Did UPA ruin cartoons? May 31, 2007
Mark Frauenfelder:
Stephen Worth says:
At John Kricfalusi’s blog, All Kinds of Stuff, a recent series of posts
on the negative impact of UPA’s stylized cartoons on animation has ignited a firestorm of controversy over a graphic revolution
in cartoons that occurred over half a century ago.John K argues that many of the fundamental principles of good
animated filmmaking were totally dispensed with at UPA — design
and layout were emphasized at the expense of character animation,
timing and entertainment value. He argues convincingly that the
cartoons of UPA (Gerald McBoing Boing, Unicorn in the Garden,
Mr. Magoo, etc.) were responsible for the downfall of animation.As a sidebar to John K’s posts on the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation
Archive blog, I posted a Quicktime of a cartoon that is both stylized
AND expressively animated — a KoolAid commercial from the late
fifties directed by the King of Cartoons, Tex Avery.New York animator, Michael Sporn reacted angrily to these posts
on his own “Splog,” incensed that UPA’s legacy was being besmirched
and furious that the artistic accomplishments of UPA were being
compared unfavorably to kiddie commercials with none of the artistic
aspirations of UPA’s own films: Splog: Aaargh!Amid Amidi, author of “Cartoon Modern”, a book on modern design
in animation, entered the fray and launched a volley of his own- first
in the comments on Sporn’s post and then on his own blog: Cartoon Brew: The Great UPA Debate.The comments from the readers on all of these posts are just as
interesting as the posts themselves, with impassioned arguments
on both sides of the fence from cartoon fans, animation historians
and top industry professionals.Anyone who loves to really think about cartoons and analyze
their impact and importance to the art of filmmaking will find
hours of engaging reading by going through all these posts and
reading the wide spectrum of opinions presented there. (Folks
who like to see dogfights between pig-biting-mad cartoonists will
find plenty of entertainment value in here too!)
(It’s worth noting that while this Kool Aid commercial contains many admirable elements, its characterization of Native American people would now be widely acknowledged as racist. Like other artifacts of this period, this book reflects the popular culture of its time.)
Father and daughter bonding through comics
Mark Frauenfelder:
In his charming essay in the Austin Chronicle, Wayne Alan Brenner writes about how he introduced the Fantastic Four to his daughter and how his daughter introduced Naruto to him.
By the time I’d finished the third volume, I was hooked. The characters, a group of young adolescents trying to survive the rigors of their renowned village’s ninja academy, were so wonderfully fleshed out by mangaka Musashi Kishimoto – in the writing and the drawing. These weren’t stock characters with a few choice quirks added for identification’s sake. These were kids – Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Rock Lee, Ino, Shikamaru, et al. – with complex backstories informing their decisions, with choices made based on hard-won personal knowledge and social machinations going back generations. Here were astonishing skills and martial techniques that weren’t the result of gamma-ray mishap or genetic cataclysm but, instead, years of dedicated physical training and the study of ancient ways of controlling the body’s natural energies. A slapdash junk load of mystical mumbo-jumbo requiring much suspension of disbelief, at times, yes; but compelling nonetheless.
And the drawing! The sharp delineation of the characters and their environment, the pacing, the rhythms of accelerated time arranged in strategic panels. The shorthand depiction of motion and speed and impact, the sheer cinematic direction of the battles fought, ink lines flying like shuriken against the masked background or the panel’s stark white. Roll over, Jack Kirby, and tell Steve Ditko the news from Japan.
Google Maps zoom feature inspires neologism
Xeni Jardin:
BB reader John says,
Suggested addition of a new word into the language of the web. Screwgle, as in “My wife caught me leaving a strip club on Google Street View, I got screwgled!â€
Vending machine game for winning live lobsters
Mark Frauenfelder:
Nick says:
I’ve linked my some photos I loaded on flickr. On my recent backpacking trip through Asia, I came upon this claw game in Osaka, called sub Marine Catcher. For only 200 yen ($2) you can try your hand at winning a live lobster. I’m not really sure how you get the lobster home but there was a pile of newspaper nearby.
Billboard equates 9/11 with Iraq
Mark Frauenfelder:
Here’s a billboard in Pennsylvania designed to stimulate the pleasure centers of people who think Saddam Hussein was the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks. Link (Thanks, Josh!)
Hollow Earthers’ favorite experiment analyzed
Mark Frauenfelder:
In 1901 a mining engineer named J.B. Watson was said to have dropped plumb bobs down two 4250 foot mine shafts spaced 3200 feet apart. His measurements indicated that the plumb lines were farther apart at the bottom than than they were at the top. In other words, they diverged as they descended. Common sense would tell you that the lines would converge as they descended, because the lines should point towards the center of the Earth.
For the last century, some people like to point to the Tamarack Mines experiment as proof that the Earth is hollow.
Donald E. Simanek, who writes for MAKE magazine about curious physics (here’s his article about perpetual motion that appeared in Vol 9), has an excellent article on his website that recounts the history of the alleged experiment, and examines the different frequently-offered reasons why plumb lines might diverge like this.
