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Friday, December 2, 2011

Mickey

I had the opportunity and the honor to animate Mickey Mouse on a number of occasions. In "Who framed Roger Rabbit" it was Dale Baer who handled most scenes for Mickey's cameo, but I did a few as well. A couple years later in 1990 the studio produced "The Prince and the Pauper", and I got the chance to animate a few key sequences. 
To tell you the truth, it was intimidating to get started on such an iconic character. 
I have always loved Mickey Mouse shorts, but since the character's look changed over the years, which design should we apply for this new featurette?
After studying just about all of his classic films, we agreed that the most charming looking Mickey was from the period of the late 1930ies to early 1940ies.
Time to go back to the archives and study Fred Moore. It was so much fun
to find out, how Mickey's hands really work and how to do graphic cheats with his ears and nose. 
The section I particularly enjoyed animating was when Mickey and the Prince meet for the first time. They both have the same design, but the acting needed to be specific to each character. Mickey is humble and shy, the prince is confident and cocky.

I had discussed "The Brave Little Taylor" (probably my favorite Mickey short) with Frank Thomas, who admitted that Mickey's old concept for his eyes gave him trouble when animating certain acting scenes. 
Still, those scenes in front of the King and Princess Minnie are animated GOLD.

The last Mickey short I worked on was "Runaway Brain" from 1995.
I can't shake the feeling that the world is truly waiting for a cool Mickey comeback, he's been away from the screen way too long, wouldn't it be nice.......






I'm In Love With A Stripper..




Ok, so no i'm not really in love with a stripper. But i'm not going to lie, I do kind of love the thought of it all.

You see, last night, myself and some friends went to a strip club. I have always wanted to go to one to know what actually goes on behind closed doors and see what they are really like and not just how I see them on films.

This was my first time in a strip club in London and I was actually quite excited. You see, the only other time I have been to a strip club was in Amsterdam a year ago. The place was vile. Not only was it cold and gloomy but the girls were already naked and happy to put their vagina in your face. LITERALLY. We had bought a dance for one of the boys and the girl giving him the dance actually put his nose into her asshole. Hole. Yes. ASSHOLE! That to me was really gross and degrading for them, then again, it was Amsterdam and I should have expected that we were going to be knee deep in clunge. Wellie boots please!!

So in we walked. The interior was very nice. Quite welcoming to be honest. Was not gloomy and dirty but in fact quite smart and classy. The first thing to catch my eye were swings at the bar. How fun is that!! The second thing I noticed was the fact half of the girls in this place were UGLY! When you see a strip club in a film, all the girls are beautiful with nice breasts and mysterious eyes. Not here. Most of the ladies were Eastern European and not that good looking with bad hair extensions and an even worse attitude.

So down Max, Anna and I sit and straight away girls are looking at us. At first I am not sure if it is Max's muscly arms that caught their attention, or the fact that he was there with Anna and I. Bit odd for a guy to go to a strip club with two girls I guess. Then again, Anna and I are not your average kind of girls. So first round of drinks come anf our first stripper comes and sits down with us. After a while she can tell we are not interested and walks off to a group of Asian guys. So the three of us are sitting there having a laugh, catching up and watching girls dance on a pole. One of the girls dancing caught my eye for having massive tattoos down the right side of her body, but also for knowing how to dance on that pole. Let me tell you, girl could dance.

I looked around the club to see the kind of people inside. On one table there was a group of white guys in suits. Business meeting maybe? Not sure but they were soon enough joined by some girls. On another table is a group of Asian guys. Also in suits. After work fun clearly! Then I see an old guy sitting on his own. Girls keep going to say hi and kissing him hello. Obviously he is a regular and knows them all well. Part of me wondered why a guy clearly in his mid 60's was spending his nights in a strip club? Boredm? Lonliness?

So after some food and more drinks, down sits *FiFi. At first I had actually said that she was odd looking and Russian where in fact she was pretty decent and English. Our conversation included our love of games such as Tetris and Solitaire and how her boyfriend does not know she does this job. Fifi was telling me how she has danced her whole life including Burlesque dance. Before working in a strip club too, she had an office job but after spending most of her day playing solitaire, she knew it was not for her. She was really lovely and nice to talk to. After some chit chat, FiFi went to dance on stage.

