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Jenny Lerew
Blog for a talented story artist at DreamWorks Animation.

Animated News
What it says.

Marcelo Vignali & Armand Serrano
Artists at Sony Pictures Animation. Both have worked on such films as Tarzan, Brother Bear, Open Season, Surf's Up, Mulan, and Lilo & Stitch. Vignali also has done work on Atlantis and for Walt Disney Imagineering.

Basil Poledouris

This is late in coming, but just have to mention my awe for composer Basil Poledouris...and I've only listened to four of his scores! I "discovered" him about a month ago, bit I did know about him before and read about his death on many film music web sites. Why didn't I pick him up sooner? Well, two reasons:

1) I'm an asshole; and

2) As a college student, I have a limited budget and thus cannot buy very many CDs. I only buy a CD if I know I'm going to like it, but therein lies the problem, as the Circuit City guy would say: How do I know if I like it if I haven't listened to it? There's the 30-second samples from iTunes, but they always choose the most boring parts. After listening to Elfman's Batman, I thought it sounded boring. I decided to buy a "hard copy" (CD) and, of course, it's a masterpiece. Thus, I tend to buy CDs from movies I've seen with good scores, or from composers I already like. Poledouris was not on that list (he sure as hell is now), and so I didn't buy any of his scores.

But now...I've seen the light. I've listened to Conan the Barbarian, Starship Troopers, RoboCop, and The Hunt for Red October. Every single one is a gem. Look, I don't want to be a Zimmer basher, some of his scores are guilty pleasures to me,and I think Lion King is an absolute masterpiece. But THIS is the ultimate sound of adrenaline-pumping, soaring, thundering action music! Of course, there's his wonderful quiet stuff like the "Theology" theme from Conan as well. It's too bad he didn't get more projects, or that he died so prematurely.

Toilet Seat Covers

Okay, I just have to get this out of my system. Since I work at the university library (or what's left of it), I use its bathroom quite often, sometimes to do number 2. And you think they would have come out with some easy to use toilet seat covers by now. Why am I so pissed about them? Well, not only is there the moronic, time consuming "pull up, then pull down" garbage, but it's hard to tear out that center part without ripping the whole damn sheet. As you may or may not know, the center thing is held onto the edges at three points. All you have to do is rip these three little strips to disconnect the center part (the part that goes into the potty water and pulls down the cover when you flush.) Easy, right? Well, the two on the side are easy enough. But the central bottom one is a complete bitch. You try to detach it, and you end up tearing the whole sheet lengthwise. Plus, when I have to go, I'm in a bit of a hurry, so I don't have time to rip it carefully. And I don't carry scissors in my pocket. I know this is a trivial matter, but man, it's annoying.

Chris Tomlin Concert

Yesterday evening, I had the privilege of attending an incredible, inspiring, high-energy, spiritually fulfilling Chris Tomlin concert at SJSU. It's the first concert I've ever been to, and it blew my mind. His passion for God is just overwhelming, and it shows in his music. Needless to say, I loved it.

Links

Here's a description of the links on the sidebar...sometimes I need to remind myself what they are....

Dave Puriksma's Luncheonette
Website for former Disney animator Dave Puriksma. He was the supervising animator for Flounder (The Little Mermaid), Mrs. Potts and Chip (Beauty and the Beast) the sultan (Aladdin), Flit (Pocahontas), the gargoyles Victor & Hugo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), and Fenton Q Harcourt and Mrs. Wilhelmina Bertha Packard (Atlantis). He also worked on Bernard in The Rescuers Down Under and on The Lion King and Kingdon of the Sun before it transformed into The Emperor's New Groove.

Cartoon Brew
THE first site to go to for animation news and links, run by Jerry Beck and Amid Amidi.

Pixar
Obviously, the official site for DreamWorks Animation SKG

Luxo
A Pixar news blog.

Upcoming Pixar
A Pixar news blog that is updated more often.

