Death of a Porcupine

One eats a seal.

Watch out for these bears!

The Pangolin’s name comes from the Malay word for “Something that rolls up”, and although it may appear to look like an Armadillo newer genetic evidence shows that they are closer to the Order Carnivora (which also includes cats, dogs, bears, hippos, and certain cat-monkey hybrids).

Pangolins are nocturnal burrowing mammals who feed primarily on ants and termites, which they eat using their sticky tongues (much like anteaters) after tearing the anthills open with their claws.  Pangolins have an extreme aptitude for problem solving, and although this aptitude is primarily used for foraging for food they are also known for being excellent escape artists.

My inextensive research told me nothing of the Pangolin's ability to stand up while on a tree.

Yet, no matter how great of an escape artist they are, Pangolins are threatened by smugglers and chefs who take them from all over the South Asian islands to China where they are killed for their meat.  Customs and wildlife officials have smuggled over 12 tons of Pangolin meat and thousands of live and frozen pangolins to be sold to China.  Pangolin scales are also known to be useful in medicine, and it has been told that they reduce swelling and promote blood circulation.  Pangolin scales, when mixed with certain African tree barks, are also known to protect against dark magics.

So keep on burrowing, Pangolin, unless you’re one of the arboreal species in which case keep on living in hollowed out trees.

Hello Pangolin!

The Impossible Adventures of Poohby

No oy ges lef behind

Within the third installment of the classic series, the toys find themselves facing two choices: Either move into the dusty atic, or get thrown away and crushed into cubes. As such Toy Story 3 is about regret, it’s about the futility of perfection, it’s about madness, destrucion, and doom. Shrek Forever After is about a fat green ogre and a funny donkey.  It’s also about farts.

Toy Story 3 sarts off a bit slow, however this slow part is merely because it’s the long version of all of the preview material.  However, it quickly gains pace and draws one in as heists, jail-breaks, and double-crossings take place. Shrek Forever Afer is the trailer, minus various references to musical pop culture and probably a reference to “The Muffin Man”.

The animation to Toy Story 3, like with all Pixar films, is incredibly texured and detailed.  Within the character design for Lots-O’-Huggin’ Bear alone, you can see the wear and tear upon the bear with all his hair shooting here and there.  There are subtle smudges all around his face, his torso, his deadly paws. The animation for Shrek Forever After, like many of he Dreamworks contenders, seem flat and lifeless.  It lacks the zest and snazz and exciement of Pixar. Put simply, you cannot eat Shrek Forever After. You can ea Toy Story 3, and it astes like STRAWBERRIES.

The original “Slink” is dead.  This means tha the good people at Pixar had to get a new voice for the wondrous role pictured above.  I, for one, noticed this difference in spades (and Yes, seven readers, Slink is my favorite toy from the Toy Story gang.  Because I love slinkies, and I love dogs, and I had a slinky dog when the first movie came out which, guess what, I LOVED).  Aside from the change in Slink (which I suppose couldn’ be helped, lousy pointed hand of death) the rest of the voice cast was rather well done. Every character was cast and made with a lot of love and hought, from the grassroots charm of Lotso to the brilliant bravado of Mr. Pricklepants (whom I enjoyed).  It was also prety neat how the creators had voice continuiy in Andy throughou all films and in Sid the Garbage-man from the first Toy Story.  I suppose I don’t have too many complaints abou the voice cast of Shrek Forever After, it’s keeping the families of Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy fed so I guess tha’s nice.

I don’t want to assign a grade to Toy Story 3. It’s a good cap to the series, I enjoyed it, and I certainly do not feel like I wasted my money to pay for it.  So, as some final houghts:

Pixar continues to have amazing character designs for background animals: being noticed in Ellie’s hamster from Up, and now in Andy’s old dog Buster who is simply adorable. As another final hought:

TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTRO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO TOTORO!!!!!!!

*Yes,  Mike Mitchell, I am shooting my mouh at your movie which I have not seen. I am a terrible person, and I accept this.  Also, Mike Myers, if you have a problem with this (which you should) please tell me so in your upcoming film “”The Love Two-ru”

Flying Monsters 3D is a Documentary by Sir David Attenborough (Creator of the BBC series “Planet Earth”) about Pterodons: The Prehistoric Dino-birds.  Of course the first question is: What was a BBC Documentary doing in Santa Fe? The answer to this is: I haven’t the faintest idea.  I believe they needed to interview some dinosaur experts here and decided to get some other shots out of the way.