Some other girls then came to sit with us and talk to us. It is funny to talk to them when they are so normal. The first perception you get is that they must be dirty slores and miserable and not nice to talk to, when in fact they are normal girls just trying to make some money. And do they make money!! i had to ask, I was very intreigued. So there I am sat in a strip club talking to FiFi, Sunshine and Cat about the kind of money they make. They pay the club to basically rent space lets call it. That is about 80 pounds a night. Once they have covered that, everything else is theirs. They can make anything from 100 - 1000 pounds a night. Each dance they give is done in a private area away form your table at 20 pounds a dance. You are not allowed to touch the girls. Security is very tight and people are always looking to make sure things are all good. People will also buy the girls drinks so it is often that they are getting drunk.
Getting drunk on the job and making maybe 500 pounds a night. Why am I not doing this? Haha!

About half an hour after talking to the girls, our friend Adam came to join us. More drinks were being bought. So it was the four of us and 5 of the strippers sat at our table. The ones that were not sat at our table were obviously very jelous as we were drinking, laughing and having a great time. The four of us then went to sit in a private area with four of the girls and we were all given a dance. Now I am the kind of girl who is up for anything. Ok, not anything, but most things. Seeing girls naked is not something new for me. I am naked with my girls all the time. To be honest, I actually did not know where to look. Four girls, four vajayjays and eight boobs. Max had a dance with FiFi, I had Sunshine, Anna had Cat and Adam had Melody. Melody was actually really pretty with great breasts and I kept looking over at her. My girls hair extensions were as rough as elephants hair which was a bit off putting to be honest. So once again my eyes were wondering. Catching the look on Anna's face and then to Adam and to Max. The grins on their faces were priceless. Adam was touching Anna's leg as obviously you cannot touch the girls and he was getting worked up.

In one sense, I think for guys its all just a bit of a prick tease. They get a dance, get a boner and cannot do anything about it. Is there point wasting your money on that? Why not I say. All for some fun and something different.

As girls, I can fairly say that Anna and I enjoyed ourselves. New experience and all. I would deffinately go back. Not because I am into the girls but at the end of the day it is actually nice to hang out and drink there and also nice to talk to the girls. If anyone wants to come, let me know, come along and join :)

Little Miss V..xx

(twitter = @LittleMissVak )
(email = blogdoll21@gmail.com)
(facebook = http://www.facebook.com/#!/LMissV )

Grammy Awards 2012 Nominees Are






The nominees for the 54th annual Grammy Awards 2012 were announced on Wednesday night in Los Angeles , winners will be announced on February 12,2012.The Grammy Awards Ceremony to be held on Feb 12 at Staples Centre in Los Angeles and the list of nominees are:



ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
  • 21->Adele
  • Wasting Light-> Foo Fighters
  • Born This Way-> Lady Gaga
  • Doo-Wops & Hooligans –> Bruno Mars
  • Loud –> Rihanna


BEST NEW ARTIST:
  • The Band Perry
  • Bon Iver
  • J.Cole
  • Nicki Minaj
  • Skrillex
Best Blues Album
  • Gregg Allman -> Low Country Blues
  •  Marcia Ball -> Roadside Attractions
  •  Warren Haynes -> Man In Motion
  • Keb Mo -> The Reflection
  • Tedeschi Trucks Band -> Revelator
RECORD OF THE YEAR:
  • Rolling in the Deep –> Adele
  • Holocene –> Bon Iver
  • Grenade –> Bruno Mars
  • The Cave – >Mumford & Sons
  • Firework – >Katy Perry
SONG OF THE YEAR:
  • All of the Lights
  • The Cave
  • Grenade
  • Holocene
  • Rolling in the Deep
Best New Artist
  • The Band Perry
  • Bon Iver
  • J. Cole
  • Nicki Minaj
  • Skrillex
BEST POP VOCAL ALBUM:
  • 21 ->Adele
  • The Lady Killer –> Cee Lo Green
  • Born This Way – >Lady Gaga
  • Doo-Wops & Hooligans –> Bruno Mars
  • Loud- >Rihanna


Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
  • Tony Bennett & Amy Winehouse - >Body and Soul
  •  The Black Keys - >Dearest
  •  Coldplay - >Paradise
  •  Foster The People ->Pumped Up Kicks
  •  Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera - >Moves Like Jagger

Best Folk Album
  • Barton Hollow — >The Civil Wars
  • I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive — >Steve Earle
  • Helplessness Blues —> Fleet Foxes
  • Ukulele Songs —> Eddie Vedder
  • The Harrow & The Harvest —> Gillian Welch
Best Americana Album
  • Emotional Jukebox —> Linda Chorney
  • Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down —> Ry Cooder
  • Hard Bargain —> Emmylou Harris
  • Ramble At The Ryman —> Levon Helm
  • Blessed —> Lucinda Williams

