Who is this guy?

Confession time.  Last month I thought I had more content to post when in reality I didn't.  Yes, one could say I sorta got caught with my pants down, but that's pretty much the status quo around here nowadays.

To my surprise I've been doing this extra stupid (and I use "stupid" as a point of pride) for almost 7 years.  It's hard to believe I've managed to maintain this consistently mediocre corner of cyberspace for so long. I intentionally try to never talk about myself very much because this is primarily a "show & tell" type blog, but since I'm running out of the "show" in this post I'm going to get just a little more personal with the "show" this time.  If that makes any sense.

Most every literate person knows Reading is Fundamental.  Books still have a certain prestige in our society - whether they be digital or even "books on tape." People have found profound personal enlightenment in reading religious texts, self-help books, famous works of literature or whatever is popular on Oprah's Book Club list.

I found THAT book that spoke personally to ME when I was in college, and stumbled upon the 1988 book High Weirdness by Mail, by Ivan Stang...

It's the introduction spoke to me directly like nothing else ever has...

If you couldn't read the picture above, please let me make it easier for you by turning it into text...

Do you have “different” tastes?  Intrigued by the bizarre, the kooky,
the kinky — as long as it keeps its distance?  Enjoy getting unsolicited,
unspeakably weird things in the mail — for free?  Love to snicker in
superiority (perhaps largely imagined) at the incredible gullibility of
others?  Enjoy reading the headlines on sleazy tabloids, and ads for
local psychic fortune-tellers?  Appreciate unexpected glimpses of the
strange “realities” behind religions other than your own?  Entranced
by the thought process of the mentally ill?  Bored to tears by any music, video, and literature that isn’t almost shockingly original?

Painfully aware that all the great geniuses and inventors of the past appeared totally insane to everyone around them?

Then...

HAVE WE GOT A HOBBY FOR YOU!!

Specifically it is the "Intrigued by the bizarre, the kooky, the kinky — as long as it keeps its distance?" part in particular which pretty much sums me up.   I think I just might have it placed on my gravestone.

I took this book to heart, and in the early 90's (a time just before the interenet exploded) I was able to mail away for the bizarre and kooky.  I never sent away for any of the truly "scary" things listed in the book.  I wasn't very interested in anything some sort of saucer cult might send, and I certainly didn't want to take the chance of any saucer cults devotees ending up on my doorstep.  Heck I've got enough aggravation from those pesky Jehovah's Witnesses's.

I sent away for much of the nicer stuff.  Like the monster and science fiction models offered by Mike Evans Model Kits, although unfortunately I never got beyond looking at the catalog/newsletter.  You can see I even corrected the address on the book's entry...

Or the wondrous products from Archie McPhee...

Unlike those models, I actually ordered a number of things from Archie McPhee in the 90's.

So that brings us back to last month, when I thought for certain I had a few of these old monster/science fiction model and Archie McPhee catalogs squirreled away somewhere.  When it came time to use them in a post they were nowhere to be found.  After racking my brain I now have a dim memory of cleaning house about 10 years ago and tossing a lot of stuff like that out. I thought with the internet who need to keep the old catalogs.

Well fortunately it appears  like Archie McPhee has archived some of their old catalogs online...

I once had that catalog!

...but I wasn't able to access it.  Maybe you will have a better luck if you wish to check out  the Archie McPhee blog for yourself.

Lastly here's a great link for those who wish to re-live High Weirdness By Mail in modern internet form it's the officially sanctioned High Weirdness By Web.

Unused Concept Art from the Haunted Mansion Animated: Haunted Mansion Kitchen

If you're a Haunted Mansion fan maybe you've always wondered where the kitchen is. I remember when I was a child thinking it might be cool to see a haunted kitchen scene. It wasn't until recently when I found the above art on the Internet that I learn there were actual ideas for a haunted kitchen scene.

The art is once again from the talented and very prolific Marc Davis, and the text at the bottom of his drawing reads:

Invisible ghost cooks meal. Footprints move around floor. Handle on teakettle raises up to position, teakettle pours into pot. Steam rises. Spoon stirs pot. Oven opens, lid on roaster raises. Steam comes from roaster. Voice of ghost happily hums and recites recipe.

Well enough of the setup here's the animation...



Additional comments...

One issue with a long show scene like this is it's very possible you could ride the attraction multiple times without seeing it all. Although that would sure encourage repeat rides...