Day One of my internship I had one my most favorite credits to date: Butterfly and Dandelion wrangler.  So for the first part of the day I wandered around a field near the Santa Fe Airport catching butterflies with a couple of coffee cups (and later a butterfly net some friendly grips put together).  Then after a nice lunch of sandwich, I wandered around the same fields looking for dandelions, which proved difficult because it was a windy day and all of the good seed pods I could find would blow away before I could get them back to set.

Day Two I had a much more traditional role of PA and intern, for as opposed to Day One which was just B-roll day two was an interview between Sir Attenborough and one of the designers of an airplane based off of the Pterodon.  I did some art direction work of arranging lab materials and printing out large photos of dinosaur bones; I was a stand-in for Sir David Attenborough; I stood guard during filming and made sure that everyone else was being quiet; and I took a tour of a mad scientists lab who is trying to make fuel out algae (He was a really great guy, and by the end of the day he was incredibly frazzled).

Flying Monsters 3D will be coming to IMAX movie theaters and I believe the BBC television network as well, so keep your eyes peeled.  Also, here’s a picture of me on set, courtesy of Nani Rivera set photographer for that day:

Most of the other art direction pieces I made or helped with aren't visible here.

1) Sea Urchins

2) Bee Stings

3) Syringes

4) Foils

5) Scimitars

6) The Letter “M”

7) Porcupines

8 ) 900 Blowfish

9) Spruce Trees

10) A Mace

11) Elk Antlers

12) The Letter “V”

13) Cacti

14) Rose bush

15) Snap Dragons!

16) Goat Heads

17) Tiny rakes

18) The Letter “W”

19) Spider Bites

20) Pineapples

21) Pinecones

22) WWI hats from Germany

23) Republican criticism of Health Care Reform

24) The Letter “K”

25) An Eagle’s Talons

26) A Clock

27) ^^^^^

28) Shurikens

29) Lathes

30) The Letter “N”

31) Hermit Crabs

32) Joshua Pines

33) Democratic Criticism of the Iraq War

34) Roofing nails

35) Tiny rocks

36) The Letter “X”

37) Scared cats

38) Starfruit

39) Hornets

40) Godzilla

41) Goran

42) The Letter “Y”

43) Hipster criticism of the institution of Marriage.

44) Seahorses

45) Pyrite

46) Diamonds

47) Soil Airators

48) The Letter “E”

49) Beetles

50) Edward Sciscorhands

51) Pruning Shears

52) Raptors

53) Corn Lobbyists criticism of Agricultural Reform

54) The Letter “F”

55) Stegosaurus

56) The Wasp Woman

57) Blank

58) Mountains

59) Ravines

60) The Letter “H”

61) Ghost of knives

62) Stakes

63) High Schoolers criticism of Cafeteria food

64) Papercuts

65) Daggers

66) The Letter “T”

67) Thumbtacks

68) Caribou Horns

69) Burrs

70) Spurrs

71) Whirrs

72) The Letter “Z”

73) >>>>>

74) Kracko

75) Chestnuts

76) Switchblades

77) Staples

78) The Letter “A”

79) Record Needles

80) Crystals

81) Thwomp

82) Armadillo

83) Pangolins

84) The Letter “G”

85) Arrows

86) Javelins

87) Stalagmites

88) Fiddler Crabs

89) Stucco Ceilings

90) *

91) Stalagtites

92) Punk Rock

93) Bears!

94) Mammoth Tusks

95) Splinters

96) Ice Fragments

97) Drill bits

98) Forks.

99) Medieval Torture Devices

100) Porcupine Blowfish Mace

Just in case you’re wondering, those are, indeed, Kraft American Singles I’m animating on.

After an initial period of temper tantrums and hatred for the information (Summation: Not only is this information more or less useless, in that it’s merely saying “LOOK EVERYONE EARTHQUAKES EXIST AND PEOPLE DIE FROM THEM!”, but it’s also not intriguing and a form of catastrophe that I have no relation to whatsoever), I finally had a breakthrough: I don’t need to like this information, I just need to explore something that I do like using this information.

So I decided to explore color and type, which by proxy led me to explore form, in the form of floor tiles (after all, why would you put information about the ground opening up on a wall?).  The tiles are 2′x2′, and a 6″x6″ Handkey accompanies the footchart. I’ve put a few of the tiles below.

If you’re going to be in Santa Fe the early part of September, stop by the College of Santa Fe.  All of the infographics will be presented in their full scale and glory, possibly in a gallery setting.

And, yes, I do enjoy the phrase “coup-d’état”. Thank you for noticing.

Tiny Deaths

About 224,000 dead.

The Earthquake tiles were based off of percentages.

I hope you enjoy.