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
  •  Beyonce and Andre 3000 -> Party
  • DJ Khaled, Drake, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne -> I'm On One
  •  Dr. Dre, Eminem and Skylar Grey -> I Need a Doctor
  • Rihanna and Drake -> What's My Name?
  • Kelly Rowland and Lil Wayne -> Motivation
  • Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi and Fergie -> All Of The Lights

BEST R&B ALBUM
  • F.A.M.E. –> Chris Brown
  • Second Chance –> El DeBarge
  • Love Letter – >R. Kelly
  • Pieces of Me – >Ledisi
  • Kelly –> Kelly Price
Best Rock Album
  • Rock ‘N’ Roll Party Honoring Les Paul —> Jeff Beck
  • Wasting Light —> Foo Fighters
  • Come Around Sundown —> Kings Of Leon
  • I’m With You —> Red Hot Chili Peppers
  • The Whole Love —> Wilco
BEST RAP ALBUM:
  • Watch The Throne – >Jay-Z and Kanye West
  • Tha Carter IV –> Lil Wayne
  • Lasers –> Lupe Fiasco
  • Pink Friday –> Nicki Minaj
  • My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy –> Kanye West
Best Country Song
  • Thompson Square -> Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not
  • Blake Shelton - >God Gave Me You
  • Trace Adkins - >Just Fishin' 
  •  Taylor Swift ->Mean
  • Vince Gill - >Threaten Me With Heaven
  • Kenny Chesney (featuring Grace Potter) ->You and Tequila

And the list goes on and on but since all the categories cannot be put here therefore I have not included all of them but Kanye West leads the award list nominees with seven nominations in various categories while British singer Adele with six nominations in categories including Song of the year, Record of the year and  Album of the year.There are total 78 categories going for the grammy awards 2012 and I did my best to include the most important categories, please do write some comments on the categories which can be included.




Thursday, December 1, 2011

Morning Dew on Green

BB-60 BATTLESHIP ALABAMA 12-1-11


BATTLESHIP ALABAMAGIVEN TO THE ALABAMA MEMORIAL SOCIETY AND LOCATED IN
MOBILE BAY JUST OFF OF INTERSTATE 10

PARK OPENS DAILY  AT 8 A.M. EXCEPT CHRISTMAS  SEE MORE DETAIL
AT http://www.ussalabama.com

also see the SS-258 submarine drum, indoor aircraft pavilion, try the aircraft flight simulator,
check out the 24 historic aircraft, see the vietnam and korean veteran memorials and others.


BATTLESHIP ALABAMA

BATTLESHIP ALABAMA AT SEA



BATTLESHIP ALABAMA


http://www.sheltonfireworks.com ----------------------- web site
http://www.sheltonfireworks.com/catalog.html ---online catalog
http://sheltonfireworks.blogspot.com ---316 fireworks blogs
http://www.youtube.com/sheltonfireworks   --- video clips
http://www.youtube.com/thesheltonfireworks  --- more video clips
http://www.ussalabama.com    ----- url for the memorial
apprx 40 miles to shelton fireworks warehouse at robertsdale, alabama
sheltonp@hotmail.com  ----- author's e-mail

HALL OF FAME BOB FELLER GUNNERY CAPT


BB-60 BATTLESHIP ALABAMA 12-1-11


BATTLESHIP ALABAMAGIVEN TO THE ALABAMA MEMORIAL SOCIETY AND LOCATED IN
MOBILE BAY JUST OFF OF INTERSTATE 10

PARK OPENS DAILY  AT 8 A.M. EXCEPT CHRISTMAS  SEE MORE DETAIL
AT http://www.ussalabama.com

also see the SS-258 submarine drum, indoor aircraft pavilion, try the aircraft flight simulator,
check out the 24 historic aircraft, see the vietnam and korean veteran memorials and others.


BATTLESHIP ALABAMA

BATTLESHIP ALABAMA AT SEA



BATTLESHIP ALABAMA


http://www.sheltonfireworks.com ----------------------- web site
http://www.sheltonfireworks.com/catalog.html ---online catalog
http://sheltonfireworks.blogspot.com ---316 fireworks blogs
http://www.youtube.com/sheltonfireworks   --- video clips
http://www.youtube.com/thesheltonfireworks  --- more video clips
http://www.ussalabama.com    ----- url for the memorial
apprx 40 miles to shelton fireworks warehouse at robertsdale, alabama
sheltonp@hotmail.com  ----- author's e-mail

HALL OF FAME BOB FELLER GUNNERY CAPT


December 2011