Filmtracks Modern Soundtrack Reviews
Christian Clemmensen, a big Pepsi fan, reviews many movie soundtracks. His reviews are lengthy, generally well-written, and opinionated. FYI, he doesn't like the score for the Pirates of the Carbbean films. But this site is also has discussion boards that can get as energetic, irreverent, and vehement as those on IMDb.

Victor Navone
Blog for the Pixar animator whose work includes Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, and WALL*E as well as visual effects for Titan AE and Presto Studios. Includes hilarious pictures of everyday life at Pixar. Check out His "Alien Song" short!

Mark Andrews
The blog for the wild, wacky, and brilliant story man who has worked on Osmosis Jones, Genndy Tartakovsky's "Star Wars: Clone Wars" series and Sam Raimi's first Spider-Man film. Not enough? He co-directed One Man Band with Andrew Jimenez and was story supervisor for The Incredibles. On the DVD, he's that crazy guy who makes all those cool soud effects when he's pitching his boards. His artwork is fantastic and leads towards the action-packed. But I absolutely love action.

Ted Mathot
Blog for another story artist who has worked on "The Simpsons," Road to El Dorado, Monsters, Inc, and The Incredibles. He drew the characters for that cool "100 Mile Dash" animatic that's on the Pixar website.

Keith Lango Animation
This guy writes GREAT posts on animation techniques and the state of the industry today. He's also active in helping the needy in Brazil. Visit it now! I don't know him, but sure wish I did cuz he sounds like a genuinely nice, thoughtful guy! For the record, he's worked on "VeggieTales" and The Ant Bully.

Spline Doctors
The blog for Acadamy of Art Unversity in San Francisco animation teachers Adam Burke, Stephen Gregory, Scott Clark, and Andrew Gordon. They also happen to be animators at Pixar. Check out their Spline Cast, where they interview fellow Pixar greats Andrew Stanton, his brother Nate, and Ralph Eggleston, and basically talk about animation in general.

The Animation Podcast
The site for an AWESOME podcast, where Disney animator Clay Kaytis interviews modern Disney legends such as Burny Mattinson, Glen Keane, Nik Ranieri, John Musker & Ron Clements, and Andreas Deja. There's even audio from a Milt Kahl lecture at CalArts! This is slightly off topic, but another great podcast is the Film Score Monthly Podcast.

Lou Romano
Art blog for the mega-talented production designer for The Incredibles who has also worked on Monsters, Inc. and "Powerpuff Girls." HIs work is utterly dynamic and stylized. Oh, and he's the voice of Bernie Kopp, (the teacher in the Incredibles), Snotrod in Cars, and Linguini in Ratatouille. From The Incredibles DVD [imitating Brad Bird]: "Hey man, I feel like I'm at a smorgasbord, and all you guys are offering me is bean dip."

Hideyo Satake
Unlike all the other blogs, I actually know this guy. He was my summer camp counselor for two years. Not only is he inspirational, but one hell of a funny guy as well. And his brother's a master at "Chubby Bunny". Check out his profile to see his other blog, "Robots in Disguise."

Jeff Pidgeon
Commentary from yet another talented animation artist on everything from comic books to cool toys to how Star Wars has influenced striptease.

SoundTrackNet
Another soundtrack website. It has less reviews than Filmtracks and generally gives Hans Zimmer all good reviews. But it also has exclusive interviews with composers and lengthy (i.e. more than two paragraphs) articles.

Score Reviews
Yet another movie soundtrack review site with reviews that are also well-written, but less harshly critical than those on Filmtracks. This site adores James Horner perhaps a bit more than I do, but isn't afraid to give some of his scores less than perfect marks.

Ward Jenkins
Blog for another animator based in Georgia, made notorious for his criticism (and I agree with him) of The Polar Express, and how he would change it, with visual examples. And you gotta love a guy who loves The Nightmare Before Christmas. He also worked on animation for this years Sundance Film Festival pre-show and has a now 6 or 7-year-old-daughter who has jaw dropping draftsmanship talent.