Reader comment:
Charles says:
It’s not just the Hollow Earthers who have a problem with the
prevailing theories. Here is an article I posted a while ago people
who thought the earth was flat, or perhaps wavy. There’s 5,000 bucks
in it if you can prove them wrong. Pity we didn’t have satellite
photos in 1931. Link
Ebe Salad Serving Set
Designed by Romain Vauchez, the Ebe salad bowl comes with a lid that has built-in slots for the tongs and also doubles as a stand for serving, making transport effortless and keeping salads and other foods fresher longer. The design of the stainless steel bowl and plastic lid is perfect for potlucks, picnics or your next space age-themed party. It’s not cheap at $115, but you can choose between orange, blue, white or green lids from Unica Home. (Uncommon Goods also carries orange, but it’s currently on backorder.)
Dustin Lynn
When not traveling to far-flung places to shoot the documentaries he’s reknowned for, film maker Dustin Lynn calls NYC home. He’s acclaimed for his cinematography and art direction work with musician Jack Johnson, as well as for his beautiful short films, such as “Tranquil Music,” about the summery musical vibe in a pre 9/11 NYC, “The Half Way Tree,” a tale of Jamaican surfing made with Dan Malloy, “Oxfam Make Trade Fair,” documenting Minnie Driver’s trip to Cambodia to raise awareness on sweat shop labor. Ever the observant adventurer, Dustin is now involved in the Adventure Ecology expedition series. (Cool Hunting has featured several artists that have shown at The Gallery run by Adventure Ecology in London here and here.) Dustin was invited by AE founder David de Rothschild to join the creative field mission team, whose members also include photographers Ollie Chanarin and Adam Broomberg of Chopped Liver and artist Gabriel Orozco. The Adventure Ecology Mission series, ARTiculate, aims to raise awareness of environmental issues around the world through creative media.
I was lucky enough to catch up with Dustin in Quito, Ecuador when the Adventure Ecology team visited last month for the Toxico Mission. We discussed how he got into film, his inspirations and the collaborative experience of the Adventure Ecology mission. You can find out more about Dustin’s work at Blachrome and see his reel here.
Dustin, how did you get into film making?
I bought a 16mm camera when I was 19 or so off eBay and I decided I wanted to start making films. I went to New York and made a short film, “Tranquil Music,” about my brother who’s a DJ in the city. It was the first film I ever made, it was about 10 minutes long. I looked on the internet for film festivals, I thought maybe I’d try and send it in, I really had no clue what I was doing. I found out later that I was loading the camera wrong the whole time! But, I got the film back and I couldn’t believe it, it just looked great. It felt like I didn’t even shoot it.
A natural, as they say!
Well, so I found the Tribeca film festival on the internet. It was the first one they were doing. I shot the movie a couple of weeks before 9/11—it was a really nice summer before that happened, beautiful things going on. We went to a lot of outdoor parties, with my brother deejaying, lots of really good vibes in the city, people dancing. There was a unity there that got destroyed after 9/11—it’s different city now. The Tribeca film festival started up to rejuvenate that area, I sent the film in and before I knew it I was sitting across the table at lunch with De Niro and Scorcese.
Are you serious?
Yeah! My film opened the festival.
And Scorcese just called you up?
Yeah.
That must have been an interesting meeting?
It was! De Niro didn’t say much. He would just smile and nod a lot, and I would smile and nod back.
And what was the next project after that? Did you work with Scorcese?
No, not yet!
Malformed spam-fax ignites bomb panic at Boston bank
Xeni Jardin:
OK. Because that whole Mike Figgis terror scare story was bogus, I feel like I owe you at least one true life internet terror funny. This one’s better, too, ’cause it’s Boston. Cue Keystone Kops music. Aaaaand, snip:
In a scene reminiscent of the Cartoon Network bomb scare that paralyzed the Boston area in January, police shut down a strip mall yesterday in this small western suburb after employees at a Bank of America branch mistook a botched fax for a bomb threat.
Frustrated shop owners said the branch overreacted to the strange fax, which turned out to be an in-house marketing document sent by the bank’s corporate office.
“The women at the bank should have handled it a little better,” said Nick Markos, owner of Townhouse Pizza and Roast Beef, who estimated that he had lost $1,000 to $1,200 because of the lunch-hour evacuation. “She blew it all out of proportion, and all of us business owners had to pay for it.”
Previously on BoingBoing:
Google Maps zoom: here’s the device and vehicle behind it
Xeni Jardin:
A new street-level zoom feature on Google Maps debuted recently, to much freakout and fanfare (previous BB posts: 1, 2). The company performing the drive-by surveillance and image capture services for Google is Immersive Media, and here’s a blog post from the PR guy who reps them. What a scary/cool little 11-sided camera that is on the “Street Level View-Mobile.”
As for the resulting map details, I don’t know whether I’m more terrified or delighted. Mostly delighted, because my house hasn’t shown up in a close-up yet. (posted from the road in Central America / Xeni)