EXT. DISNEYLAND -DAY

Three Haunted Mansion fans discuss their favorite ride.

HYPOTHETICAL HM FAN#1
The part where the kettle floats up and pours into the pot is pretty cool.

HYPOTHETICAL HM FAN #2
Wait, the kettle floats? I've only seen the oven door open.

HYPOTHETICAL HM FAN #3
What are you guys talking about. The water pump is only thing I've ever seen going on in that scene.

I guess if this scene was actually in the Mansion most of us would have to wait for a YouTube video from some guy who got stuck in front of the kitchen scene and was able to record the entire sequence to eventually see all of it.

A very special thanks to my friend Bob Biestek who did the great job on the 3D kettle for me, and who even made the lid jump up and down.

Also I'd like to thank GRD999 over on MiceChat for helping me identity the artist of the artwork.

Unused Concept Art from the Haunted Mansion Animated: The Tiger Hunter

Hey all you fans of the Disney Parks Haunted Mansion, I've got something fun to show you I think.

As part of my Halloween celebration, I got the idea to animate some of the unused concept art to see how that scene might look if it was actually installed in the Haunted Mansion.

For Marc Davis' s concept art of the "Tiger Hunter" I animated it two different ways: First, I animated the art only, and made to move like it was an animatronic scene. Secondly, I animated a crude simulated ride through as if you were in your "doombuggies" complete with sound and lighting effects. Check it out...



Some additional thoughts and comments...

I wish I had the time to fully animate the classic "Story and Song" cover art for my opening titles. It would have looked cool, but that would also be a lot of work to prep that art for animation. Maybe next year.

Marc Davis was a genius at staging a scene. Everything reads so clearly. I hope I managed to come close to what he was envisioning. All the tiger heads on the wall are drawn differently, and so I animated them each in different ways.

Audio for my simulated ride through was challenging. If anyone out there reading this has a good sound effect for a laughing tiger I would love to hear it because I couldn't find anything suitable. Although losing the laughing effect was probably for the best since the sound for that scene was getting pretty full. I basically only used the growling, hiccuping and the hunter's ranting (which I turned way, way down). I dumped the bone crunching, panting, and laughing (which wasn't good anyway) because I found it all to be just too much noise.

Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist Promo

Such an incredible discovery, and on Halloween no less!

Last night a mysterious small roll of 16MM movie film was delivered to me by carrier pigeon. With curiously getting the better of me, I immediately dashed off to our local all night film-to-DVD transfer services to find our what was on the film.

Much to my delight it looks to be a promo for a long lost Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist TV show. Just like what I wrote about in my blog a while back. Wow, imagine that!

Here check it out...


Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist from David Witt on Vimeo.

Some may question the authenticity of this since there's no record of the show ever existing, and I can't blame them. A few things seem a bit off, and not at all like a true Hanna-Barbera cartoon from the 1960's. Those voices for example... What was Jean Vander Pyl busy or something?

Well, like Linus and the Great Pumpkin I choose to beleve this is true. It's more fun that way. If you wish to believe too, I'm not going to stop you, and I'll save a spot for you in the pumpkin patch.

Lifebuoy Radio Animation

A while ago a producer I was working with asked me about lip sync animation. I told him I had done that before for some local commercials, but didn't a quality example to show him. So I decided to make something new.

I found an old radio commercial for Lifebuoy soap recorded in 1945. This commercial has some unintentional funny audio which I thought would work well for my animation.

This radio spot is the only audio used in this project. I was very tempted to add sound effects to some of the crazy things I animated, but I resisted the temptation (in fact the audio abruptly cuts out at about a second from the end, and I didn't try to smooth that out either). All the art work is 100% original, and I created it exclusively by me for this project.

I think it turned out pretty good, and I think you'll enjoy if you appreciate my kind of "humor."




About the only thing I knew about Lifebuoy soap is that it's the soap of choice if you wish to punish Ralphie, so I did the Wiki on Lifebuoy and found some interesting facts. The soap is still manufactured today in India, and is popular in Asian countries. Also Lifebuoy coined the term "B.O.", short for "body odor." So now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

Holiday Spirit

Here's my Christmas gift to the world, or at least the handful of people who visit this blog each day.

Instead of sending out cards each year I've stated doing short holiday animations. This years animation is about a cute bell ringing elf, and the holiday spirit that possesses him. Enjoy...




I'm planning to do a few more homemade Christmas card posts this coming week, and one last special animation to ring in the New Year.