John Sanford
Home of the ultra-hilarious Chippy and Loopus comic strip. Sanford is a story artist who has worked at Disney Feature Animation (Mulan, Atlantis, Home on the Range), Sony Pictures Animation, and now Pixar.

Cinemusic
Guess what--another film music website. It only has the most recent soundtracks reviewed, and it's the most forgiving of all the sites I've listed (whch I kinda like). It's apparently home to a major Danny Elfman fan....

Soundtrack Dump

Okay, I haven't written here for awhile because I've either been too busy, on vacation, or too lazy. I've realized that I've talked plenty about one of my passions--animation--but not much about my other passion--film scores. Obviously, I can't cover it all in one post, so I'll start by listing the soundtracks I have, sorted by composer, but otherwise in random order. Ones in parentheses I like at least a little, sometimes a lot, but don't have yet, and may or may not have heard in their entirety. I like some more than others, but I'm not gonna qualify them yet. And I shouldn't need to say that just because I like a score doesn't mean I like the movie...

JOHN WILLIAMS
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
The Phantom Menace--both the OST and the Ultimate Edition
Attack of the Clones
Revenge of the Sith--both the OST and Complete Score
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
Far and Away
Jurassic Park
The Lost World: Jurassic Park 2--complete
Memoirs of a Geisha
(Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, The Witches of Eastwick, Empire of the Sun, Born on the Fourth of July, Home Alone, Hook, JFK, Schindler's List, Amistad, Saving Private Ryan, Angela's Ashes, The Patriot, AI: Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal, War of the Worlds, Munich)

DANNY ELFMAN
Music for a Darkened Theatre Volumes 1 and 2--compilations
Batman
Edward Scissorhands
Batman Returns
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Sleepy Hollow
Spider-Man--both OST and Complete Score
Spider-Man 2
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Corpse Bride
Serenada Schizophrana--I know it's a concert work, but I still like it.
(Beetlejuice, Darkman, Sommersby, Black Beauty, Mission: Impossible, Mars Attacks!, Men in Black, Planet of the Apes, Big Fish, Charlotte's Web)

JAMES NEWTON HOWARD
Dinosaur
Atlantis:The Lost Empire
King Kong
(The Fugitive, Waterworld,The Sixth Sense, Snow Falling on Cedars, Unbreakable, Signs, Treasure Planet, The Village, Blood Diamond, Lady in the Water)

ALAN SILVESTRI
Back to the Future Part III
Mission: Impossible (rejected)
Contact
The Mummy Returns
Lilo & Stitch
Van Helsing
(Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Back to the Future Part !!, Forrest Gump, Cast Away, Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, The Polar Express SCORE, Night at the Museum)

JERRY GOLDSMITH
Mulan
The Mummy
Soarin' Over California--okay, it's a ride, but I still like the music.
(The Sand Pebbles, Planet of the Apes, Patton, Chinatown, The Omen, The Wind and the Lion, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Poltergeist, The Secret of NIMH, Gremlins, Legend, Total Recall, Basic Instinct, First Knight, The Ghost and the Darkness, The 13th Warrior)

Not to sound premature or anything, but those would be my top 5 composers....

MICHAEL GIACCHINO
The Incredibles
Space Mountain: Mission 2
Space Mountain in Disneyland
(Mission: Impossible 3, Medal of Honor video game scores)

HANS ZIMMER
The Lion King
Beyond Rangoon
Crimson Tide
Prince of Egypt
Gladiator
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest--not my favorite, but I own it anyway
(Black Rain, Backdraft, The Peacemaker,The Thin Red Line, Pearl Harbor, Black Hawk Down,The Last Samurai, King Arthur)

JAMES HORNER
Apollo 13
Braveheart
(Star Trek II:The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Willow, The Land Before Time, Titanic, The Mask of Zorro, The Legend of Zorro)

