The Value of Handcrafted Animation

As a young boy I was immensely fond of the special effects work of Ray Harryhausen the master of Stop Motion animation. (I have also been a fan of hand drawn animation, but that is a subject for another post.) Will the increased sophistication of computer graphics technology I had feared that I would soon hear a deathknell for stop motion. But it appears that the marketplace, as it so often does, is willing to expand and include rather than replace. We have seen this phenomenon before with Movies not destroying theatre, radio not destroying books. There are changes, sure, but for some forms of entertainment the market seems flexible.

According to this article byUSA Today this may be the case with Stop Motion animation as well. The success of Chicken Run, Wallace and Gromit, and the recent Corpse Bride hint that audiences like the "look" of stop motion animation. Naturally, it doesn't hurt that the stories in all these cases are well written, which seems to be the most important market force in animation (regardless of what Keane thinks with his shifting Disney to all CG). One thing struck me in the story though, with CG vs. hand drawn animation the costs are pretty much identical. It appears that costs in CG vs. stop motion, this isn't the case:

It's also cheaper. A stop-motion film typically costs $30 million to $50 million, while a big-studio CGI movie costs closer to $80 million. Bride cost about $40 million; Gromit was $30 million.

This bodes well indeed for well done stop motion.

Looks Like Two Shows I Like Will Be Picked Up

My wife and I have really enjoyed both Bones and Supernatural and according to Marc Berman at Mediaweek it looks like both will be picked up for a full season. Particularly impressive to me was that Bones was #2 in the 18-49 age bracket.

We have been particularly impressed with Supernatural, which is just a great fun ride. The show is well shot, very pretty, and though the actors are still getting into their characters (Jared Padalecki is a little awkward, Jensen Ackles is excellent) the writing has been spot on. Eric Kripke, who really impressed me with Boogeyman, knows how to balance what scared us when we were young with what entertains us when we are older. The show has also set up some interesting non-supernatural conflicts for future episodes. The "ghost hunting" brothers usually pose as some kind of Federal Agent when gathering information. Neither really looks the part and so the pair are usually outed and this can only lead to trouble. Second, they tend to pay their bills through credit card fraud, not exactly the best behavior if you don't want to draw law enforcement attention.

In next week's episode the brothers will perform an exorcism on an airplane during a possible plane crash. Can you ask for any more tension?

[Mad props to Shouting into the Wind for introducing me to Berman's comments which will now be a daily visit.]

In Retrospect, It is in Fact Easy to Be Green

Kermit the Frog turns 50 this year. Just saying it makes me feel wierd. I would have thought that the icon of children's entertainment was a child like me when I watched him on the television, but alas he was over twenty and already in a position of authority. I should have guessed that anyone who has been a "journalist" and has time for an Easy Rider-esque journey across the United States couldn't be a child like I was.

Three places of note on Kermit's world tour? Kermit, TX...The Great Wall of China...and a Frog Legs Festival in Florida. At least somethings never change. Hopefully Kermit will bring sufficient crutches/wheel chairs for the injured frogs.

(If you don't get that go and watch the Muppet Movie now!)

What's Next for Joss Whedon?

With the release of Serenity this Friday, you may be asking yourself what projects are coming up for Joss Whedon. According to ICV2, his projects include a feature film titled Goners, a Wonder Woman movie, and possibly a Spike television series based on the popular Buffy character.

Star Wars III DVD Details Released

According to ICV2, Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith will be released on November 1st and will include, in it's bonus features, a short scene showing Yoda land on Dagoba.

At last we can reveal to the public...at last they will know how Yoda got there.

I don't know about all of you, but I thought Lucas spent too much time during the "prequel" series explaining to us how things in the original series were grounded and not enough telling us an epic story. It could just be me. Lucas could have the higher ground and we all know that if you have the higher ground you can't lose.

Banned Book of the Day

As I said yesterday, this week is National Banned Books week. So without further ado here is today's banned book.

The Inferno by Dante Alighieri. A book that was described by Harold Bloom in the following way:

Nothing else in Western literature, in the long span from the Yahwist and Homer through Joyce and Beckett, is as sublimely outrageous as Dante's exaltation of Beatrice, sublimated from being an image of desire to angelic status, in which role she becomes a crucial element in the church's hierarchy of salvation.

In Bloom's description you can see why the book is both important and controversial. Though to be fair, Bloom is talking about the entire Comedy where the book-banning crowd want to single out Inferno.

When Faith Isn't Enough...A Little Meth Helps.

Ashley Smith, the woman who says she gained the trust of suspected courthouse gunman Brian Nichols by talking about her faith in God, was one of the great "everyday hero" stories of the past year. The everyday person who through kindness and faith is able to tame the rampaging villain is a story we all want to hear, even when it includes a plug for The Purpose-Driven Life . We all hope that in similar circumstances that we can have that powerful an affect on an individual.

It turns out that the rosy image of the innocent Daniel using powerful faith inspired writing to pull the thorn of hatred from the criminal heart, may not be exactly what happened.

According to the Washington Post, Brian Nichols asked Smith if she had any marijuana. She assured him that she didn't, but she did happen to have some meth he was welcome to share.

It's just like The Salton Sea, you can trust the tweakers to do the right thing.