think about using a more sophisticated animation program but the simplicity of FlipBoom suits the band and my art style, which always tends to the abstract. FlipBoom is fun to work with without me having to spend weeks with the 500 page instruction manual (hello ToonBoom Studio). And the first or fifth rule of Blink Kitty Love is no stress puppies allowed so keeping it fun is important. Should you choose to vote, I’d appreciate it. Or just continuing following along with my adventures into animation. UPDATE: I’ve decided to push for Blink Kitty Love in the category of Best Experimental Web Series because it is a very grand experiment. Jump on the Blink Kitty Love train; crush just a little, that’s all we ask. A couple clicks here and enter this url: http://blinkkittylove.blip.tv/ and we’ll be your biggest fan.

Speaking of animation, ToonBoom is offering animators preparing a pilot to pitch to the industry access to Harmony and Storyboard Pro for three months. Sounds like a chance for a great collaboration. My latest vision (no, you don’t know what it is yet) isn’t a traditional character driven series but if yours is, check it out.

Lonely Pond Productions’ annual meeting happens this weekend. I’m excited about new ideas and directions. It will be interesting to get feedback from the rest of the Lonely Pond crew. They always surprise me.

Me and Orson Welles isn’t in the area, but I am considering Invictus. Need to see a few more movies before the year’s end. And there’s a couple of exhibits in Baltimore I’d like to hit. Hope you’re enjoying your holiday season, whatever holiday you celebrate. Thanks for stopping by.

There’s a new holiday Blink Kitty Love episode in the universe — your favorite crazy, crushing cartoon band takes on Christmas craziness and the naughty or nice question in Elf Panic.

My Favorite Shout It Out song.

Mahjong is one of my favorite games to play with friends; @SyFy has an online Ninja Mahjong tile matching version.

Robots playing soccer/football (non US).

Sarah Hemming’s profile pieces. This one’s Alfred Molina, who is playing painter Mark Rothko on stage. Molina claims his fans break down into two groups: those who mention Diego Rivera from Frida and those who mention Dr. Octopus. Alas, for my cool street cred the first Molina mental flash I get is Snidely Whiplash in Dudley Do-Right. Don’t you have all the costs $5 at Target Brendan Fraser movies? It’s one of our favorite at home film festivals.

Looking for a new Christmas album and Gayle came home with the Straight No Chaser suggestion. Check out their website for “Who Spiked the Eggnog” and follow them on Twitter @sncmusic

There’s a new Blink Kitty Love in the universe (your FAVORITE crazy crushing cartoon band); they sit for headshots in a perfect meet the band opportunity. Do it; we double dog dare you.

And that’s enough for a December start. Enjoy! Stay warm. Drink tea. I just found my two favorites at this time of year: Stash’s White Christmas and Tazo’s Joy.

There’s a new Blink Kitty Love in the universe. Dance with joy, darn it.

Your favorite crazy crushing cartoon band gets ready for Halloween — this year’s costume theme, Redheads. Plus, Ty’s girlfriend wanders by, at her own peril.

Well, if you’re looking for interesting things I’ve read in the FT, so am I. I have a week + 1 in a pile and I haven’t had a chance to get through them.

What I have been reading…comic books (see previous entry) and Fried Green Tomatoes at The Whistlestop Cafe. I had forgotten all the details and characters and eras Fannie Flagg worked into her marvel of a town and humanity tour. If you haven’t read it yet, do!

And on the comic note: DC’s Wednesday Comics finishes off with a flair. Hawkman + (surprisingly Supergirl) get my votes for best use of format. More in depth review later. Start the next one off with Hawkman/Supergirl team up, give Aquaman his own page, the Legion of course, The Question, and hmmmm, I’ll have to think about the rest.

In the can I pick ‘em or what category: Movie You May Have Missed have done me a huge favor and reminded me what the title is of the time travel movie I had forgotten the title of soon after I read its excellent review (at the time, I was reading the Wall Street Journal). I kept trying to make it Pi, a totally different movie, but no, it’s Primer. Here’s their review.

And continuing, The Web Files is still turning out excellent, entertaining and informative episodes. Picked up some pointers from their interview (and am trying out Tube Mogul for Blink Kitty Love) with Tim Street of French Maid TV, yes, French Maid TV and am looking forward to the launch of first episode of the bringing back the 80’s w/ a sci fi flair, The Cabonauts (The Web Files #15).

TV reviews: still missing Warehouse 13, the upcoming 3 part Wizards of Waverly place, Chronicles of Moises looks like fun, not that thrilled with iCarly, True Jackson solid, buy the Jonas DVD because “Cold Shoulder” has the funniest music video bit ever in honor of Scandanavia. Speaking of The Jonas Brothers, have you seen “Bounce?” So this is what rock stars really do to stave off boredom.

Anything else…hmmm, there’s a new Blink Kitty Love in the universe, it’s Monday so Big Bang Theory Night (yes, Penny + Leonard dating does work + it is funny; not so sure about Sheldon + Raj working together).

And on a social conscience note, remember to vote. It matters. And here’s hoping that the Yes votes on Proposition #71 in Washington and the No votes on Question 1 in Maine prevail. You can make a difference. I did not participate in the latest March on Washington, but one of my Twitter peeps sent out an “Every right for every resident” quote and I think that sums it up well.

And I just remembered — spent the weekend w/ Madonna - or at least Madonna references. Rolling Stone has been mysteriously arriving for the past month and this is the first week I enjoyed reading it. Nice Madonna interview. And then she popped up in the 80’s in NYC photo gallery accompanying an interview w/ Village Voice photo columnist Amy Arbus. So now, I’ve convinced Gayle that we need to watch Shanghai Surprise — did you know George Harrison did the music.