ALAN MENKEN
The Little Mermaid--the songs are spectacular, the score isn't exactly my favorite. Lyrics by Howard Ashman
Beauty and the Beast
Aladdin
Pocahontas
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hercules

RANDY NEWMAN
Monsters, Inc.
Cars
(Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2)

MICHAEL KAMEN
The Iron Giant
(Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves)

DON DAVIS
The Matrix
(The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions)

HOWARD SHORE
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Complete Recordings
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Complete Recordings
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King regular CD

HARRY GREGSON-WILLIAMS
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
(Sinbad, Kingdom of Heaven)
WITH JOHN POWELL:
(Antz, Chicken Run, Shrek)

ODDS N ENDS
Fantasia
Fantasia 2000
Tarzan by Mark Mancina
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl by Klaus Badelt and Media Ventures
The Rock by (get ready) Nick Glennie-Smith, Hans Zimmer, and Harry Gregson-Williams
(Cutthroat Island by John Debney)
(Batman Begins by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard--I think it's OK)

And if you want to know, not only do I have the six-disc "A Musical History of Disneyland," complete with gold record; but also the "Fantasmic!" CD, also containing the Main Street Electrical Parade; the Disneyland 50th Anniversary two-CD set; the "Disneyland: Official Album" from 2001, and its counterpart, the "Music from Disney's California Adventure" 2001 CD.

What I would give...

As I write this, the Screenwriting Expo 5 is going on in LA. And who should be speaking there but... Pixar artists! Man, do I want to be there now! Oh well, they release DVDs of past speakers, so maybe I'll buy it if comes out (fingers crossed!) Speakers include Andrew Stanton, Brad Bird, Dan Gerson, David Reynolds, Lee Unkrich, Mark Andrews, Jim Capobianco, Ronnie del Carmen, and Jason Katz.

But what's really cool is that I picked up a few juicy tidbits from the website here, including the fact that Jim Capobianco is the story supervisor for Ratatouille and an upcoming project directed by former sound designer extraordinaire Gary Rydstrom ("Lifted"), which might be written by Kiel Murray. In addition to the speakers listed, there are two more writer-director pairs. One is Lee Unkrich and Mike Arndt, writer of Little Miss Sunshine. I myself have not seen it, but I've heard nothing but good things about it. To my knowledge, Arndt hasn't written a Pixar film yet, which means he's writing one that's coming up.

And then... Brenda Chapman and Irene Mecchi!! Which implies that Chapman is finally directing a future Pixar project! She's worked on Chicken Run, Cars, Little Mermaid, Beauty & the Beast, and Aladdin, was story supervisor for The Lion King, and directed the Prince of Egypt. P of E was not written by Irene Mecchi, but Mecchi has written screenplays for The Lion King, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Hercules. I think Chapman is a very talented, but overlooked woman; there's quite a nice interview with her in the book Makin' Toons by Allan Neuwirth. Although she directed P of E, there were two other directors on that project. P of E is not a bad film, but I can't help wondering if it had been better had it been a sole Chapman project. The two other directors, Steve Hickner and Simon Wells, have a pretty dismal track record, having produced or directed such Amblimation flops like An American Tail 2, Balto, and We're Back! (That is not my exclamation point.) And it seems that she's working in a company that will really let her abilities shine. I'm sure DreamWorks Animation looked pretty attractive in the beginning, but once they stopped doing 2D, it was clear that they weren't aiming for quality. I'm happy for her, as well as for James Baxter and Aardman, two other extremely talented former DreamWorks entities.

Just a quickie...

I really should be getting to bed soon, but just thought I'd mention...had my first canceled college class today. First class of the day, 9:55-11:40 AM. On Tuesdays/Thursdays, I only have one other class...from 3:40-5:25 PM! And since I commute by train, it isn't exactly easy to go back home. So I had a lovely day at the library-of-no-books. Good thing I had to be at work at 12:00 noon or I really would have been pissed.