Russo ~ A Rat's Monologue

I would like to introduce Russo. He is a cynical street rat with the personality of Lenny Bruce.


Russo is currently the lead character in my current animation assignment. It is basically a monologue of Russo criticizing other rats, and making smart-ass remarks about his own species.



My friend Lee Rubenstein provided the voice-over for me to work with, and did an amazing job. I hope to have it up as soon as it is done.

Wish me luck as I will be spending part of this weekend, and all of next week animating. I've got a lot to cram in as I am intending to also add sound and color to the animation.

IVAN'S ACT ~ off the stage and into submission.

I am very excited. For the first time, I have a short animated film complete enough to be entered into an animation festival. I have been wanting to do this for some time now. My stop-motion short, IVAN's ACT is in a nearly finished stage (just working with some of the sounds). I finished the animation last summer, and started editing it. Unfortunately, my Fall 2006 semester at Pratt kicked in, and I got sidetracked for quite a few months. The last month, I have been cramming away on getting IVAN together for the ASIFA-East festival deadline. For those who don't know, ASIFA-East is an Animation organization here in New York, and it is actually part of an international community. Check them out at http://www.asifaeast.com/.


I mailed the film out two days ago. While waiting, I have begun another piece of animation, and am also looking at other festivals and screenings to submit IVAN to.

Enjoy.

"Harlem Shuffle" ~ Music Videos with Animation

"Harlem Shuffle" ~ The Rolling Stones, 1986
Directed by Ralph Bakshi
Animation by John Kricfalusi

A personal slice of heaven for me is when great animation is paired with great music. There aren't too many good music videos out there now, possibly because it is such an industry abused art form.

This video here is quite rare. It was directed by Ralph Bakshi (FRITZ THE CAT, WIZARDS), and animated by one of our favorites, John Kricfalusi (REN AND STIMPY). Unfortunately, the track is not a big favorite with Stones fans, nor the Stones themeselves, and as such, the track is a little obscure. But I think this is a great piece of video art.



I expect to show more of these videos in the future, as animation mixed with rock music is, for me, a match made in heaven.